Paragliders Hanging By Threads

We saw them floating through the sky from Interstate 35 near Lewisville, Texas. I gasped because they seemed perilously close to the power lines. “They look like they are closer than they are,” my husband assured me. They were powered paragliders.

In a field, I could see where they had launched. It looked like another was about to go airborne. “See ‘em?” I squealed, and my husband laughed and started looking for the next exit. I have him trained now … he knows when I’m going to cry, “Photo-op!”

We searched the back roads until we found the field. My husband pulled to the side of the road and stopped just as my feet hit the ground. I couldn’t wait for him, because I had to go investigate! I had to talk to the man whose sail was spread on the ground.

I had to inspect the engine that those men strapped to their backs.

Amazingly, that thing only weighs about 75 pounds when it has a full tank of gas, and it comes apart and will fit into a small bag for travel. I found this out when I talked to the man who owned it.

His name was Don Brock, and he teaches paragliding (you can visit his website, called Winggear.com if you want to learn how to do it). In fact, he said he has taught fifty-some-odd people to fly … most of them men between the ages of 50 and 71! I guess as you get older, you figure that “you aren’t going to make it out of this life alive,” so you might as well risk your neck and have fun.

I’ll watch you. You just thought I had hairy legs, but those aren’t hairs, they are feathers … because I’m chicken! “Chickens don’t fly,” as you will discover if you look at Don’s website.

I felt a thrill of fear, and my motherly instinct came out when I saw the itty-bitty lines that attach the sail to the engine. Those boys were dangling from lines that looked like thread! I started clucking like a mother hen (fitting, don’t you think?).

Can you see how tiny those lines for the harness look? They looked as fragile as spider webs to me. “Is that all that you have to support you?” I asked.

He laughed and said, “Lady, those are made of Kevlar. They are strong, in fact if you get tangled up in them during flight, they could kill you.”

Hmmm. Sounds like one more reason I don’t want to try this sport.

It is not an inexpensive one. A new rig, like Don’s could cost $13,000 or more. He said, “I want the best, because this is about my life.”

Uh … Don, darlin’, if you are worried about your life then don’t fly the dadgum things in the first place!!!

Aw, heck. I can’t fault them for having fun in their own way. There certainly was a big grin on this fellow’s face, as he brought his powered paraglider in for a landing. Those power lines ARE close, and don’t listen to anybody who tells you differently!

One of the voices in my head wants to admit that it looks like fun, but the sane voice in my brain says, “Don’t go any higher than you want to fall!”

Just this once, I’ll listen to that particular voice! For me the sport of powered paragliding seems much more fun to just stand back and watch.

Other posts you might enjoy:

1. Did Y’all See That Orange Basketball Hanging In The Sky?
2. Just Hanging — Clothes
3. Fear of Crayons
4. Alien Buried at Aurora?
5. Art Walk and Music in McKinney, Texas

Tagged as: MY NECK OF THE WOODS, photographs