Modern paragliders began as rectangular skydiving parachutes flown from hills. They have evolved dramatically in the last twenty years to be extremely high tech aircraft in both design and materials.

Paragliders are optimized for glide performance, turning behavior, and safety. Since they are not opened from freefall at terminal velocity) but rather launched from a hillside, they do not have to be as b as skydiving parachutes. They are lighter and larger, giving them much better performance gliding and climbing in thermals.

These paragliders have reasonable gliding characteristics and are quite controllable by use of cords which are held in the pilot's hand as he or she sits in the harness. Shifting one's weight also steers the paraglider.

The paraglider wing is a self-inflating structure. It consists of a row of cells, most of them open at the front and all of them closed at the back, joined together side by side. Moving through the air keeps them inflated because air goes in the front but can't get out the back.

The cells are cut into the same cross-sectional shape as an aeroplane wing and it is this "aerofoil" section that produces the lift. The pilot is supported underneath the wing from a web of lines, each with the strength to support the pilot. The lines are then attached to risers, straplike devices, that are attached to the pilot's harness.

Solo paragliders typically have an area of 20-30 m2 and weigh 5-7 kg. Glide angles range from 7:1 to 10:1 and top speeds from 45 to 65 km/h.

Tandem paragliders, designed to carry the pilot and one passenger, are larger but otherwise similar.

Paragliders (or "Parapentes" in French) have a low top speed, hence are suited to flying in winds of under 25 km/h and relatively smooth air conditions. The non-rigid structure of paragliders relies on a constant angle of attack to maintain the shape and profile of the wing section.

Turbulent air changes the angle of attack and can deflate part or all of a wing while in flight. "Collapses" are typically easy to deal with but require some training to manage correctly.

Paragliders are suitable for mountain flying in low-wind conditions, and are often flown in thermally active areas or coastal locations where a sea-breeze is prevalent, allowing ridge soaring.

Early paragliders had very poor performance and it was generally only possible to fly from the top of the hill to the bottom. As the paraglider technology developed more possibilities opened up: staying up for as long a time as possible (maximum duration), getting as high as possible (maximum altitude gain) and flying as far as possible (maximum distance). The sport has developed further and now has several sub-disciplines each with its own adherents and competition circuit. These are:

Soaring

Flying for the simple pleasure of flying, anywhere from sand dunes to mountain ridges, usually at well understood flying sites.

Cross country (XC)

Taking off and trying to fly as far as possible from the take off site. Good XC pilots are experts at finding and using different types of lift such as thermals and can fly 10-200km in a day depending on the landscape and weather conditions.

Racing

Typically flying defined tasks as a race against others. Competition pilots use special high-performance gliders that demand a high level of pilot skill to fly and can complete 30-100km races in one to three hours. The world's best racers compete in the Paragliding World Cup and the Paragliding World Championship.

Accuracy

Spot landings. The top pilots can reliably landing within ten centimetres of the target every single time.

Acro (acrobatics)

Doing tricks such as loops and wingovers. See Acromania for a description of the various tricks. In acro competitions pilots score points for the difficulty of the tricks they do and how well they are performed.

Vol-rando and para-alpinism

Walking or climbing up a hill or mountain with a lightweight paraglider for the pleasure of the ascent and then descending using a paraglider. A complete set of paragliding equipment (wing, harness, helmet, etc.) typically weighs 15-20 kg, the equivalent specialist lightweight kit can weigh as little as 5 kg.

Vol-biv (vol bivouac)

Doing multiday trips combining paragliding, walking and camping. Vol-biv trips last from a couple of days to several weeks.

Record hunting

Several world records are recognised, typically for flying as far as possible or completing a defined task as quickly as possible. Breaking a world or national record nowadays requires a huge amount of planning and preparation, pilot skill, the very best equipment, as well as a bit of luck on the day.

Adventure flying

Exploring the corners of the world with a paraglider, demanding a high level of self-reliance and commitment. Adventure pilots fly where no-one else has done before and often where an unintended landing would be extremely serious due to inhospital terrain or remoteness.

Pilots typically start with soaring, whether thermal or ridge soaring. Some move on to cross country, vol-rando, acro or accuracy flying, while many are content to simply get in the air at their local flying site. Experienced cross country pilots might then explore racing or vol-biv, whereas those who enjoy vol-rando might try para-alpinism. Acro paragliding is an emerging sport and very much the realm of extremely skillful pilots. Record hunting and adventure flying is for those at the top of their game.

A beginner should learn from a fully-qualified instructor. Paragliding is aviation, and pioneers in aviation have always had high fatality rates. You don't want to be a pioneer. Teaching yourself is extremely dangerous.

One of the nine fatalities in the United States in 2003 was a self-taught pilot attempting to fly in high winds by tethering to a fixed object on the ground. A bystander was also seriously injured in this accident.

Fixed-rope towing and tethering with fixed ropes to objects is extremely dangerous and has resulted in several other serious injuries and fatalities. Training is essential in any form of aviation. Pilots should not sell used equipment to people who do not have proper training.

Safe towing requires a weak link, a proper tow device and training for both the pilot and the tow operator.

The origin of paragliding has roots in the sport of parachuting. In the early 1960's, American parachutist Pierre Lemoigne was successful in cutting slots in the round parachute canopy to allow for air to flow through the canopy. This had a dramatic effect on the lift to drag ratio and allowed the pilot to steer the chute in a predictable manner.

In 1962, Walter Newmark of England took note of Lemoigne's design and modified it so that the chute could be towed aloft. During the 1960s, parascending became a popular sport among the English. Newmark was responsible for the creation of the British Association of Parascending in the early 1970's.

In 1964, Domina Jalbert of Florida invented a square canopy called the Ram Air Para Foil. The Ram Air worked by allowing air to pass through the double surface glider allowing for better maneuverability and increased lift. Walter Newmark soon adopted this canopy for his parascending activities. Using specially designed ram-air parachute canopies, instead of wings of aluminium and dacron, paraglider pilots launch, glide and soar in much the same way that hang-glider pilots do.

Not until the 1970s did the sport take off. Gerard Bosson, André Bohn and Jean Claude Bétemps introduced paragliding at the 1979 World Hang Gliding Championships.

The first pioneering foot-launched flights on gliding parachutes were made during the mid-1960s by David Barish in the U.S. The sport of recreational paragliding as we know it today was born in Mieussy, France, in 1978 and grew rapidly during the mid-1980s in the French and Swiss Alps as commercial manufacturers improved the glider designs to optimize them for soaring flight.

As of April 2004, the World record distance flown was 423.4 km, set by Canadian William Gadd on 21 June 2002 from the town of Zapata, Texas, United States.