Cape Town – As Cape Town becomes a “paragliding magnet”, talks have moved to an advanced stage regarding more safety regulations.
This comes after one paraglider landed in busy Main Road in Sea Point, while another was left hanging off the side of a building recently.
A Cape Times reader reported the latest landing in Sea Point on Saturday and recalled a similar incident about three weeks earlier.
“I did write a while back to a previous councillor about the lack of safety. The paragliders riding up to Signal Hill and to Sea Point (do so) recklessly.
"Some landings that I have witnessed have been dangerous to say the least,” the reader said.
According to the latest Google Maps research released yesterday, among the top tourist attractions in Cape Town is Parapax Paragliding Cape Town.
SA Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association chief flight instructor Kev Storie said the sport was booming.
This was a result of increasing numbers of international tourists with licences to paraglide, Storie said, adding that these paragliders were not familiar with the local terrain.
Storie also highlighted the unpredictability of wind in Cape Town, which may see paragliders having to make an emergency landing.
On Saturday, a tourist on a solo paraglide landed in a building.
“The feedback is that the person misjudged how high he was and... landed in the building. There were no injuries,” Storie said.
There had been seven to eight incidents recorded, but the accident rate was low, he said.
“Because there has been an upturn (in numbers paragliding) we are looking at instituting a system at the Hill, especially for non-regulars,” Storie said.
With safety officers present at every official operating site, this would include paragliders having to report to officials at the base, be made aware of the flying conditions, and the checking of licences and equipment, among other measures.
“Incidents are very rare. It’s not been identified as a problem, considering the number of flights a day, but we’d like to be proactive and go for zero issues or incidents,” Storie said.