Glider Maintenance

Maintaining your Glider

As a pilot, there is nothing more important than the proper maintenance of your flight equipment from a safety perspective, but you also want your glider to last well and remain bright and attractive, so how should you care for your equipment? Here are some tips and ideas to prolong useability, maintain appearance and above all retain excellent safety.

Folding your canopy

How do you repack your canopy depends on what sort of terrain, wind conditions and whether you have. You will need to decide which method is most appropriate for your situation. If there is any wind, first, you orientate the canopy so that one tip is pointing into the wind. This makes it less likely to blow around while you fold it. Next, make sure the canopy is laid out flat on its back with no lines underneath it. Place all the lines on top of it (undersurface). Note – it is recommended that the harness is left attached and is thrown over so that it just clears the leading edge of the canopy: this keeps dirt and scuffing to a minimum, prevent lines becoming tangled and makes it easy to check that the harness is in the bag.

Fold the canopy as neatly as possible. If you are alone, or the terrain is rough and you do not wish to drag the fabric over the ground, this is the best achieved by folding the tips into the middle, then each end to the middle again, and so on. If you have help you can either fold the canopy from each tip one panel at a time, or concertina fashion, one panel at a time, starting at the center and pulling each panel in as you fold. When the canopy is arranged as a double pile of folded panels press out the air trapped inside. This must be done working from the sealed trailing edge towards the leading edge where the air can escape easily through the cells entries. Fold one side onto the other and press out any remaining air in the same way, and fold from the trailing edge forwards. This should give you a fairly tidy package with the harness still attached, but not wrapped up in the fabric.

Try to avoid carrying it around like this, as the bundle will inevitably slip apart. Always carry your rucksack with you so that you can pack the canopy up immediately. Note that some design feature battens of plastics or fiberglass sewn into the fabric, care must be taken to ensure these are not bent or under tension as they can snap and damage the canopy or wear holes in their retaining pockets.

Care of the Canopy

The fabric generally used for paragliders is prone to damage by repeated exposure to ultraviolet light, so do not leave it lying out in the sun for long periods. This is particularly important where the sun’s rays are very intense, for example at high altitude or law latitudes. The fabric and lines are of man-made fibers and are easily damaged by heat. Take care not to smoke near them and never attempt to dry a canopy by applying direct heat. It is advisable to avoid getting the canopy wet but, of course, it sometimes happens. If so, dry it out fairly soon afterwards as it is possible to get mould or mildew on the fabric which can leave unsightly marks (paragliders dry in a matter of minutes in a breeze as long as water is not trapped in the cells). Never store the canopy near chemicals or fuel as this could affect the material.

If you are flying in a hot climate take care to pack your canopy into its bag and protect it from great heat. Canopies with Dyneema lines risk them shrinking if the temperature exceeds 100” C – this has happened where unpacked canopy has been left inside a car. Never use chemicals to try and clean the fabrics or lines, some cleaners that will remove oil will also attack the fabric (which is of course a by-product of oil).

Sometimes, of course, paragliders do get damaged. If the damage is to the lines or a riser, or the webbing or metal of the harness, do not fly until it has been professionally checked and repaired. If the damage is a small tear in the fabric of the harness, it should have no effect on safety. If the tear is to the canopy fabric it should be repaired as soon as possible. Minors tears, that is to say those less than 10 cm long that are not on a seam or line attachment point, can be repaired using self – adhesive rip – stop tape. If applying this kind of tape there are a number of pointers to get the best results.

• The canopy must be completely dry and clean
• The tape should give a generous overlap around the damage
• The edges of the tear should be carefully aligned in their original position, otherwise there will be creases and additional strain on the area
• Always round off the corners of patches
• A patch should always be applied to both sides of the fabric
• Do not forget to make a special point of checking the repaired area as part of your pre flight checks

For more information about maintaining your glider, contact the glider manufacturer. Also, visit www.flytorrey.com for lots of excellent information about paragliding.

PLEASE NOTE: This guidance is for informational purposes only and should not replace any manufacturer advice or educational training.