Hang Gliding vs. Paragliding in the Midwest

Thanks for your interest in Raven Sky Sports. If you've seen our web site, you may have noticed that our program is 99% hang gliding and 1% paragliding. We have found that the wind and weather conditions in the midwest favor hang gliding flight over paragliding flight. On many days where we enjoy hang gliding, the weather is too windy and/or gusty for safe paragliding. In addition, hang gliders can be aerotowed, but paragliders must be towed aloft via other, less convenient methods, such as winch towing, scooter towing, and automobile towing. There are very
few foot-launch sites for paragliding anywhere near Milwaukee/Chicago/Madison/Rockford, and none that face prevailing winds like the bluffs along the Pacific coast. For these reasons, we have been scaling back our paragliding program and putting almost all of our energy into the continued growth of our hang gliding program.

We began aerotowing hang gliders in 1992, and in eleven years, we've grown from a small club to a group of 200 men and women who hang glide regularly at Twin Oaks Airport in Whitewater, Wisconsin. We have four ultralight airplane tow planes, which perform 50 to 100 tows a day, on peak summer days. Members of our club soar for flights lasting up to six hours. Flights of an hour or two are common. There are four of us in the club who paraglide, when we can. That isn't very often. No one in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, or Indiana gets much airtime with paragliders, except when they take trips to places such as Utah and California. If you are considering hang gliding vs. paragliding flight as a hobby, and you live in the midwest, I advise that you choose hang gliding. It will be a hobby that you can enjoy almost any day, near home, and not just when you travel out of state.

I hope that you choose to take up a sport that you can enjoy for ten months a year near home. Of course, you can also enjoy it in Florida in the winter, and elsewhere in the country whenever you travel. Please consider investigating recreational hang gliding as a hobby.