Why are the cell openings slightly pointed down?
The cell openings are positioned where the air flow hits the profile of the airfoil.
A pre-flight check should be executed...
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?
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?
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 part is indicated by C (the orange line)?
A diagonal rib connects the upper left corner of a cell with the lower right, or sometimes runs across two or more cells.
This allows the use of fewer lines, reducing the weight and drag of the paraglider.
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.
We lay out the canopy in a semi-circle before take-off. Why?
When the center cells fill first, the canopy will rise steadily and straight.
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.
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.
Which lines carry the most weight?
Most of the weight is carried by the lines attached to the front of the canopy.
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