Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's the cheapest and most lightweight way to fly. It also works very well as a photography platform because you're basically sitting upright in a bucket seat.
That's awesome. Looks fun as hell. I don't know if I'd be brave enough to get that close to the ground though, might slightly misjudge and hit a little too hard or get my foot caught up or otherwise slow down my flight enough to crash. Obviously these guys are probably professionals though.
You're not going very fast. If you misjudge and slide out you're only going to tumble a bit, and you're almost always flying low over soft stuff like grass, sand, or snow. Wiping out on a mountain bike for example would be WAY more painful.
Is it at all risky considering a bird strike could take you down and out? I know it's rare, but it's also possible something as simple as that could end your life. Is there a backup chute?.
Bird strikes aren't a big deal unless a bird flies into one of your lines because it was unable to see them and somehow cuts the line, which is very unlikely because the lines are all made of Spectra or Kevlar. If you're flying with a motor and a dumb bird destroys your propeller you just glide down as if you're unpowered, and the key here is that you've already chosen to fly in such a way as to be within glide distance of a decent landing spot should your motor die.
What IS a big deal is if the wing collapses (loses its aerofoil shape) due to turbulence in the air, but this is mitigated by flying in the right weather conditions and flying in the right locations - the leeward side of a row of trees on a high wind day for example would be a very very bad idea because turbulence will be present behind the trees.
Very nice video but I fear that guy is likely not long for this world.
The only thing dangerous in this video were the 360 degree tumbles, but even those seem to have been done high above the ground which would have given them time to throw out and deploy their reserves if something bad were to happen. I've seen some stupid paragliding shit, and this video doesn't contain any.
Most do have a backup chute, not sure if it's actually required here in the US but most people still have a professionally packed backup. I sure as hell wouldn't do anything involving a parachute without one, it's the only insurance you've got if shit goes pear shaped.
The USA is extremely lax on regulations, the idea being that it's a solo sport so it's not worth the regulatory overhead if you're just going to fuck yourself up. The USA does regulate tandem operations though because you've got a passenger under your care. The USA is one of the few countries that doesn't have such regulations though, as most other countries requires licensing and training through a governing body, which IMO is a good idea because there's a LOT you have to know to fly safely.
But yeah, we almost always fly with a reserve that gets repacked every 1-2 years. In the event of an unrecoverable collapse you throw it out the side and it deploys within 500 feet, which means you need to be at least 500 feet above the ground. Most deaths result from people getting collapses when they are low to the ground and there is not enough altitude to deploy their reserve. People doing acrobatics like those 360 tumbles in the video sometimes carry two reserves, since with acrobatics sometimes the reserve can get tangled with the main wing on account that you're doing, you know, acrobatics.
The only time we don't use reserves too often is when we're soaring along the coast, because a sea breeze blowing inland from the ocean is always extremely laminar and smooth, with not a bump to be felt. And if you're flying above standing water you should have a flotation system installed as people have drowned when they get tangled in their lines. And avoid moving water like rivers at all costs. Those will just kill you.