FREEFLIGHT
Ride the air — paragliding gear, glide ratios, and free-flight know-how.
From checking your wing loading and working out a glide ratio to reading a sink rate, sizing up a wind window, gauging a thermal, and picking a harness size, FreeFlight pairs free hands-on calculators with practical guides and a richly illustrated museum of free-flight aircraft and their history. General guidance to fly smarter — never a substitute for certified instruction.
Free-Flight Calculators & Tools
Free tools for paragliding and free flight — wing loading calculator, glide ratio calculator, sink rate calculator, wind window & crosswind calculator, thermal lift estimator, and a harness sizing guide.
Wing Loading Calculator
Add up pilot, gear, and glider weight and enter your wing area to get your all-up weight and wing loading in kg/m² and lb/ft², plus a general performance-band read
Glide Ratio Calculator
Work out your still-air glide ratio from a distance-and-height reading or an airspeed-and-sink-rate pair, with an optional wind adjustment for your ground glide
Sink Rate Calculator
Estimate your average sink rate in m/s and ft/min from an altitude lost and elapsed time, with a general read on how brisk that descent was
Wind Window & Crosswind Calculator
Split a launch or ridge wind into headwind and crosswind components and check the total speed and crosswind against general guidance bands for your experience level
Thermal Lift & Climb Rate Estimator
Turn an altitude gained and time spent circling a thermal into a climb rate in m/s and ft/min, a general strength read, and a projected time to a further target altitude
Harness Sizing Guide
Get a general harness size suggestion from your height, plus a check of your all-up flying weight against that size's typical certified weight range
Free Flight Museum
Wander an immersive museum of the aircraft and people behind unpowered and minimally-powered flight — paragliders and paramotors, hang gliders, wingsuits and BASE jumping, and the historic gliders and pioneers of flight who made it all possible, each in its own gallery. Every entry, image, and fact is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
Tour the museum →From the Journal
Practical guides on gear, flying technique, weather and thermals, and safety — the reasoning behind the numbers the tools above produce.
How to Read a Wind Window Before You Launch
A practical walk-through of headwind and crosswind components, why the angle of the wind matters as much as its speed, and how to build the habit of checking both before you commit to launch.
Understanding Wing Loading: Why the Same Glider Flies Differently for Every Pilot
Wing loading is simple arithmetic — total weight divided by wing area — but it quietly shapes turn speed, stall behaviour, and how forgiving a glider feels. Here's what the number actually means in the air.
Glide Ratio Explained: How Far Can You Really Go From That Altitude
Glide ratio tells you how far a wing travels for every metre of height lost — but wind changes what that number means over the ground. Here's how to think about both.
Reading Thermals: The Weather Signs Every Pilot Should Know
Long before you feel a thermal in the wing, the sky and the ground around you are often showing signs of where and when it triggered. A guide to reading those cues.
Choosing Your First Harness: A Beginner's Guide to Fit and Safety
A harness is worn on every single flight, yet it's often the last piece of kit new pilots think carefully about. Here's what actually matters when choosing one.
What to Expect from a Paragliding Course: From Ground Handling to Your First Solo Flight
A realistic look at how a beginner paragliding course is usually structured, what each stage is actually teaching you, and why the ground-handling phase matters more than it seems.
Keep Learning
Plain-language explainers on the foundations of free flight, reading weather and thermals, the gear and safety systems pilots rely on, and the history and culture behind the sport — everything you need to go deeper, alongside certified instruction.
Visit the Learn hub →