Sailplanes - Gliders
After many years of paragliding on competition level (OLC 2007 - 5th place in open class) and 2 serious accidents I decided to try out sailplanes, hoping to find more security.
I considered going for motor planes but it seems too expensive to me (1h flight 150EUR) and not really being a sport, rather a mean of transport.
Here is a small comparison between sailplanes, paragliders & deltas
Paraglider |
Delta |
Sailplane |
|
| min V | 21km/h |
30km/h |
80km/h |
| max V | 70km/h (open) |
120km/h |
280km/h |
| Glide | 7-10 |
12-19 |
30-60 |
| min sink | 1.0m/s |
0.8m/s |
0.5m/s |
| Max XC | 461km |
800km |
3000km |
| Price gear | 3500EUR |
10 000EUR |
120 000EUR |
As you can see, sailplanes have quite higher performance and can also fly in any conditions (waves, strong wind etc.). However it has its price.
