A paraglider can fly from all location where a hang-glider can take off but not vice-versa. A hang-glider has a rigid frame, which maintains the shape of the wing, and the pilot usually flies in a prone position. A paraglider's canopy shape is maintained by air pres-sure and the pilot is suspended in a sitting position. The hang-glider is capable of flying at much higher speeds than a paraglider.

A hang glider has a rigid frame maintaining the shape of the wing, with the pilot usually flying in a prone position. The Paraglider canopy shape is maintained only by air pressure and the pilot is suspended in a sitting or supine position. Hang gliders fly at much faster speeds than a Paraglider.

For your own safety we strongly advise you not to try to teach yourself to fly a hang glider or paraglider. These are real aircraft, with complex flight characteristics. Any attempt to teach yourself to fly could all too easily result in serious injury. Professional instruction from a BHPA registered school is the only safe way to gain the necessary knowledge and experience to fly within a recreational club, without being a danger to yourself or others in the air.

Paragliders fold down into a package the size of a largish knapsack and can be transported relatively easily. A hang glider needs a vehicle with a roof-rack for transportation to and from the flying site. It's also somewhat easier to learn to fly a Paraglider in the initial stages. Depending upon who you ask you will get a range of different answers to this question.

Many pilots fly both. The paraglider is more portable and suitable for back packing to launch sites. It folds down into a pack weighing as little as 8kg, complete. Conversely, a hang glider, weighs around 50kg, needs a vehicle with a roof rack for transportation to and from the flying site, as well as 30 minutes to set-up and strip-down. Paragliders are ready to fly in 5 minutes. It's also somewhat easier to learn to fly a paraglider.

Hang gliders are designed to soar. The duration record is over 11 hours and the distance record is over 300 kilometers. In training you will start out just skimming the ground. As you progress and become more skilled and confident you will probably want to go higher and use the wing for its designed purpose -- soaring! Average recreational pilots, utilizing thermal and ridge lift, routinely stay aloft for 3 hours or more, soar to altitudes of 15,000' and travel cross-country for great distances.

Our modern light weight training gliders weigh about 50 pounds and with just a little bit of wind, they weigh nothing at all.

There are a number of ways, but they include using a static line, a payout winch, a stationary winch or aerotow.

This depends a lot on the conditions in which it is flown, but flights in excess of 300 miles in length and altitudes of well over 20,000 ft. MSL have been recorded. More typically, pilots in the summer frequently achieve altitudes of 5,000 to 10,000 ft AGL and fly for over 100 miles.

Hang gliding is one of the simplest forms of human flight. A hang glider is a non-motorized, foot-launched wing. A Hang glider has a rigid frame maintaining the shape of the wing, with the pilot usually flying in a prone position. The hang glider wing is constructed of rip-stop nylon or mylar over an aluminum frame. Hang gliders are controlled by shifting the pilot's weight with respect to the glider.

If you're not sure about taking up the sport, you might prefer to book a 1 or 2 day taster course at a school, or simply arrange to meet them on the hill, and see at first hand what the sport is all about.