If you want REAL excitement, take up paragliding. Collapses are statistically their #1 cause of accidents. But the PG schools will tell you they nearly never happen and are no big deal
thats my big "para"noia with them , collapsable wing....!!!!!!!
If you look at the accident stats here there are far more pg accidents than hg accidents due to collapses , a hangglider will not collapse in rough conditions were as a PG will, and if youre only a few meters above the ground , youre going to eat dirt
there are a lot of other pros and con to the whole issue , but when all is said and done hang gliding comes out tops _________________ fun 190
U2
It's a slippery slope. First you sell your skis and buy a snowboard, hang up your mountain bike for some spandex and a road bike, next thing you know your in the middle of a circle jerk. That's my big paranoia..
I think speed/control, or the lack thereof, should be your deciding factor.
Seriously though, it could make you gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)
"To be what you've never been you must do what you've never done." - Unknown
_________________ T2C 144, Freedom 170
If you want REAL excitement, take up paragliding. Collapses are statistically their #1 cause of accidents. But the PG schools will tell you they nearly never happen and are no big deal
I agree with SG, which is why I don't paraglide... however even I could see how the guys in those videos didn't react to the wing ("active piloting")... which possibly would have avoided the collapses all together.
The problem is it's easy to get in the air quickly, with very little experience... but difficult to get really good at them.... so while you're flying around gaining experience and getting better, you're at risk of things like this. If I knew there was a way I could get to that level without flying around at risk, I'd probably do both myself... _________________ Ryan Voight
BLOG: www.AIRTHUG.com
VIDEOS: http://vimeo.com/AIRTHUG
I love the fact that keeping an HG together in the air does not require "active piloting". Once less thing to worry about, and more time to enjoy the actual flying. _________________
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.
[quote="nowoman"]My 2 cents. HG's are very 1970-1980's. PG's are now./quote]
This mentality just kills me and seems to be typical of your average PG pilot. Your interested in what the differences are between the two and you get told that PG's are popular and HG's are old school, so you should fly PG's?!?!
Give me a break!
The link SG gave earlier gives a correct comparison between the two types of wings, you should make your decision on relevant information not, this is popular and that is old school.
My HG was built only a couple of years ago and you would be hard pressed to get me to fly anything built in the 80's or earlier, the new stuff just fly's so much better. Handling, performance, landing .......(lack of collapse ) everything!
Dave T. _________________ H-3 soon to be H-4
Moyes Litesport
WW Falcon 3
I'll let ya'll bash each other about which is better.
Have fun with that.
I think it's very true that ask on a HG forum and, well, you should expect a "certain" answer.
As for HG schools vs PG schools....
Something to consider...
PG is easier to teach. Notice I'm not saying anything about how easy it is to learn (ya'll can have your own fun with that topic)... it's easier to teach.
The gear is less expensive. Your gear gets (far) less abuse. It is far easier to get more gear to the training site. You can teach on a far greater range of days (I'm not kidding).
You can teach a lot of stuff in flat fields... inflations and kiting skills are a huge chunk of flying PG. Your gear doesn't get wrecked on the slopes (training hills/kiting slopes) where as HG stuff gets bent up very regularly there.
It costs less and is more economical to teach.
I have little wonder that there are more PG schools.
Teaching HG is a right pain in the ass.... and I do it.
I live 5 mins from the point of the mountain in Utah and it is overpopulated with PG's and I can't tell you how many times I have heard wuffos ask a PG pilot the differences between the two types of aircraft and get the answer that PG's are the in thing and HG's are going out of style so you should fly PG's. Even heard a PG instructor say this to someone, then offer a tandem PG ride.
This crap really makes me angry, because I have new PG friends and know of others that would have preferred to get into HG, now that they really know the differences between the two, but they have already spent their money learning to fly PG's so that is what they are going to have to stick with because they can't afford to go back to school and buy new gear.
If your looking for the differences between the two types of aircraft, get some good information and make your own informed decision about what YOU want to do. not what others tell you you want to do.
And if that was noman making a joke, it wasn't funny.
Dave T. _________________ H-3 soon to be H-4
Moyes Litesport
WW Falcon 3
HG's are old, and have been taken over in every respect by the sheer convenience of a PG. PG's distance record is now even close to the HG distance record. So you cant really say anymore that HG's travel further, performance wise. The glide ratio of the lower rated PG's is around 8:5 to 1, this is close to many of the student/intermediate HG wings these days.
PG's, cheaper, easier to travel and transport around, which means more flights in certain places as you dont have to pack-up and re set-up every time you land.
ian9toes is correct in that
Quote:
A lot of sports have their lame version
but he has it around the wrong way, PG's lame version is HG. Why bother with HG, and all that aluminium frame, when you dont need one. You will spend alot less time stuffing around if you learn to PG. And PG is very safe, if you fly the correct wing, and have good instruction, but dont expect any HG pilots to understand any of that. _________________ glider type=PG gala bat kite with super cavitating tip vortices's and a mark 9 glide extender(with the high performance chip)
sign offs= none cause im just not ready for them
interests=sticking my finger where it dont belong
favorite saying=if your going to be dumb you got to be tough
but he has it around the wrong way, PG's lame version is HG.
