Dudek revealed the weight of their Run&Fly paraglider live on Facebook on 9 November: it weighs just 986g in the 16m² size. Dudek say that makes it the World’s lightest paraglider, and we can’t think of one that is lighter.
The Run&Fly was made for trail runners and hike-and-flyers, but makes a good travel companion for anyone with four litres of space left in their travel bag. You could even take it on a plane as hand luggage.
A single-surface wing, Dudek say it is lighter and more stable than a regular paraglider, making for easy, safe take-offs, great manoeuvrability in flight and smooth landings. Its organic, intuitive handling makes it fun and easy to fly.
It was designed by Jean-Baptiste Chandelier, Team Dudek and Jacques Peugeot (airframe sizing engineer) in close collaboration with Porcher Sport. The design goals were very strict: it had to weigh less than a kilo, and have speed and flare comparable to standard wings. It also had to be affordable, to make it accessible to a wider public.
The sale price will be €1,999, and the team say the finished product has more than exceeded their expectations:
“Besides reaching our goals we also achieved a good glide ratio – around 7. Although we usually avoid publishing the glide ratio of our paragliders, because this parameter is sometimes subject to manipulation, we made an exception with Run&Fly. We want to give potential pilots at least a rough understanding of what they can expect from the fact that such an innovative wing exists”.
The quoted weight is for the 16m² size, but there will eventually be four sizes.
