Question: Paraglider

I've got a question I haven't seen here yet. I've heard about the problem PG's have with 'folding up' in turbulence. Do the 'parafoils' (or ram-air canopys) used by skydivers have this same potential problem? Do powered paraplanes (the three-wheeled variety) also have the same problem?

Thanks in advance.

Just ask an expert HG pilot (who's read a lot and seen videos on the subject) he'll tell you everything you need to know.

To 'fold up' would almost be impossible in either machine. We mostly fly in calm conditions. Thermals can give us a good bouncing around. But with the speeds we fly at I don't think you'd ever hit ant turbulance.

Joe Wirtz Buckeye 503 Eagle flier in Mass.

Skydivers use canopies with a much higher wingload and therefor higher rate of desent and higher speed. Theoretically they could collaps too, but it's very rare. In fifteen years of skydiving I saw one and heard of another one, but never experienced it myself. Daniel

:I've got a question I haven't seen here yet. :I've heard about the problem PG's have with :'folding up' in turbulence. Do the 'parafoils' or ram-air canopys) used by skydivers have :this same potential problem? Do powered araplanes (the three-wheeled variety) also :have the same problem? : :Thanks in advance. : :-Allan : :

That's entirely possible but I believe that lift is being produced. It's just not very much lift, and the L/D is pretty poor.

That's OK, there is no penalty here for having not flown. You should look into sometime though, it's a whole other world.

regards

Yes. Several have collapsed, with results ranging from reinflation at an adequate altitude, to injury on landing, to death.

I have a bit over 600 jumps and have had one canopy collapse at about 300 ft, when jumping too close to a T-storm. I got it reinflated and landed safely.

Tendency to collapse varies tremendously by design, from rock-solid canopies that never collapse in anything short of a dust devil to a really sweet flat-trimmed beauty called the Nova that developed a reputation for killing people and was pulled off the market.

To put it in perspective, these collapses are rare, and get rarer as you get closer to the ground. In almost a decade in the sport, I have never seen anyone get injured or killed by such a collapse. But it has happened.

I've been trying to keep silent here... Just recently, on holiday in France, I have seen two paragliders have major collapses in air where I was still pretty comfortable under my hangglider - I was not watching any video, but those guys sure whished they were. One was pretty close to the mountain too. Both got away with it allright. I do know it's quite normal for (performance) paragliders to have collapses. DHV 1-2 canopies have 'm too, but not as easily; in the French mag Vol Libre Magazine recently there was a report about an older experienced PG pilot with a DHV 1-2 canopy who experienced a series of collapses, each popping out quick enough, but then a new one occurred and he didn't survive the final one. And that's still allright. I mean, if you wanna live perfectly safe, stay on the ground. Every airsport gives you a possibillity to decide the amount of risk you can live (!) with. But DON'T go around telling people that paragliders don't have any collapses. Get real. The last guy who told me that paragliders 'don't have any collapses anymore these days' is dead too; yes, flying a PG.

HG and PG are both fun; if I could I'd buy a PG as well. They both have their good and weak points. You don't fly a PG in rough air. You don't carry a HG across a mountain.

More on topic: powered PG's, just like skydiving canopies, will not collapse easily because of the higher wing loading which makes for a higher air pressure inside the wing.

Bart Doets

ahhhh another stunning installment of 'but, but, they collapse' <snore> sorry I nodded off for a while

I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bored of this from SOME of you HG people, is it some plot by you to try and get some more people to HG cos it's 'safer', or so you make out

it's sad and laughable

I'm off to pick my nose instead I can't be bothered any more...

looks forward to the next stunning instalment of 'but, but, they