Description of Paraglider Certifications

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Class EN

Class    Description of flight characteristics    Description of the pilot skills required 
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A        Paragliders with maximum passive            Designed for all pilots
         safety and extremely forgiving flying       including pilots under
         characteristics.                            all levels of training.
         Gliders with good resistance to
         departures from normal flight.
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B        Paragliders with good passive safety        Designed for all pilots
         and forgiving flying characteristics.       including pilots under
         Gliders with some resistance to             all levels of training.
         departures from normal flight.
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C        Paragliders with moderate passive           Designed for pilots familiar with
         safety and with potentially dynamic         recovery techniques, who fly “actively”
         reactions to turbulence and                 and regularly, and understand the
         pilot errors.                               implications of flying a glider
         Recovery to normal flight may               with reduced passive safety.
         require precise pilot input.
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D        Paragliders with demanding flying           Designed for pilots well practised in
         characteristics and potentially             recovery techniques, who fly very
         violent reactions to turbulence             actively, have significant experience
         and pilot errors.                           of flying in turbulent conditions,
         Recovery to normal flight                   and who accept the implications of
         requires precise pilot input                flying such a wing.

DHV Class






Classification
 
Addition
 
Description




 
1
 
Paragliders with simple and very forgiving flying characteristics.





1-2
 
Paragliders with good-natured flying characteristics.





2
 
Paragliders with demanding flying characteristics and potentially dynamic reactions to turbulence and pilot errors. Recommended for regularly flying pilots.





2-3
 
Paragliders with very demanding flying characteristics and potentially violent reactions to turbulence and pilot errors. Recommended for experienced and regularly flying pilots.





3
 
Paragliders with very demanding flying characteristics and potentially very violent reactions to turbulence and pilot errors, little scope for pilot errors. For expert pilots.






G
Only explicitly listed types of harnesses






GH
"H"-braced harnesses - any group GH harness may be used with that glider (=almost all modern DHV/OeAeC-cerified harnesses)






GX
Cross-braced harnesses - any group GX harness may be used with that glider






Biplace
Certified for biplace operation






Y
Hang type harness (for historic reasons)






S
Special harness

The classification scheme gives a scale for the grade of pilot skills necessary to operate a glider safely. The overall classification of a glider is found by taking the highest (e.g. most demanding) classification in a single flight test category.

The addition to the overall classification denotes the group of harnesses that is allowed to be be operated with the glider.