[Bob Kuczewski]

I was just browsing the web and I came across USHPA's Ratings Issued in July and August of 2020.

In the past (back when I was on the Board), the ratio of PG ratings to HG ratings was something like 2 to 1 or maybe 3 to 1. Brace yourself for the numbers from July and August of 2020. Here are the ratings pages as reported by USHPA (with blue bar added beside HG ratings):

There were 82 hang gliding ratings issued and 598 paragliding ratings issued.

That's over 7 paragliding ratings for each hang gliding rating.

[Craig Muhonen]

I say this in jest: So, So, Suck Your Toe, All The Way To Mexico
Parachute fliers have been flooding the market place since the late 80's, but I think that will NEVER diminish the TRUE flying characteristics of the Hang Glider Wing and their Pilots.

The only thing I think we can do is fully increase , and better, the "training aids" afforded to new Hang Glider Pilots, and they can get their ratings and knowledge of different wings in their own time, or not.
"Airframe" fliers learn to "penetrate" into the future.
Just for fun, here's a picture of a wave going faster than the speed of sound in water, interesting.

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Looks like your Predator Chris. ha..
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[Frank Colver]

Here's the ratings list for July / August of 2021.

You need to use the vertical scroll bar on each page to read the whole page.

Frank

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[Bob Kuczewski]

Here's the ratings list for July / August of 2021.

Thanks for posting those new listings Frank!!

Now let me do a little counting ...

        1, 2, 3, . . . 32, 33, 34.

OK, that's the total number of new hang gliding ratings ... 34.

Now let's look at the new PG ratings ...

        1, 2, 3, . . . 98, 99, 100, 101, 102

Well that's not too bad. 34 new HG Ratings and 102 new PG ratings. That's only about a 3 to 1 ratio.

What? There's more pages? Oh right ...

        103, 104, 105, ... 200, 201, ... 300, ... 400, ... 443, 444, 445

Wow!! 445 new PG ratings compared to 34 new HG ratings. That's over 13 new PG ratings for every single new HG rating!!!!

If USHPA were a hang gliding only organization, this would be a crisis. Sadly, USHGA has become USHPA, and they don't care enough to lift a finger to save the sport of hang gliding.

[Craig Muhonen]

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Para gliders say, "all my friends are doing it, so I want to be part of this Collective". (see, "Determinism"). Nothing to be done about that, it is what it is.

Hang Gliders, and GA pilots say, "I understand the principals of center of mass, and "balance point", and that's why I choose an airframe as my wing".

The center of gravity and AOA are the most important thing when you are flying, so if those two are out of whack, you are constantly trying to correct, to trim the aircraft back into a stable position. Over correction wastes so much time and ruins the "flying" experience. A Para Glider is constantly pulling on the brake (which is an awkward and stressful position for your hands above your head, and affects your lumbar region of the back), as opposed to the position of a Hang Gliders hands, out front, on the "perfectly balanced" control bar. Being able to "Penetrate" your wing and fly faster, at a moments notice, keeps AOA and CG in a "flyable" position. An adage is, "you have to be able to push the stick forward while you're looking at the ground", (which is something a Para Glider can't do because they are on their backs, and looking up, with their hands above their heads, pulling the breaks).
Para Gliders seem to enjoy being part of the collective, and that's ok, but Hang Gliders and GA pilots in general, enjoy being an individual, and a "pilot in command" of an airframe, and
Training, Training, Training, never stop learning.

[Bob Kuczewski]

The center of gravity and AOA are the most important thing when you are flying, ...

Very true.

In my powered flight training I learned these two counterintuitive rules:

    Changing pitch controls airspeed.
    Changing power controls altitude.

In unpowered flight the second rule doesn't apply.

Paragliders cannot control their pitch and thus they cannot control their airspeed. This is a serious and sometimes fatal limitation.

[Craig Muhonen]

That limitation doesn't seem to be taught to new fliers young and old, but with "marketing" being what it is, people just rush, "footlong" into the air, sometimes at their own peril.
Rushing "headlong" into the air is why Hang Gliders seem to enjoy it more.
The lists of "ratings", to me is kinda insignificant information. HG Ratings and log books, should follow with a flier for the rest of his/her life, and when a new wing is chosen, a new rating for "type" is added, that is if you can pass your medical every year. "High Performance" wings, and there are many, (where is the line drawn) do have their limitations with respect to "low and slow", flying, which each and every flier must do perfectly when the time comes to land, and turn "base to final". That's from my GA perspective anyway.

[Craig Muhonen]

The center of gravity and AOA are the most important thing when you are flying, ...

Very true.

In my powered flight training I learned these two counterintuitive rules:

    Changing pitch controls airspeed.
    Changing power controls altitude.

In unpowered flight the second rule doesn't apply.

Paragliders cannot control their pitch and thus they cannot control their airspeed. This is a serious and sometimes fatal limitation.

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Changing power controls altitude yes, but a wing can "stall" even at full power, and high AOA.
Get a rubber band airplane, twist it up and hold the body, it wants to fly forward.
Now do the same thing, but hold on to the propeller instead, what does the body do?. IT spins.
A story I've told before, but I'll tell it again.
My dad and I were climbing out of Torrance, at a pretty good nose up attitude and full power.
My dad knew the 'ceiling' for that climb out, but I didn't of course, I was young. As we approached that ceiling, he looked over at me and said, "there is only one thing you need to learn to be a good pilot". We hit that ceiling as I was saying, "what's that dad"?...and he said, How not to throw up" . The wing had stalled, and we were spinning down looking at the ground. just like the rubber band experiment.
Another way a wing can stall at full power is when you are going up faster than you are flying forward, relatively, like if you fly into a thunder cloud. (it happened to Airfrance Flight 447 in2009 at 35,000 feet, at night over the Atlantic, in a thunder cloud, inadvertently. It takes you quickly up to a ceiling, and even at full power, you can't go any higher, even pulling on the stick. Your wing is stalled, and not much airflow over the wing so you can't penetrate, but you can't feel it, until you are spinning down, sometimes in a flat spin.
I'm long winded, but thanks USHAWKS, "at least we have the wind".
My humble conclusion is, "Parachutes, parachute", and airframes "penetrate".

[KaiMartin]

Paragliders cannot control their pitch and thus they cannot control their airspeed.

Actually, they can. Else, paraglider pilots would not be able to stall their wing

A moderate, symmetric pull on the brakes changes two aspects of the wing:
1) increases the lift
2) increases dynamic drag
More drag bleeds kinetic energy from the system. Without an motor the energy can only be replenished from potential energy, that is an increased sink rate. An increased sink means that the air flow is directed more from below. With the increased lift coefficient the new equilibrium will be at a lower speed. This lowers the apparent speed of the horizontal component of the apparent wind. Consequently, the pitch relative to the apparent wind is even lower. And there you have it: The PG wing is flying with an increased pitch at a lower speed even though the pilot is still hanging straight under the wing.

In addition, PG pilots can pull the on a contraption they suggestively call "accelerator". This selectively shortens the front lines more than the middle ones, effectively pitching the wing down.

---<)kaimartin(>---

[KaiMartin]

I was just browsing the web and I came across USHPA's Ratings Issued in July and August of 2020.
That's over 7 paragliding ratings for each hang gliding rating.

Here are the numbers in Germany for 2020 according to the DHV:
15 HG "A-Schein" vs 1418 PG "A-Schein" certificates.
That is 94 paragliding licenses for each hang gliding license.

---<)kaimartin(>---