What if…?

What would you do if you smashed yourself up in a crash? Would you start paragliding as quickly as you could? Would you give up? Or would you come back cautiously and hesitantly? Andrew Craig decided to face this question head on and went looking for an answer

I’ve been lucky; I’ve flown paragliders for 24 years without hurting myself badly. I know that I can thank luck more than skill – I’ve thrown my reserve, landed downwind, been blown into bushes and hit a barbed wire fence. But I’ve never had more than cuts and bruises.

Many of my friends and acquaintances have been less lucky. From skygods to weekend warriors, they’ve had to deal with hospital stays, operations, and lengthy recuperation. I decided to ask a few of them how they decided whether and how to fly again.

Tom de Dorlodot is at the top of our sport – a professional pilot whose adventures have included representing Belgium in the Red Bull X-Alps numerous times. He’s currently recovering from a kite-skiing accident, but in 2015 he broke his back during a paragliding tour around the Adriatic Sea. As he came in to land in Croatia, his wing collapsed in turbulence. He remembers the incident clearly, though it lasted only a few seconds.

“I hit a tree, and for the first few minutes I was paralysed. I have a friend who had a paralysing accident, and he’s in a wheelchair now. I...