Preston, Lancashire, 2015, UK Weather. Northerly Winds bring paragliders to the Trough of Bowland. As its name suggests, it takes the form of a long ridge which rises in a north-easterly direction from within the town of Longridge to its summit miles distant. The fell is a good example of a cuesta; the ridge has a sharp drop or escarpment on its northern side, and a gentler, more varying slope on its southern side. These features make it a popular take off for hang-gliders and paragliders on the relatively infrequent occurrences of a northerly wind.
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness suspended below a fabric wing comprising a large number of interconnected baffled cells. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside. Despite not using an engine, paragliders flight can last many hours and cover many hundreds of kilometers, though flights of one to two hours and covering some tens of kilometers are more the norm. By skilful exploitation of sources of lift, the pilot may gain height, often climbing to altitudes of a few thousand meters.
Size: 2400px × 3600px
Location: Longridge, Preston, Lancashire, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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