On Jan 25, 7:05*pm, Tony V wrote:
Correction!

I was just taken to task by a hang glider (and sailplane) pilot
friend......

Hang gliders use "hand thrown" chutes, not "ballistic".

Cookie

Happily, everybody is right. :-) both hand-thrown and ballistic chutes
are available to the hang glider community. Seehttp://www.highenergysports.com/articles/ballistic_controversy.htmfor a
start

Tony LS6-b, USHPA 7826

Yes, according to my expert, both ballistic and hand thrown parachutes
have been and are used on hang gliders. But mostly hand thrown by a
large margin.

But my original point was that hang gliders widely use parachute
recovery systems, you could say "everybody uses them" and you could
say they are "mandated". I believe that the hang glider people have
decided to self regulate (as opposed to government regulation) and
require chutes at any "sanctioned" gliding site.

This is not the case in sailplanes however, for the reasons given in
this thread. Sailplanes are very different in some respects, than
hang gliders. I think that the "personal" parachute is the preferred
solution for sailplanes. Soaring also self regulates to some degree
as chutes are required in contests.

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