| Plumber | hang-glider |
| bag-wing | paraglider (jocular term used by plumbers) |
| vario | A vario is an altimeter that indicates rate of climb and descent. |
| wing, glider, canopy | paraglider |
| sailplane | An airplane with no motor. |
| woffa | A non-pilot spectator, usually to be found in the landing zone.
Asks many "what for?" type questions. |
| landing zone, LZ | An official landing site, used with the co-operation of the landowner. |
| launch | An official takeoff area. |
| comp | competition (nothing to do with computers). ie. comp wing - competition paraglider. |
| riser | Webbing that joins the lines to the harness |
| lines | Thin Kevlar ropes that attach to the canopy. |
| site | A flying site. You can't just fly anywhere, there are some organised places with a launch and landing zone. Most sites are capable of providing excellent flying in the right conditions. |
| flyable | When the weather conditions at a site are conducive to a safe flight. |
| sunk-out | If someone "sinks out" they mean they didn't catch that thermal and had a sled ride to the landing zone (LZ). |
| parawaiting | Time taken waiting for weather conditions to improve, or waiting for a lift up the hill because you sunk-out. |
| Bail-Out Field | An emergency landing zone somewhat short of the normal landing zone. If you hit a lot of sink after launch you might need to use the bail-out LZ because you cannot make it to the normal landing area. |
| sled ride | A flight which is straight glide from launch to the landing paddock. (This term derives from the sled as per toboggan, snow-sleigh; and has nothing to do with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and Santa's sled. |
| sink | Air which is descending makes the paraglider sink at a higher rate than in still air. "I hit a lot of sink over the trees" means "I flew into a lot of sinking air ...". Conditions are also described as "sinky". |
| cloud suck | Clouds can generate large areas of lift under them due to condensation
inside the cloud. If the clouds are small enough cloud suck can provide
great flying. Big clouds generate so much cloud suck they are a danger
and should be avoided. We use canopy reduction techniques to get away from cloud-suck. |
| (pub, tree) suck | Pub suck has been known to cause pilots to land near a pub rather than complete their flight plan. Tree suck is reponsible for pilots practicing tree landings. |
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