{"id":868,"date":"2025-03-19T10:11:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T17:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/fun\/?p=868"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T20:32:02","slug":"paragliding-just-say-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/fun\/paragliding-just-say-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Paragliding – Just Say No"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paraglider<\/a>

Paraglider Wing-Collapse<\/strong>
Courtesy of Dreamstime.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Flying is a Deadly Serious Endeavour !<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve lost several close friends to foot-launched flying, others are permanently disabled. I don’t want to lose any more friends.<\/p>\n

If this article saves one friend from harm or death it’ll be more than worth it.<\/p>\n

I’ve been flying hang gliders around the world since the early 1970s: Fabulous soaring<\/strong> in wonderful places including UK (my favorite is Devils Dyke<\/strong>), Norway (Bodo<\/strong>), Belgium, France (Pyrenees), Italia, Espana, Japan (Hakone Peninsula<\/strong>), Australia (Morning Glory above Burketown<\/strong>), even the Soviet Union (before it was just Russia). I was the first pilot to fly a hang glider in the tiny country of Andorra in 1976.<\/strong> Taught hang gliding in many, many countries (to many people who didn’t speak any English) – including North of the Polar Circle.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get to keep flying for this many decades by treating flying as an off-handed frolic, lark or a gambol.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Windsurfing<\/strong> – when (not if) you make a mistake – you just fall in the water, laugh, get back up and keep playing<\/strong>. (Yes, you could get run over by an Aircraft carrier<\/a>, but that’s exquisitely rare.)<\/p>\n

With Hang Gliding<\/strong> or any kind of flying – when you make a mistake – you can easily Die – in mere Seconds<\/strong>. As in Dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s a wonderful saying —<\/p>\n