Powered Paragliding

I suppose most of you have heard of the sport of paragliding. In a nutshell it is the action of using a specially shaped parachute to soar upward into the air using wind and thermals. These paragliders can sometimes reach high altitudes and stay up there for hours before gliding down to earth again.

While staying at a seaside flat in Gordon’s Bay near Cape Town I had the opportunity to observe a different kind of a paraglider. I heard what sounded like a lawnmower working on an expanse of lawn at the sea in front of us. When it sounded like this lawnmower was flying overhead I went to check it out! Then I saw that it was in fact a paraglider flying away from this spot!

I waited a while and eventually the paraglider came back and landed on the grass. On closer inspection I saw that the person had a power pack with a propeller strapped to his back. All he needed was a light onshore wind to be able to fill his glider chute with air so that it flew up like a kite then he accelerated his backpack engine and ran forward and took off.

It wasn’t long before there were two of these gliders flying around. They appeared to fly along the sea front for a distance then returned the same way. They must have a wonderful view from that height and looked as if they were really having great fun!

Credit: My own video material and blog.