Glider, Harness & Reserve Lifespan Management Guide

Half of safe flying is decided by your equipment's condition. Paragliding gear is affected by both hours used and time elapsed, so it should be managed by records — not vague intuition.

Glider (paraglider)

• Lines: length and strength change with hours used. Follow the manufacturer's recommended inspection cycle.
• Cloth (canopy) porosity: ages with sun, moisture, and storage condition. It's good to record when periodic inspections are due.

Harness

For a harness, cumulative airtime and the carabiner replacement cycle are key. Carabiners are recommended for time-based replacement due to metal fatigue.

Reserve

For a reserve, the repack cycle matters most. Generally it should be opened and repacked every 6–12 months to ensure proper deployment.

Managing with records

Relying on memory alone makes all these cycles easy to miss. FlyWise automatically sums cumulative hours and tells you when an inspection or repack is due — for setup, see How to manage equipment.