[wingspan33]

Rick,

The closer one looks, the clearer the picture becomes.

In the last few weeks, driving from central NYS to Portaland , OR, then down to Los Angeles, CA, then to San Diego, CA - THEN back to NYS, I told a number of people that "Hang gliders are the simplest form of sailplane and paragliders are the most complex form of parachute."

One woman, who appeared to be a "higher up" at one state's first Rest/Welcome Area, even knew my reference to K.I.S.S. Hang gliders fit well with that principal!

Thank you so much for such a simple way to communicate the increased dangers of paragliding. I wonder how many of the people I talked to will talk with other people about how hang gliding is the safer of the two areal sports? . . .

I think the goal/idea was to plant a few seeds here and there. Your words truly inspired me! Cool!

But don't let your head swell too much. I didn't quote you by name. . . . . . . . . .

[Rick Masters]

"Hang gliders are the simplest form of sailplane and paragliders are the most complex form of parachute."

When comparing hang gliding to paragliding in terms of inherent safety, one runs into problems making the comparisons equitable. Hang gliders have a speed range that far exceeds that of paragliders. This creates much more opportunity for pilot error in hang gliding and you have to be a real pilot to fly one. No floating around with your hands off the controls, snapping pictures and scratching your a**. For an equitable comparison, it seems to me to be appropriate to compare HG and PG accidents that occur within the speed range of of a paraglider. When you do this, a great number of hang gliding accident scenarios are eliminated. In fact, the ability of the hang glider to perform well in thermal air and greater turbulence while resisting deformation, collapse and subsequent controllability issues really stands out.
    Hang gliders also have a vastly superior l/d which gives them the ability to reach a safe landing area. This is why the recovery of paragliders from trees has become a nightmare for search and rescue teams all over the world. (See Nesting Behavior of the Ozone Warbler.)
    Along those same lines, comparing historical fatality numbers between hang gliders and paragliders demands that the count begin on the same date. That date, I believe, is in 1986, when the first paragliding fatalities began accumulating in Germany and Switzerland. This removes over 500 hang gliding fatalities from the comparison totals. However, it is probably more revealing to start the comparison (not the count) at the point where PG fatalities began to approach the rate of hang gliding fatalities. I am considering 1996 for this date, ten years after the beginning of paragliding, when global PG fatalities first exceeded 100. If we do this for comparison purposes, we start with 100 PG fatalities and 100 HG fatalities at the beginning of 1986 and progress forward 30 years to 2016. The result is somewhere over 300 HG fatalities compared to well over 1,500 PG fatalities expected by the end of this year.

[wingspan33]

Rick,

Your last post strikes a cord. While driving back to NYS I witnessed an accident just west of Las Vegas, NV. It was late at night and a dark colored SUV seemed to have rolled over in some kind of crash (all the glass was shattered, but the vehicle was sitting on all four wheels). A couple dozen feet from the crash site was a lifeless human body lying in the "slow lane" of the highway. Apparently ejected from the vehicle during the accident (cause unknown). Only a couple emergency responders were on the scene, waving flashlights to oncoming cars (I did see an ambulance heading toward the scene from the opposite direction). Here was a person who was as alive as any of us maybe only minutes before.

I think of all those collapsible canopy (or HG) pilots who are killed each year, and I can't help but think of this once living human being that I saw lying on the road.

As a sport, playing golf is safer than hang gliding. But compared to hang gliding, flying a collapsible canopy is a good deal more dangerous. The dead bodies are real! The crippled and broken bodies are real!

"Wear your seat belt!" could have been shouted at this fellow a couple minutes before the accident - and he'd still be alive. But what do you say to collapsible canopy pilots?. . . . . . . . .

Could be that your fatality statistics are the best (and maybe only?) way to go.

[Rick Masters]

Global fatality and accident lists are the only way to present extreme sports in a true light.
If you don't know the global attrition numbers, you don't know what's going on.
You will only know what is happening in your little, insulated pocket of the world.
And you will be manipulated by people who use these insufficient and misleading numbers to paint a false picture of risk.

A rather telling example is provided by the (now) president of USHPA here
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=p270121#p270121
My current (incomplete) tally for 2011 shows 12 HG fatalities and 92 PG fatalities worldwide, with a very disproportionate number of crippling injuries on the PG side.
I would argue that some dishonest people choose to present only regional numbers when it serves their interests.

When the national association which represented the historical resurgence of hang gliding stopped reporting global attrition numbers, I knew something was wrong.
They relinquished their responsibility as the global figurehead of hang gliding.
It's been all downhill since then.
Hang glider pilots in the US need an organization that respects them, serves their interests and does not attempt to manipulate or falsely influence their thinking in favor of other sports.