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.
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.
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 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.
You are standing on take-off and you feel the wind coming a bit from the side. Is that a problem for a safe launch?
B is the only correct answer for an Alpine or forward launch in the mountains. When you choose to execute a reverse launch, C is a possibility as well. For a tow launch, sometimes a 90 degree crosswind can be safe to start for more experienced pilots.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
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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