[Ma8ee]

My father used to fly when I was little, but he quit. When I asked him about it he said he used to think that it was only the crazy ones that got killed. But then a few people he knew as careful and level headed died in accidents. My father's conclusion was that the sport is inherently dangerous, and he wanted to make sure that he was around while me and my siblings grow up, so he quit.

This must have been in the early eighties. Maybe the gliders and/or training become better. But still quite a few people died. Since then more people do paragliding, which to me seems to be inherently safer.

[samvher]

I'm not convinced that paragliding is inherently safer. The speeds are lower, and it's not "head-first". But at least a hang-glider is a solid device that can't randomly collapse (a common cause of paragliding accidents). From what I've seen in terms of safety stats, they are similar, with sailplanes being a bit safer (though my sense is that that depends on whether you fly sailplanes in the mountains or flatter areas, with mountains being significantly more dangerous).

[Cherian]

Gliders have become a lot more safe but logistically much more challenging to transport than PGs.

[spacemark]

As a former paraglider who's been eyeing sailplanes, I'd love to believe this - got any good links to data at hand?