Just because you say it, that doesn't make it so. Even most PG guys know they are doing the lame version, even the public can tell straight away which is the lame version, this is why more people take up PG, because they think it looks easier. I don't even know why I'm arguing this point it's just so damn obvious.
_________________ C4 13, KTM 300 2-stroke.
"I don't even know why I'm arguing this point it's just so damn obvious."
You are trying to argue the point, because in your own head, you have a deep belief, that you just cant extinguish, that PG's are now just superior in every respect.
Anyway, I thought this was predominantly a USA website. I am surprised PG's have even made it over to Australia. But if they have, they will dominate sooner than later. Hey ian9toes, do yourself a favour and go book yourself in for a PG lesson, so you can be one of the first over there. I'll travel to Aus and kick you ass.
HG=yesterday
PG=Today.
Dont live in the past. _________________ glider type=PG gala bat kite with super cavitating tip vortices's and a mark 9 glide extender(with the high performance chip)
sign offs= none cause im just not ready for them
interests=sticking my finger where it dont belong
favorite saying=if your going to be dumb you got to be tough
"I don't even know why I'm arguing this point it's just so damn obvious."
You are trying to argue the point, because in your own head, you have a deep belief, that you just cant extinguish, that PG's are now just superior in every respect.
Anyway, I thought this was predominantly a USA website. I am surprised PG's have even made it over to Australia. But if they have, they will dominate sooner than later. Hey ian9toes, do yourself a favour and go book yourself in for a PG lesson, so you can be one of the first over there. I'll travel to Aus and kick you ass.
HG=yesterday
PG=Today.
Dont live in the past.
i want to see you pg guys fly in 20 to 30 mph winds in the desert,with turbulent conditions and see you not collapse.Your wisdom would tell u that even the most benign conditions can turn ugly quickly.Ill take my aluminium any day over your convenient jelly fish,the simple fact is a hangglider in the right hands is safer and a higher performance wing.HIGHER PERFORMANCE AND A FRAME IS SAFER PERIOD!!!.Nowoman your statements are a joke
Piss off ! _________________ glider type=PG gala bat kite with super cavitating tip vortices's and a mark 9 glide extender(with the high performance chip)
sign offs= none cause im just not ready for them
interests=sticking my finger where it dont belong
favorite saying=if your going to be dumb you got to be tough
HG's are old, and have been taken over in every respect by the sheer convenience of a PG. PG's distance record is now even close to the HG distance record. So you cant really say anymore that HG's travel further, performance wise. The glide ratio of the lower rated PG's is around 8:5 to 1, this is close to many of the student/intermediate HG wings these days.
PG's, cheaper, easier to travel and transport around, which means more flights in certain places as you dont have to pack-up and re set-up every time you land.
ian9toes is correct in that
Quote:
A lot of sports have their lame version
but he has it around the wrong way, PG's lame version is HG. Why bother with HG, and all that aluminium frame, when you dont need one. You will spend alot less time stuffing around if you learn to PG. And PG is very safe, if you fly the correct wing, and have good instruction, but dont expect any HG pilots to understand any of that.
All that recent PG distance record proves is that there are places in the world where there is lift and the wind blows hard. In the same situation, a HG would go farther. Care to try a triangle course or an out and back?
Having said that, the distance record is irrelevant to 99% of us. There are some things that are different between the two that are relevant, such as launch sites. Where I live, we have two choices: a ramp and aerotow. Care to try a zero wind ramp launch or an aerotow on a PG? I've seen one successful PG launch on the ramp, and the conditions have to be just right. One day while I was still a student pilot, there was a day when I couldn't launch, because I needed a very certain set of conditions, and the wind was a little too strong for me. Pilots with 15 mountain flights were able to launch, but not students. Somebody with a PG tried to launch. First, it took him five minutes to spread out his canopy, then he waited about 10 minutes trying to find an appropriate cycle. Finally, he gave up and picked his canopy so that the waiting HG pilots could launch, which they then did. About a half hour later, he tried again. After the same five minute canopy arrangement ritual, he waited for a cycle. This time he got one he liked, popped the canopy up, which then lifted him off the ground, and started flying with negative groundspeed, so he was going backwards towards the road and the powerlines. His canopy then collapsed, and he fell flat on his back. Fortunately, he was wearing one of those back protectors so he wasn't hurt. He then got out of the way and other hanggliders resumed launching.
There is no way that a paraglider will ever have the performance of a hang glider, just like there is no way a hang glider will ever have the performance of a sailplane. All three will continue to improve their performance, but there's no way you can drag all that cordage around and not create a lot of parasitic drag, the hang glider will always be cleaner.
They dont look very good or safe at all. _________________ glider type=PG gala bat kite with super cavitating tip vortices's and a mark 9 glide extender(with the high performance chip)
sign offs= none cause im just not ready for them
interests=sticking my finger where it dont belong
favorite saying=if your going to be dumb you got to be tough
Unanswered
Highest rated...
Topics
) everything!
