Everything You Wanted to Know About Paragliding

Everything You Wanted to Know About Paragliding

Do you ever dream of flying, soaring in the clouds and seeing the world from a completely different perspective?  Then paragliding may the sport for you.  If you have always wanted to give it try but know where to begin.  Here is everything you wanted to know about paragliding.

While paragliding is viewed as an extreme sport it really isn’t as dangerous as you think.  Paragliders take safety very seriously and they always check their equipment and everything else to make sure that their glide is not only amazing it is actually safe too.  Paragliding isn’t hard to learn and it is a lot cheaper than trying to get a pilot’s license and buying a plane.

Why You Should Try Paragliding

  • It is an easy sport to pick up, it is relatively inexpensive compared to skydiving and you don’t need a license to give paragliding a try
  • There isn’t much in the way of equipment you need and it is easy to carry with you when you travel to your next paragliding adventure, your gear will weigh less than 50 pounds and fits in the trunk of your car no problem

Easy To Learn

Paragliding is actually safer to learn than skydiving and easier than hang gliding.  Paragliders offer more control when it comes to take-off and landing and you can start from a fairly low altitude.  You can start with smaller jumps until you build your skills and confidence to take on longer runs.  Paragliders allow you to go a pretty fair distance.  If you begin your glide from a fairly high altitude then you can glide for miles by catching wind currents.

How Much Does it Cost

It is a cheaper hobby to get into than skydiving, you don’t have to pay for the cost of the plane for a similar experience.  This is not something you want to try off the bat without lessons so the rental of the gear and some of lessons is going to run around the $1,000 range.  Paragliding is covered by the USHGA they are the ones who set the rules for what you need to learn and how to paraglide safely.  To become a novice paraglider is going to take 5-10 lessons.  If you are going to become a serious paraglider then you are going to want to buy your own gear at some point and that will run you close to $4,000.  While less expensive than taking up sky diving it isn’t cheap.