Paul H wrote: ↑Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:53 pm
Just in my local area I see them flying at least ten times as many flights on any given day compared to the the HG's and that's a very conservative number. We see a lot more people expressing interest in flying because of their greater visibility and some of that ends up being new HG pilots, not just PG's.
Anecdote from my past weekend. I was listening to some relatively new PG pilots at a maneuvers clinic I attended in New York, after I was done with the RRG annual board meeting in Vermont. One commented that he'd looked into hang gliding initially, but the size and weight of the equipment, along with the difficulty of storage and transport, pushed him to take up paragliding instead. It's easier to learn, easier to lug around and store, and it's fun.
Hang glider pilots hung up on "performance" need to realize that it's not what most people care about. They care about flying, and their choice of aircraft is driven by convenience and cost. If we're going to attract pilots to hang gliding, we need to give them a compelling reason to adopt that mode of flight. The fatality and injury statistics do not support a conclusion that paragliding is inherently more dangerous than hang gliding. I'm working on the accident summary compilation that the RRG will be releasing shortly, and the evidence just doesn't support that conclusion. As Paul says above, he's seeing a much larger volume of PG flying. Same thing here in Oregon. The PG club is very active; the HG group, now only a mailing list with no regular in-person meetings, is maybe a tenth of the activity, if that. And that mostly because we have one guy who seems to be able to go out flying almost every day!
The best way to get new HG pilots is to get them interested in the capability of a hang glider once they're flying. To do that we need to knock off the "PDMC" bullshit and focus on fun and community. We need to be open, receptive and welcoming to all pilots, and not act like a bunch of grumpy old farts. Which, I regret to say, is what a lot of this looks like.
I had a great tow, practiced riser twists, full and asymmetric deflations and did some steep spirals with the G's building up dramatically. WAY too much fun! Even with a full frontal, the whole wing blown back behind me, it banged right back open as soon as I released the risers, and it was easy to catch the surge with the brakes as it recovered. Minimal loss of altitude, maximal gain of fun. It was a great day on Lake Champlain, and I'm glad I was able to join in.
MGF