Flying has always frightened man at all times.
Different
natural environments, where man has no place, are worrying and attractive.
We often hear that flying a paraglider is not natural, dangerous.
Generaly speaking, what is natural or instinctive for humans?
Only walk and run? what about swimming, diving 50 meters below sea level, riding a bike, driving a car, driving at 130 km / h ? is it natural, normal, risky, dangerous ?
The sky, the surface of the sea, the depths of seas,, high altitude mountains, man has nothing to do there. We are not made for that and yet we go there, fascinated !
We are drawn to all of this. Why do we feel the need to confront the sky, the sea, danger, lack of oxygen, speed, death .....
Do you know the myth of Icarus?
Daedalus and his son Icarus wanted to escape the labyrinth in which they were locked up. They built, thanks to bird feathers, wings which they attached on their back. Icarus, according to the advice of his father should not rise too high in the sky so that the sun does not melt the wax that held the wings. Taken by his flight, Icarus, attracted by the intoxication of freedom and the discovery of the flight approached the sun, which led to his fall and death in the sea called the Icarian Sea.
So, do we have the right? Can we ? Should we fly a paraglider?
Let us try to be rational, to think in a rational way, which is difficult when we are afraid. Is the fear of mice or spiders, when we live in France rational ?
So we come to the idea of risk, quantity of risk, acceptance of risk in one's life. This data is immensely variable depending on the individual, their education, their history, their experience, their age, their profession.
Two factors come into play: knowing and getting used to the risk.
The knowledge :
When we practice parachuting for a long time, we know how it works, the different safety systems, procedures, training. This doesn't make it feel crazy but a sport like any other.
Risk habituation:
When we face a great amount of risk in our lives all day, every day, taking risks becomes commonplace. This is why mountain guides, for example, who are excellent technicians, aware, careful, are also confronted to accidents. On one hand they are exposed to the risks of mountain and on the other hand, they "get used" to taking risks.
Let's go back to paragliding. Shoul I stay or should I go ( like the song says ! ) ?
Difficult to provide an answer, a truth. Remind you that your instructor, in the case of a two-seater, takes all the precautions to reduce the amount of risk to the maximum, for himself on one hand and for his passenger, for whom he is responsible, on the other hand.
So in our opinion, yes, we can do paragliding without taking reckless risks, without putting ourselves in danger.
Unlike road, for example, we can say that in paragliding, fatality does not exist. What we read in the newspapers: the windgusts, turbulences, whirlwinds, the sail that goes out in a torch. All that does not exist. Everything is predictable, the weather, its short-term evolution, the adaptations that we bring out, the margins we want to give ourselves.
We like to say to ourselves that we control everything, unlike the road once again where we do not control the driver who burns out a priority and kills several people, who however were very careful.
So treat yourself, live, reason .....
The Airmax team