Landing injuries: due to the way in the speed at which a hang glider can land, you are more at risk to a sprained knee or ankle, then you are when paragliding.Cloud suck: hang gliders let you go faster, meaning you can get out of trouble if bad weather kicks in or a cloud suck, far easier than you can in a paraglider.Hang gliders can safely launch and fly in winds of up to 30 miles per hour safely. Wind and turbulence: in paragliding you will get into trouble if winds hit 40 miles per hour with pilots getting blown around.Hang gliders are virtually impossible to spin unless you manufacture a rotation. Spinning out of control: paragliders can spin in the wind much easier than a hang glider.Now let’s get into a little bit more detail about the pros and cons to both, and why paragliding is generally considered by most experts to be more dangerous than hang gliding. Hang gliders don’t lose their wing shape, but paragliders can collapse. Whilst it’s more likely you will suffer an injury with hang gliding, available statistics show that fatalities are far more common in paragliding. Here’s what my opinion on this question is:
The quickest answer I can give you is based on experience, plus talking with fans of both sports. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell the story on which is safer, but if you scroll lower down this page you will see some accident statistics which compare the two (read that, as it’s a real eye-opener).
If you are considering hang gliding or paragliding as your next outdoor activity or perhaps are thinking about booking a session on your next vacation, then safety is a key factor.īut, before I get into which is safer, hang gliding or paragliding, let me give you a quick caveat: more people are known to paraglide than hang glide – so of course, you will hear more about accidents happening during paragliding.