Paragliding 7200 ft. above the Missouri River!

Paragliding in my home state of Missouri for the first time!
Pilot | Andria Lea
Triple Seven Team Pilot

[@TommySchuch]

Looks amazing 🔥🔥🔥

[@AndriaLea]

Definitely one to remember!

[@YankeeinSC1]

nice climb! Airplane traffic?...I worry most when on long straight glides. Getting run over from behind seems more possible because of the narrow profile of the wing as viewed from behind, but the constant maneuvering associated with staying in thermals, should increase your both visibility and situational awareness. That's not to say even a two pilot crewed plane won't be plowing along, with both pilots heads down in the cockpit, not looking outside. It's less likely bellow 10K feet, in fact far less likely due to sterile cockpit procedures. At least they'll only be going 250 kts. 😬 The more likely scenario is the part 135 cargo single pilot operation, flying a single pilot turboprop like in the Fulshear TX accident. Over tasked, maybe typing into a nav system, or organizing paperwork, or playing a video game/texting on his phone, or like I was actually taught many years... ago still doing the weigh and balance (yes even long after takeoff to insure it's done before landing incase of an inspection)...I think now most 135 operators are required to leave a W&B copy with a ground agent before departure, but the point is that there are plenty of tasks and bad decisions that distract those smaller operator's pilots from actually looking out the window for traffic. Without a second pilot to help insist on higher levels of professionalism, it can be like the wild west. Try to avoid hard altitudes like 6000' or 7000' for long periods of time. Published airways really don't matter because GPS and radar vectoring uses the entire sky, but you can certainly try to avoid departure & arrival corridors, which are more often utilized than Victor airways. If you're flying near a busier airport, take a look at Airnav for that airport and peruse some of the terminal procedures, SIDs & STARs (the procedure hyperlinks) to see where the planes are likely to be and at what altitude. I'm guessing this fantastic flight started with a tow to 2000' AGL or so?

[@AndriaLea]

Thanks! It was a fun flight. Yes exactly, towed up 😊