Question 1/10

Score 0 / 10 0%

A pre-flight check should be executed...

...before take-off. ...after every flight. ...every six months or as often as the manufacturer recommends. ...only by your instructor.

Before you take off, you should check at least these things: pilot, lines, canopy, wind, airspace.

For a paraglider in the mountains, what wind speeds are considered safe to fly?

Only nil winds from 0 to 1 Bft. Only light winds from 2 to 3 Bft. Only with wind from 0 up to 3 Bft. Only with wind speeds over 3 Bft.

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.

Which pre-launch check is the most important?

Checking the lines and canopy are laid out cleanly. Checking your flight instruments. Checking your leg straps are fastened. Checking if there is sufficient thermal activity.

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.

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?

Let go, because holding them all the time is unnecessary and tiring. Hold them at all times, because the wing will shoot in all directions if you let go. Hold the handles lightly and relax your arms. This ensures a bit of pressure on the brake lines. Hold the handles and pull them down quite a bit. The wing will fly slower and more stable that way.

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 happens when you brake a paraglider so much that the air speed falls below the minimum speed of about 25km/h?

The glider stalls, ie it doesn't fly anymore. The glider will fly on as slow as you want. The glider collapses.

The photo shows what happens when you pull so much brake that the air speed of the paraglider falls below its minimum speed. The glider stalls. Therefore we sometimes call the minimum speed of a paraglider the stall speed.

Don't do this while flying! Unless you are on an SIV- or acrocourse.

Older gliders can also enter a deep stall when you brake too much - see the chapter on Aerodynamics.

During daily inspections you notice a tear of about 2.5cm or one inch in the canopy of your paraglider. What do you do?
1. You fix the tear with ripstop tape on both sides of the fabric.
2. You take the glider to a dealer or manufacturer to have it professionally repaired.

1 is correct. 2 is correct. Neither 1 nor 2 are correct. 1. is a temporary solution, go for 2. as soon as possible.

You can fix a tear smaller than about 5cm (2 inches) yourself. Larger repairs should be done by a professional.
See the chapter on Equipment.

'Big ears' are a descent technique and serve to increase your descent rate. Additionally, in which situation is pulling 'big ears' a good idea?

When trying to fly into a strong headwind. When flying in turbulent conditions. When turning in a small thermal. All of the above are correct.

Pulling big ears reduces the wing area and therefore increases the wing load. This stabilizes the canopy somewhat. It also increases the flying speed but in most cases this is counteracted by the extra drag the ears create.

What are the minimum requirements for a safe take-off?

The possibility to safely abort the launch. A light wind from the front. Clear of cables in a 500m radius. A, B en C are correct.

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.

We lay out the canopy in a semi-circle before take-off. Why?

This reduces the tendency of the lines to tangle. This ensures that the canopy will fill from the middle cells towards the tips. This ensures that the outer cells will fill with air first. This is the only way you can separate the brake lines from the main lines properly.

When the center cells fill first, the canopy will rise steadily and straight.

Which lines carry the most weight?

The rear lines (C or D-lines) The middle lines (B or B and C-lines) The lines on the front (A-lines or A and B-lines) The brake lines.

Most of the weight is carried by the lines attached to the front of the canopy.

Your result is shown above.

Did you like our quiz?
Share your result with your friends using the buttons below.