rodbailey

1. Bring my humility. Humility makes it ok to walk down, ok to sink out, ok to spend an hour fishing my wing out of a bush rather than scratching close to terrain for a long time in thermal conditions trying to climb back out....and especially, ok not to launch.

2. Keep the RCRs in mind. If you're not familiar with Robertson's Charts of Reliability, they are a strong tool for quantitative management of risk in paragliding and hang gliding. I try remember that how scared I am--or not--is not a good indicator of how much danger I am in. The RCRs give me a structured format for evaluating "wind (weather), wing, and windividual." Never mind the cuteness, this is seriously valuable. You can order your set of the RCR's here. Michael Robertson is a great guy who has been teaching hang gliding since the 70s, and more recently is one of the guys you'd really like to have around when paragliders or hang gliders are getting towed.

3. Remember that the decisions I make--and things that happen to me--in the morning can contribute to me crashing in the afternoon. Almost no paragliding accident has a single isolated cause, things add up on us the same way they do in mountaineering.
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1 - Analyse present conditions predictively : how much I slept, how confident I am feeling, the local weather, how I am reacting compared to what I should expect, the purpose of my flight and decisions.

2 - When I have not flown for a week or more, take it extra careful for the first few hours. This is specially true in winter and end of winter when facing active conditions again and your body is a step behind your mind.

3 - Never underestimate flying. Always expect trouble (traffic, wind, collapses, material failure, need for reserve toss, etc.). This has saved my hide many times.
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1 - Master your equipment. Flying a wing you don't feel in full control of? Take a maneuvers clinic. Not being familiar with your electronics (radio, camera, GPS) can mess you up in flight. An improperly adjusted harness can make you feel too much of the wing's roll motions and scare you out of the sky. An uncomfortable harness can take a lot of pleasure out of a flight.

2 - Don't push it. Hoping that big XC will happen today despite the so-so conditions and you scratch close to terrain to make it back up? At one point you will be there when conditions are right which allow for a long + safe XC. Don't push to make it happen.

3- Learn from other' mistakes. Others paid the price before you, at least learn from them. Read stuff like this once a year, and you may now relate to things you didn't before.
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Wind: if its too strong or not in the right direction for take-off/soaring, I don't start and I just enjoy the view.

Wing: Is everything OK in the flying material, no problems with the wing , harness, vario... I remember starting once, the speed bar was stuck somewhere under the seat and I had to fly asymetrically accelerated for the whole flight!

Weather: How are the thermal conditions, is there a risk of cloud overdevelopement. I try to read the sky as a sailor reads the see. Some time I feel like flying in more strong conditions, another day, a quiet evening flight straight down will provide me with enough pleasure.
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1. Just because other people are flying doesn't mean conditions are good enough for me to fly safely.

2. Height is good - it is the ground that is dangerous. Minimise the time spent below 100m, and be very very careful when you have to fly that low.

3. Wings do not stall, spin or cascade without pilot input. When it self-packs stop mucking about with it, put your hands up and let it fly.
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Fly with respect ..
Respect the conditions
Respect your kit
Respect others around you