Hang Gliding Accessories
If you are an experienced hang glider, then you know the basic equipment you need to have for a successful trip. But did you know that there are a lot of other things that can help you during your flight? Many of these items can make it easier and safer to sail through the sky and then make a smooth landing. As any experienced glider can attest, safety is one of, if not the most important thing to bear in mind when hang gliding and there is no such thing as being TOO safe, should anything arise.
Goggles
This sounds like a logical thing to some of us, but others have never considered wearing goggles because they don’t see the value in them. Imagine being on your bicycle or running and being able to triple or quadruple your speeds. That’s about how fast you’re going when you’re hang gliding. As such, any impact in your eye area can potentially cause serious damage. If the contact is directly in your eye, it can even cause blindness in one or both eyes. Any trauma at such accelerated speeds will cause agonizing pain, especially when taking in account the sensitivity of the area we’re talking about. Recall the pain your eye feels when a piece of dust falls into it, or an eyelash drops in. That foreign object is falling in at such a slow rate of speed, and yet what is your immediate reaction? Run to the restroom, blot a towel, or immediately start rubbing your eye, regardless whether your hands are dirty, right? Imagine something making contact with your eye at high-speed. Not sure about you, but that doesn’t sound like fun!
Once you remove even one hand to tend to your eye or eyes, loss of control of your glider is the next step, because any damage to your eyes or surrounding area, as well as the pain that will result, will take your full attention away from the act of gliding. There’s nothing worse than the panic of losing control and then hitting a tree or worse than that, the feeling of free falling! Get some goggles, before you go up there, please.
Reserve Parachute
This is an item that every glider should have but pray he or she never needs to use. No matter how experienced you are or how much skill you have, accidents can happen when you gliding through air. This is something that you have to be prepared for, because that preparation can often mean the difference between life and death, or at the very least, serious injury. Hang gliding, as fun as it is, is a sport where things outside of your control can run amuck quickly. To ensure that your reserve parachute is always at the ready, check it prior to each flight. Honestly, there must be few things more frustrating and not to mention frightening than knowing you have the reserve parachute and it failed!
Wheels
Wheels may sound like a pretty lame piece of safety equipment, but they are truly important to the hang gliding process. They can help you during take off and when landing for safety and convenience. Wheels offer of balance to your glider and can give you an added bit of air when you are launching off the ground. This means less tripping over items, less damage to your glider, and less chance of dragging and messing up your departure. When coming down, the wheels give your equipment a better chance of staying upright once you meet the ground as well as decreasing the possibility of leg injury.
For hang gliders, the safety aspect should be much more important than fun. After all, if your safety is compromised, there is no having fun, now is there?
