is a video of how its done, that amazing powered paragliding tandem flight!

Watch this excellent thermal technique by a friend of Parapax paragliding, Tuvia from Arad, and flying in Dobrogea east of Romania.

Take off was 30m about on the base of small hill you see at the beginning of the video.

A great flight. They have learned from a true South African – Stef, who in 2010 won their Romanian national paragliding competition!

Listen to that vario (variometer) screaming at times! A variometer is a small electronic device that helps all free flying types (glider pilots, sailplanes, hangliders and paraglider pilots) indicate “audiobly” and visually if we are going up or down. See the picture attached. This makes our lives really easy! We also often use a gps and a new gps/vario combo exists with lots of fancy features.

On our tandem paraglide sessions in Cape Town and Lions Head, we can sometimes even thermal way above table mountain.

Of course the paramotor helps with that “easy” lift…..vroom vroom!

Good luck
Stef Parapax.com

During the 1950s the Paracommander was invented. The canopy was more oblong and it had vents in the back of the chute to produce some glide and better directional control. In 1958 Francis and Gertrude Rogallo invented the Rogallo wing for NASA’s rocket recovery. Francis Rogallo is credited for his innovative development of both rudimentary hang gliders and paragliders.

In the early 1960’s, American parachutist Pierre Lemoigne was successful in cutting slots in the round parachute canopy to allow for air to flow through the canopy. This had a dramatic effect on the lift to drag ratio and allowed for the pilot to steer the chute in a predictable manner.

In 1962, Walter Newmark of England took note of Lemoigne’s design and modified it so the chute could be towed aloft. During the 60’s, parascending become a popular sport amongst the English. Newmark was responsible for the creation of the British Association of Parascending in the early 1970’s.

In 1964, Domina Jalbert of Florida invented a square canopy called the Ram Air Para Foil. The Ram Air worked by allowing air to pass through the double surface glider allowing for better maneuverability and increased lift. Walter Newmark soon adopted this canopy for his parascending activities.

In September of 1965 David Barish, who was working with NASA took his first flights with a  “Sail Wing” from Hunter Mountain in New York. He is considered the probable inventor of the Paraglider.
Not until the 1970’s did the sport take off. The popularity of paragliding arose when pilots in the French town of Mieussy successfully launched the wing by running down the hillsides of the Alps.

Andre Bohn and Gerard Bosson were mostly responsible for developing the sport into how it is today. Bosson introduced paragliding at the 1979 World Hang Gliding Championships. It was not long until paragliding schools were opening up around the world.

In the early 70’s towing ram air parachutes became the passion of the British Association of  Parascending. Both ram air canopies and paracommanders were towed behind a vehicle and then released.  The early airfoils or squares were relatively fast and offered tricky landing characteristics. The quest for better performance and more gentle characteristics was on.

In 1978, French parachutists Jean-Claude Betemps, Andre Bohn and Gerard Bosson refined the technique of running and launching from a slope at Mieussy, France. The practice soon attracted attention and Mieussy became the first Mecca of Paragliding.

In 1979 Gerard Bosson introduced paragliding at the hang gliding world championships. Ten years later the first Paragliding World Championships occurred in Kossen, Austria.

Now an international sport enjoyed by millions of people every year, Paragliding is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Cape Town South Africa. Let Parapax paragliding company show you Cape Town from a whole new angle, join us today for a flight from Lions Head, it will change your life!

Long before the first airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers, inventors made numerous attempts to make like the birds and fly. These early inventions included kites, hot air balloons, airships, gliders, and other devices.  Some of these attempts closely resembling  today’s modern  Paragliding

For many centuries, humans have tried to fly just like the birds and have studied the flight of birds. Wings made of feathers or light weight wood have been attached to arms to test their ability to fly. The results were often disastrous as the muscles of the human arms are not like a birds and cannot move with the strength of a bird.

1485 Leonardo da Vinci – The Ornithopter and the Study of Flight.
Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480′s. He had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on bird and mechanical flight. The drawings illustrated the wings and tails of birds, ideas for man carrying machines, and devices for the testing of wings.

The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept. Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks on flight were reexamined in the 19th century by aviation pioneers.

1799-1850′s – George Cayley – Gliders
Sir George Cayley is considered the father of aerodynamics. Cayley experimented with wing design, distinguished between lift and drag, formulated the concepts of vertical tail surfaces, steering rudders, rear elevators, and air screws. George Cayley worked to discover a way that man could fly. Cayley designed many different versions of gliders that used the movements of the body to control. A young boy, whose name is not known, was the first to fly one of Cayley’s gliders, the first glider capable of carrying a human.

For over 50 years, George Cayley made improvements to his gliders. Cayley changed the shape of the wings so that the air would flow over the wings correctly. Cayley designed a tail for the gliders to help with the stability. He tried a biplane design to add strength to the glider. George Cayley also recognized that there would be a need for machine power if the flight was to be in the air for a long time.

paraglide with parapax paragliding cape town