Good morning Annabelle
Sounds like you already favor HG. (Good for you! )
Hang gliding does not take ages to learn. Master.....perhaps ages is about right. However it may only take a month to get certified to fly solo from a mountain top. After that there are still plenty of things you need to learn, but time aloft, and time spent hanging out on local launches is where you learn it! (The same goes for PG)
I don't think you are more apt to break bones hang gliding than paragliding. You may be more apt to break your arm, but with PG you are more apt to break you back, from the stories I have read. (accident reports)
So get a hang glider, fly with your boyfriend, and since you'll go farther, he can go get the car for you!
Welcome to HG.org! _________________ Airborne Climax 14 (C1)
WW U2
H3
AT, FL,ST, RLF, TUR.
There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. … Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties. ~~~Douglas Adams
Have a read of the "Comparison with paragliders and sailplanes" section found at the bottom of the hang gliding wiki page found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang_glider It has a nice comparison. _________________ George
But honestly i really get shiny eyes watching hanggliders (don't tell him!)
hahaha good to hear! I know what you mean .
Go for a lesson on HG, see how you go, get an idea for yourself if you think you will be able to learn ( i think you will!) If you can master the basics youll be safer on the stiffy _________________ Spyder14 - WillsWing "Dune" (Falcon 4 195) Aus Dune tune version)
- hangliding is quite heavy for a girl. You need to be a combination an olympic sprint and weightlifting athlete.
- it takes ages to get the hang of hanggliding and obvious talent is needed.
All good info above. I'll add that Mrsposer is about 5' 3" (160 cm) and weighs about 92 pounds (42 kilos), so she's small even for a girl. Yes hanggliders do weigh more and I will say it wasn't easy for her at first but now she has gotten the hang of it and has no trouble handling her glider. But to be honest, the weight only matters on the ground. Once in the air the hanggliders superior performance will quickly make you realize the weight isn't an important enough issue to be worth thinking about.
It may take a little longer to get in the air for the first time on a hangglider than a paraglider but we're talking a matter of days difference. Those few extra days of training will pay dividends for many years and will definitely be worth the little extra time you invested.
Yeah, the "standard" launch method for a HG is a bit demanding, but I can fix that for you, if necessary. Remember that the glider is designed and built to carry you, and use that knowledge to make the glider carry itself, when launching. Most people just skip this learning step, and use muscle power instead. As an instructor, sometimes, ya can't even GIVE it away...
Smaller people should fly with smaller, lighter gliders. It is NOT a special privilege to be provided with the glider that matches your weight and stature, in lessons; it should be *expected.* If somebody tries to stick a light pilot on a regular-sized glider, the results can be anything from unwieldy to discouraging. Beat the bushes for a chance to ground-handle a glider that matches your weight (even if borrowed), before you get discouraged. It may not be reasonable to borrow somebody's prized glider for your flying lessons, but you can learn a lot, just ground-handling and running with it, on flat ground. You may be surprised at the "family" atmosphere you will find in HG; things may come your way that you would not expect, in real life.
For now, I strongly suggest that you find a tandem glider flight, or two. Let the advanced pilot deal with the launch and landing; you should get some real, hands-on glider flying, during the flight, and not just a few seconds. Landing on wheels is quite acceptable for this adventure, and I would encourage that. Don't believe that it takes great talent to fly HG. The talent may be used for very long flights or contests, but you can really fly just for fun. More on my web page, linked below. (Check out _I_CAN_FLY_!!_ there.)
All the best to you. PM me, if you have difficulty with launching, really.
adelta wrote:
Hello ! here a newbie to be convinced ;-)
I am sure i will be flying but the decision hanggliding or paragliding is not made yet
In short: i know quite some air-addicts but in general the (few) girls go for paragliding. So please help me listing the positive and negative sides of both ways of getting this girl in the air.
I have been told that ...
- you are more likely to break bones with hanggliding but the paragliding accidents are more fatal.
- hangliding is quite heavy for a girl. You need to be a combination an olympic sprint and weightlifting athlete.
- it takes ages to get the hang of hanggliding and obvious talent is needed.
So ... shoot !
Annabelle
(edit:)
PS: But honestly i really get shiny eyes watching hanggliders (don't tell him!)
Anabelle-
Welcome to some fun in the sky.
"Red" has some good info for you to read, check it out.
If you were HG'n, you would beable to fly farther and faster than your partner.
Then he would have to come and pick you up in some out of the way LZ. using GPS to find you.
Let your boyfriend keep dangling from his bag and I wouldn't worry too much
about sending him the wrong message if you do decide to HG. He's a big boy,
he'll get over it. Besides you might make a convert of him if you do go HG. _________________ H-4 (1976) UP Saturn 147 & UP Axis 13
The Cloudbase Foundation
Learn to fly hang gliders (click here}
Torrey Hawks #208
For me, it boils down to safety. In a hang glider, the landings are tough and can lead to broken bones, hard hits, and, very rarely, a fatal impact. But, if you keep your speed up and your wings level, fatalities are pretty unlikely. Most accidents, IMHO, are from people coming in too slowly.
In a paraglider, turbulence can cause a partial or full collapse at any altitude. If you are high enough, you can correct or deploy your reserve chute. If you are below 50' or 100', not so much. It is just too random for me.
