What are the minimum requirements for a safe take-off?
A straight headwind is not necessary, you can take off in a slight crosswind. The runway should be clear of cables and other obstacles, but a 500m radius is not necessary. It is however essential to be able to abort your launch, for example when you notice a knot in the lines.
What do we call the risers that are connected to the lines running to the leading edge of the canopy?
These are the A-risers connected to the A-lines.
For a paraglider in the mountains, what wind speeds are considered safe to fly?
Wind results in turbulence in the mountains. While soaring on a ridge or at low dunes or flying in flatlands may be safe up to 4 Bft or a bit higher using a smaller mini-wing, in the mountains a wind speed up to 3 Bft (a maximum of 20 km/h) is the maximum for most pilots to fly safely. Strong winds are considered 25 km/h or over.
It's sunny on launch and you're ready to take off, but the wind has been from the back for quite a while. What do you do?
Gliders suffer the most from direct sunlight. The airtight coating is damaged by the UV-radiation. Don't leave your glider out in the sun unnecessarily.
Additionally, sitting on the reserve parachute may damage it without you noticing, so it might fail if you ever need it. Never sit on your harness.
Which pre-launch check is the most important?
Even though all newer harnesses have a safety feature to prevent you from falling out of the harness if you forget your leg straps, this is very uncomfortable and on an older harness it may be a fatal mistake. Checking lines and canopy is of course very important as well.
See the section on Launching in the Basic techniques chapter.
What happens when you fly too slowly?
Below the minimum speed or stall speed, the wing stops flying and will descend straight down like a parachute. This is a very unstable situation and often leads to a spin or stall.
See the chapters on Aerodynamics (stalls) and Advanced flying.
You're on a straight course and you don't need to change direction any time soon. What do you do with the brake handles?
Modern paragliders fly best without any brake applied - at the so-called trim speed.
But by applying a little bit of pressure, you take out the slack in the brake lines. You feel better what the wing is doing and you can react quickly and subtly to keep the wing straight overhead. This is called active flying.
If you have some more experience it doesn't hurt to let go of the brake handles and relax, but only if it's safe to do so.
What is the weight of the fabric used to make paraglider canopies? (g/m2)?
Very light fabric strong enough for paragliders can be as light as 25g/m2. Very strong and heavy fabric weighs 40g/m2 or more.
At around 35g/m2, you can calculate that the weight of the fabric of just the top and bottom sail of a 25m2 canopy is a bit less than two kilos.
Despite a good flare, you have a lot of speed just before touching down, because you landed with the wind in your back. What do you do?
A is the safest option if you're not familiar with a PLF (parachute landing fall) which needs practise. Your legs are much stronger than your back or arms.
Although on a flat grassy surface, you could get away with answer B, it can be very dangerous when stones, holes or other objects are hidden in the grass.
Using the protection in your harness as a landing option is not safe - would you park your car against a wall at full speed because the airbags will catch the blow?
Which data do you need to calculate the wing load?
The wing load is defined as the weight on the wing per square metre. Therefore you need the total take-off weight and the flat surface of the wing to calculate it. For example, a 25m2 glider flown by a pilot with a TOW of 100kg has a wing load of 4kg/m2.
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