Paragliding - Landing

Landing in paragliding requires special techniques and patterns of traffic.

Traffic pattern

In comparison to launch, landing needs coordination among pilots and they have to land in a group.

All the pilots land at the same time, as it is very important in the pattern. They have to follow the light path in a pattern of rectangle till the landing zone. This requires sync between the pilots as it is very important for a pilot to know what will be the next move of his fellow pilot.

Techniques

The technique of landing comprises of approaching the wind and at the point before touching down, the wing is flared to minimize the speed from both axes. Before arriving on ground, the brake is shifted from 0% to 100% before touching the ground.

When the wind is light then landing can be done by running mildly. In faster wind landing is done without the forward speed and sometimes the pilot has to go backward.

Two methods of landing are flapping the wing to lose the performance and descend faster by using alternate braking. It is a professional technique so should be used only by experienced paraglider. Second method is collapsing the wing at the moment of touchdown.