Body Position

While flying acro, and during SIV, paragliders adopt an upright body position. Pilots often tuck their heels up to their buttocks, in order to reduce the risk of twisting by decreasing rotational inertia.

I recommend that most pilots, including experienced pilots adopt a similar body position; relatively upright, but with relaxed legs, with knees kept at most shoulder-width apart. Widening your legs only increases drag, without any benefit.

The choice of harness greatly influences the range of body positions that a pilot can comfortably adopt. I recommend flying with a harness with relatively low carabineer hang-points, as this provides better response from weight-shift, which is our primary mechanism of control.

Laid Back

I recommend that only the most experienced pilots experiment with the laid back body position for a couple of reasons; reduced visibility, and risk of twist by projecting the sides of your legs to airflow. When I began experimenting with this technique, I experienced a little twist when my legs became slightly off-axis during a dive, and thus projected to airflow from the side. At very high speed, this can be a major risk, especially while flying in proximity with terrain.

The advantage of adopting this body position is reduced drag. This is only noticeable at high speed.

You will often see me momentarily tuck my legs during a hard turn. I do this because it feels better for me, but I don't know exactly why. I suggest that, as for the rest of this book, you try for yourself to see what works for you.

Please always keep sufficient margin from terrain, and never try any advanced piloting techniques until you are confident that you have solid fundamental abilities. If you are unsure, please reach out for advice. My intention here is not to promote dangerous practice, but to offer sound advice, also for experienced pilots wishing to further develop their piloting. As such, much of this book contains information that is inappropriate even for pilots with thousands of flights.