If power kites can have an inflatable leading edge, why not paragliders? I’M sure there is a good reason, I just don’t know what it is. I know Ozone makes equipment for both sports, so they must have thought about doing it.
On a different topic, which harness is better to learn with, an Ozone oxygen or a Supair radical?
With my current financial situation I can only buy equipment in bits and bobs, so I am wanting something I can use for everything. I heard that
The supair harness is adaptable.
The reason why paragliders do not have an inflatable leading edge is…
You could never DePower the glider in high wind or gusty conditions!
Imagine landing in a 12 mph wind, upon landing, you need to put that glider on the ground “and get it to stay there”!
With the leading edge inflated it would pop back up and drag you until you resembled a Roadkill carcass.
Those who have flown in those conditions have lots of stories…
We tend to run 8-9 psi in the leading edge and struts on our kitesurfing kites. That’s what it takes to get much rigidity. That requires much heavier material and a bladder, that would add a lot of weight. With the wingspan of a paraglider, you would also need a pretty big diameter on that leading edge to get much rigidity. And you would still need to get air into the wing to keep the rest of it inflated.
Just wanted to tack on, since it’s not very intuitive, that a leading edge collapse in flight can be a feature and not a bug.
When a glider surges ahead in flight and collapses - it gets draggy, falls back, and (with sufficient altitude) recovers. If the leading edge were rigid and the wing could sustain more low/negative G, it would be possible for the wing to surge and tuck, potentially badly enough for you to fall into the wing.