Our hang gliders and paragliders are not just aircraft; they are time machines. With them we can experience, at least in part, the thrill those early pioneers must have felt as they explored the unknown. They take us into a world driven not by the laws of man, but by the laws of nature. We hold this privilege in trust for future generations, even as we enjoy the legacy of those who came before.
(photo : Malbos/CIVL)
Hang gliding and paragliding have a rich and distinguished history spanning more than 120 years of personal flight. The early pioneers of hang gliding, starting with Otto Lilienthal, were key to the development of heavier-than-air aviation. It was they who first investigated and quantified the aerodynamics of lifting surfaces. It was they who developed an understanding of the air and risked life, limb, reputation and fortune in order to help make the dream of human flight a reality.
Later, in the 40s, 50s and 60s, people like Francis Rogallo (who invented the flexible wing), John Dickenson (who built the first modern-age hang-glider), Dave Barish (whose canopy he and other flew as a sport machine) and Domina Jalbert (who built the first cell parachute) did make the dream a reality. Their story and many others are told in a CIVL book - And The World Could Fly… - advertised elsewhere in our web-site.
Today we have access to portable aircraft capable of lifting us thousands of feet, to soar for hours and travel for hundreds of miles across country. We can experience the freedom of bird-like flight in ways that surpass even the wildest dreams of those early pioneers. Indeed, we can experience our world in ways that people throughout recorded history – no matter how rich or how privileged – could barely imagine. All of this is attainable to us for the price of a used car !
HANG GLIDING
Hang gliding came first. From the early – and dangerous - Rogallos with slack sails, 100° nose angle and seated harnesses, the gliders have evolved into sleek – and safer - machines.
Slippery surfaces, such as Mylar, are used to build drum-tight sails; aspect ratios are increased as far as possible; the rigid ends of the leading edge tubes are replaced with flexible fibreglass rods; the tension of the sail can be altered in flight via the ‘VG’ (Variable Geometry) cord acting on the cross-tube junction; streamline-section control-frames are widely used; the keel has retreated back inside the wing, its deep pocket being replaced by a slim tunnel in which it can simply flex sideways.
The most recent gliders now have the cross-tubes replaced with a carbon-fibre beam which is capable of taking the 4.5G negative loads required by the certification authorities. Reflex at the tips is maintained by a system of internal struts. The kingpost has disappeared.
Today, hang gliding competitions include cross-country and aerobatic championships.
(photo : USHGA and Vol Libre)
RIGIDS
As technology evolved, so did the design. The 70s rigid gliders had been stuck in a dead-end. In the 90s, the leading edges made from D–section carbon-fibre spars gave them a new life. The strength of such a structure made external wire bracing obsolete. However, these wings are virtually unable to flex, so moveable surfaces are required to control roll. Usually these take the form of spoilers mounted outboard on top of the wing, although some designs have ailerons. They are operated by wires from the control frame.
The Swift was designed in the USA during 1989 by a group with a background in ultra-light sailplanes which did a remarkable job of producing an aircraft with a L:D ratio of around 25, but which nevertheless could be launched and landed according to hang-glider requirements. It’s an all composite-material tail-less sailplane with a cockpit and three-axis controls. The wing section was developed by Morris at Stanford University. There are large flaps and elevons, plus tip rudders, all of which contribute to its exceptional speed range and low-speed control.
Today, rigids compete in cross-country tasks only.
(photo : USHGA and Malbos/CIVL)
PARAGLIDING
It seems there is not one father of the paraglider, but many !
Francis Rogallo invented the flexible wing, so he's got to be the father of all flexible wings. But the only usable items that he ever made were the very successful Flexi-Kites, Mylar toys to be flown as kites, and the Parawing that the US Army Golden Knights parachute team used for a short while.
David Barish is not really the father of paragliding, as his Sailwing had no direct offspring and has been forgotten by history. But in the 60s, he imagined and created a canopy that he and many others flew as a sport machine on the slopes of many ski resorts, with the dream of making it the most popular airplane.
Domina Jalbert, also in the 60s, built the first cell wing. Yes, a wing with its latent ability to soar and climb, not just glide down, and all paragliders today are built according to Jalbert's concept. But Jalbert’s claim has two flaws: he saw his wing only as a kite or descending parachute, not as a free flying machine.
So Rogallo, Barish and Jalbert all certainly share the paternity of the paraglider, and also the experimenters who developed these three men’s designs and took them further and higher.
Most of the activity happened on what were basically jump chutes, until one day in 1985, when hundreds of pilots flew off the slopes of the Alps on specially designed machines and the media announced that a new sport - paragliding - was born.
Although still obviously a close relative of the Jalbert wing, the modern paraglider is as far removed from it as a Ferrari from a Fiat 500. The first mattress-shaped paragliders had a glide ratio of around 4:1 and an extremely narrow speed range; a top competition wing now will glide close to 10:1 at its optimum speed and may exceed 65kph at full speed.
This improvement has been brought about by a continual process of experimentation, lateral thinking and inspiration on the part of the designers.
Today, paragliding competitions include cross-country, aerobatic and accuracy championships.
(photo : Dave Barish and Vol Libre)
(photo : Vol Libre)CIVL has changed its categories of gliders from time to time to complement advances in technology and the requirements of the pilots, the object being to keep championship competition fair while still leaving room for designers to innovate.
After early and unsatisfactory attempts to define a ‘Standard Class’ for competition (comparable to one of the dinghy classes in sailing) the sport settled for Class 1 and Class 2.
Class 1 was for hang gliders controlled entirely by weight-shift.
Class 2 was anything else – gliders with tip-draggers, ailerons, rudders etc.
Almost all competition took place in Class 1, with Class 2 receiving so little support that for several years there was no Class 2 at World Championships.
The classes didn’t change from 1978 until 1987, when paragliders were given Class 3.
Class 4 was introduced in 1996 to take ultra-lightweight sailplanes: aircraft which had difficulty complying with the hang-glider requirement of being able to be foot-launched and landed, yet which otherwise fitted into the hang-glider world – particularly in regard to being tow-launched on lightweight equipment rather than that used for sailplanes. Records have been set in Class 4, but no championships have ever been held.
There were then only detail changes until 2002, when Class 5 was approved by CIVL. This class is really a sub-unit of Class 2, the main requirement being that the pilot cannot be faired-in to the glider.
Class 5 was introduced for a pragmatic reason: to accommodate a type of hang glider which was becoming extremely popular at the end of the twentieth century yet was not eligible for Class 1 and was not competitive in Class 2. This was the Exxtacy and its successors, the Atos, Stratos, Ghostbuster and several others.
So today we have:
Class 1: the Hang gliders
Class 2: the "Swift like" Rigid gliders
Class 3: the Paragliders
Class 4: the Ultralight sailplanes
Class 5: the "Atos like" Rigid gliders