Paragliding Safety And Stats
Josip Sudic
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 judgment 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...
About The Author: My name is Josip Sudic, living in Croatia. I
am a paraglider pilot and paragliding is my life. If you are
more interested in paragliding, visit my site to find out
something about flying with paraglider.
http://www.geocities.com/sudija10111981
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