I know a guy who flies both. He has tumbled a hang glider from 100', didn't get his reserve out, and came down on top of his wing, walking away (he was flying where he should not have). Then, I was watching him as he came in to top land on a paraglider and it collapsed from 20' and he fell and bounced and rolled and was okay (sore ribs). Finally, he broke a few fundamentals recently on a hang glider landing and flew the glider into the ground at probably 30 miles an hour, still prone, and broke some ribs and scratched up his face.
The biggest variable is the attitude of the person flying either kind of wing. Good luck, keep us informed.
Last edited by knumbknuts on Tue Aug 12, 2008 6:15 am; edited 1 time in total
If you enjoy skydiving, then you will probably enjoy paragliding
since you will get a lot of opportunities to deploy your chute. _________________ Just Another Earthbound Misfit
~ It's About Being Able to Fly ~ ____________________________________________________
This is not a Hang Glider. It's a bunch of Hang Glider parts flying in a tight formation!
Hello !
here a newbie to be convinced ;-)
I am sure i will be flying but the decision hanggliding or paragliding is not made yet
In short: i know quite some air-addicts but in general the (few) girls go for paragliding. So please help me listing the positive and negative sides of both ways of getting this girl in the air.
You've come to the right place
Quote:
I have been told that ...
- you are more likely to break bones with hanggliding but the paragliding accidents are more fatal.
In the US, we had twice as many PG fatalities last year as we had HG fatalities, even though the HG population is greater. I've not seen a comparison of broken bone type injuries, but I get the feeling the two are similar. In PGing, I believe you are more apt to hurt yourself on launch, where in HGing you'd be more apt to injure yourself on landing.
Quote:
- hangliding is quite heavy for a girl. You need to be a combination an olympic sprint and weightlifting athlete.
No question that a hangglider is heavier than a paraglider, but it's not unmanageable. Here's a video clip of a 13 year old girl launching a hang glider in no wind on a small training hill, which is the type of launch that requres the most running:
- it takes ages to get the hang of hanggliding and obvious talent is needed.
I don't know where this idea comes from, but I've heard a number of PG pilots say that. At Rob McKenzie's school, http://www.flytandem.com, he estimates that it would take 3 to 5 lessons, plus 10 to 20 hours of ground handling practice for a paraglider student to be ready for her first mountain solo, while it would take a hang gliding student 4 to 6 lessons to get to the same point. Where I live, where the conditions are less ideal for paragliding, the local PG school says that it will take 7 to 12 days to get the Novice rating, while the local HG school suggests the equivalent HG rating can be done in 6 to 9 days. I can vouch for that number, as I received my Novice rating in 9 days at age 49, while I know younger pilots who have finished it in fewer days. Basically, both types of flying are quick and easy to learn.
Quote:
So ... shoot !
Annabelle
(edit:)
PS: some background info:
The Boyfriend dangles on a parachute and i am spending my weekends/holidays driving up and down mountains, filming, taking pictures, gps navigate throughout europe to find the coördinates of landing spots and most of all: waiting and see people fly.
But honestly i really get shiny eyes watching hanggliders (don't tell him!)
We hear ya. We all came to the same conclusion. If there were only paragliding and no hang gliding, I wouldn't be flying
Hang gliders are clearly superior wings in terms of performance. Paragliders are much more portable. If you expect to be traveling by commercial airline a lot and want to bring your wing, a paraglider is a better choice. If you'll be traveling by car, hang gliders have advantages. _________________ H4 + various skills (only foot-launch so far)
WW UltraSport 147, WW Falcon2 170, PacAir Vision Mark IV 17
My HG wiki profile and my flying blog
A falcon is a very light glider and can be setup nearly as fast as PG. and you can spend your time enjoying the flight instead of worrying over the dreaded collapse/spin/gift-wrap scenarios With a PG, you're basically trading in everything for convenience.
SG-
The videos say it all.
I'll stick with a frame in my sail, thank you very much. _________________ H-4 (1976) UP Saturn 147 & UP Axis 13
The Cloudbase Foundation
Learn to fly hang gliders (click here}
Torrey Hawks #208
_________________ "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind." - Theodor Seuss Geisel "
H2, FL, ST, FSL
Wings: Falcon 2 195, Formula 154
Harness, High Energy, Rotor Kick Ass
http://www.hanggliding.org/wiki/User:Tomsterner
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Hang glider pilots dont wear pink booties.
You really need anymore reasons?
_________________
H4, AT, FL, TFL, AWCL, CL, FSL, RLF, TUR, X-C
Aeros Stealth III 142
Thomas Jefferson wrote:
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
oh shitt here we go again.Para vs hanggliding,JUst remember this, paragliding is 4 fags.Yes ur boy freind is a fag,sorry!.
Now we need some shirts made up with a Hangglider pissing on a Paraglider _________________ Spyder14 - WillsWing "Dune" (Falcon 4 195) Aus Dune tune version)
No reason to choose one over the other. Learn both and fly the wing convenient for the conditions and site your at that day your there.
They both have limits (even a 747 has limits and people crash them).
Make good decisions in either wing and have fun and feed your soul, or make bad decisions and get hurt in either wing.
Here in Albuquerque the launches and air are more often friendly and fun for hang gliders, but at coastal sites they are better for PG. The mornings here can be good for PG but the afternoons are only flyable (enjoyably IMHO) by HG. Learn both. Book at least a year for each, depending on where your learning and all of that logistic stuff. Express your desires to those near you and you'll be surprised what is handed to you. I've given lessons for free to pilots that "really" wanted to learn and we've all loaned wings to deserving students. I got my first PG for free (and my second for 500).
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using GPS to find you. 
With a PG, you're basically trading in everything for convenience.
