How do we measure the movement and forces of paragliders in flight?
📍 LadHyX, Paris, France
A paraglider is a lightweight wing with no rigid internal structure so pilots must launch and inflate the wing before take off. In January 2026 I began a postdoc where I am investigating several unanswered questions about the launch and flight of these wings. I took these photos while performing field experiments in Saint Hilaire du Touvet in March 2026.
My research is centered around three central themes:
- Lab experiments using reduced scale wings to study the fluid structure interaction
- Scaling up those experiments to measure the movement of real paragliders during test flights using various sensors
- Working closely with colleagues to model the experimental results.