The good news is, it's safer than it's Extreme Sports image would
have you think. Of all the so-called Extreme Sports, paragliding has
perhaps the widest range of participants. In Japan, you will find old
people serenely gliding across dormant volcano slopes. Through the Alps
in France, you might spot daring young men pushing the limits of their
skills and their paragliders while flying cross-country in challenging
conditions.
Have
you never flown in a paraglider, either alone or in a tandem wing? Are
you hankering to just 'give it a try', but not yet sure whether you
actually want to take it up as a sport? If the answer to both questions
is 'yes', then this article is for you.
The advertisers of paragliding adventure holidays take advantage of the sport's currently
good safety record. You might see lines such as this:
"Bali Adventure Paragliding is safe, secure and is a totally new experience not to be missed."
Well,
the second bit is totally true, the first bit might be glossing over
the occasional twisted ankle or bruise from beginners attempting their
very first landings. But under ideal tourist-flying conditions, yes,
it's pretty safe and secure! And of course, you can't go wrong if you
are under a
tandem wing with an instructor doing all the flying.
Now
of course, every sport has its risks. Also, aviation in general has
it's risks. So Paragliding, being both an adventure sport and a form of
aviation, also has a degree of risk. When it comes to safety though, the
aviation side of paragliding is all-important. All pilots are trained
to operate their aircraft safely, by minimizing potential risks. In some
cases it's a matter of pure judgement such as during an approach and
landing. Or it might mean sticking rigidly to a check list while
preparing to leave the ground. The joy of flying, year after year after
year, is the reward for doing it right.
It has been said that
paragliding is as safe or as dangerous as the pilot makes it. There's a
lot of truth in this, from at least a couple of angles. Firstly, pilot's
choose what conditions to fly in. Secondly, they choose how far to
stretch their piloting skills. Let's make an analogy with driving a
motor vehicle now.
A learner driver can choose to drive around the
back blocks for a while, or head straight out onto the freeway at rush
hour. That's choosing driving
conditions.
Secondly, he or
she can choose to observe the speed limits and traffic signs, or push
the pedal to the metal while running red lights and overtaking everyone
in the way. That's choosing how far driving
skills are pushed!
Just for a moment, let's consider what the
most dangerous thing about paragliding might be. Many years of experience have led some instructors to believe that this is in fact
the ease with which people can learn paragliding!
After picking up the basics quite quickly, some novices can start to
think that they know a lot more about flying than they really do. This
can lead to over-confidence and increased risk-taking. The only way to
get really good and fly safely in more challenging conditions is to fly
frequently, over a long period of time.
For some reason, people who have a passing interest in paragliding also have an interest in the
statistics
of the sport. Particularly the fatalities count. Fair enough, I guess
we all instinctively try to assess our risk of dying when trying
something new and exciting! So let's get the death-and-gloom out of the
way first. The figures are actually quite reassuring, given the many,
many thousands of people flying and the flight hours they are
accumulating.
The stats for horse-riding and paragliding make for
an interesting comparison. And... you guessed it, more people die from
being thrown off a horse than crashing a paraglider!
In a similar vein, I came across an insurance report that listed paragliding fatalities
per participant to be less than motorcycle riding. Now that doesn't surprise me, I've never trusted those things! ;-) Motorbikes that is.
Another outdoor activity which compares with paragliding in terms of injury rate
per participant is snowmobiling. Of which I know
nothing, coming from The Great Dry Flat Land, Australia. :-)
Despite there being quite a few
thousand active paraglider pilots in the U.S. during 2005, only 3 people died in paraglider accidents. This continued a trend towards
fewer paragliding fatalities each year in the U.S.
Now, to be accurate and truthful, the situation in
Europe has been much worse in recent years, in terms of total fatalities. But in Europe, there are
many times
as many active pilots as there are in the U.S. And a big percentage of
them are 'pushing the envelope' by flying in challenging weather over
very challenging terrain. The Alps, no less! As a beginner, you will
not fit that category, hence those particular stats need not worry you.
Enough
of death and dying, I'll just touch on a couple of U.S. stats now. In
2005, only 50 accident reports relating to paragliding were received,
which was a 5 year low. Also in 2005 in the U.S., 32 pilots or
passengers suffered paragliding injuries. 15 of these people required an
overnight stay in hospital.
Browsing through some material the
other day I came across a tandem pilot who has flown many passengers
over the years. In all his 350+ hours of tandem flying, he has never had
a passenger injured. This should give you a good feeling, since a great
way to 'just try' paragliding is to go for a flight in a tandem
paraglider! The pilot is behind, the passenger hangs in front. Air in
your hair, and views to die for.. ooops.. I mean really
really great views! :-O
