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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.


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

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.


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.


Which lines carry the most weight?

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


When is the best time to put your legs down during the landing approach?

D is the safest option. The others are either uncomfortable and unwanted because you can't use weightshift anymore, or unsafe if you are too late and land on your bum risking a back injury.


What do you do when you can't hear the instructor over the radio during a flight?

B is correct, A and C are nonsense of course.

Answer D is the second best choice in case your mind goes blank, you panic and you don't know what to do. It's better to do nothing in that case.


Standing on launch you see a rain shower approaching. Do you take off?

D is the only safe answer. You can never be sure that you have landed before the rain arrives, so C is risky. B is only partly true for light rains, but again you're taking a risk. A is not true, although flying in cloud is illegal in many countries.


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

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.


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