Very cool to see such low carbon aviation. How dangerous are these to fly? And do they make any that can carry a few passengers?
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
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Gliders are mostly used as a sport and it is reasonably safe, if you know what you are doing. In WW2 gliders were used to land troops via air, but I do not know of any modern gliders used as transport.
how dangerous
According to this infographic, moderately dangerous, but no more than general (hobby) aviation
Edit: two person gliders are common, but not more than that
Thanks. So do you mean the somewhat dangerous category?
I have heard of two seaters but it would be nice to be able to bring a couple friends on a little trip like this. Maybe someday when the tech advances a bit more.
I guess rail will remain the main option for this, but sadly I live in the backwards USA where our rail network is quite limited and there are only a handful of realistic destinations.
Gliders are listed under "dangerous" in that infographic, 1 death in 50,000 hours, which is 200x more dangerous than commercial aviation.
This appears to be a regular glider, so it requires towing by a regular (carbon-spewing) airplane to get airborne. It must be amazingly cool and fun, but it's always felt to me a bit like cheating.
Much more interesting are paragliders. There's a documentary about a couple of crazy guys who literally crossed the Karakoram using the wind and updrafts and nothing else. That really captured my imagination.
The pilot is flying a self-propelled glider that uses an electric motor to get airborne, seen at 1 minute into the video.
These self-launching electric gliders are actually getting pretty impressive - the FES (Front Electric Sustainer) systems only weigh about 35kg but can give you enough power to launch and even maintain altitude if you hit sink, making cross-country flights way more accesible without needing a tow plane.
Well that'll teach me for not watching before commenting.
Many gliders are also pulled up by winch and not airplane, and those winches are typically electric as well.
Interesting. Didn't know that.