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What is ASPECT RATIO in Paragliding

Published on Sat, Jun 8th 2024 Sports Rectangular HD

Paragliding Aspect Ratio - What is it and why is it important? If you are a beginner paragliding pilot or an experienced pilot, this video will explain aspect ratio and help you understand how it affects wings performance, handling, safety,...

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the wingspan* to the average chord** of the wing, which affects the glider's performance, behaviour and stability. Simply: a long, narrow paragliding wing has a high aspect ratio, whereas a short, wide wing has a low aspect ratio.
Aspect ratio is often used to predict the aerodynamic efficiency of a wing because the lift-to-drag ratio (glide ratio) increases with aspect ratio, improving speed and overall performance.

Aspect ratio also has an important effect on the handling of a wing, but perhaps not as you might expect! Actually, purely having a higher aspect ratio makes a wing less manoeuvrable, slower and harder to turn. Assuming equal pilot skill, a pilot on a lower aspect ratio wing should easily outmanoeuvre a pilot on a higher aspect ratio wing. This is very noticeable on days with very narrow thermals: the pilots on lower aspect ratio wings can more easily turn tight enough to stay in the lift, whereas the pilot on the higher aspect ratio has a much harder time!
This is an unhappy compromise which more performance-oriented pilots tend to have to accept when prioritising highest performance. Of course the wing designers will do what they can to improve the handling of higher aspect ratio paragliding wings!
At the other extreme, very low aspect ratio wings - for example, speed wings - tend to dive a lot in turns, losing a lot of height, and not convert energy well, which is not the best for handling either.
So the best handling paragliders tend to be mid aspect ratio wings, from around 5.0 to 6.2, usually in the mid B to mid C range, and designed with nice handling as a high priority.
So it is not at all unusual for "B" and "C" wings to have better handling than "D" wings!

* The wingspan is the distance between wingtips.
** The chord is the distance between the leading and trailing edges of the wing, front to back.

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