This swirling mass of warm air and dirt, commonly known as a dust devil, isn't something I'd want to fly into on a paraglider or any other light aircraft for that matter.

At first glance it seems simple enough to avoid until you realize that these jewels can develop just as easily in areas that are void of dust and debris in which case there may be no visible indication of their presence.

Let's suppose for a moment that instead of a dusty desert there was an asphalt runway just behind this thing and a debris free field, dead brown grass for instance, just this side of it. You're on final at 100' to land in the field and suddenly your glider is well below the horizon in front of you.

This scenario is the only natural phenomenon that really scares me about flying paragliders.

I suppose it would hold true, as with most other atmospheric events, that these vortices will come in all shapes and sizes with varying degrees of intensity. Rotational velocities, according to the experts, typically vary from 30 to 70 mph.

That's probably insignificant to the pilot of a jet aircraft but certainly worthy of note to a paraglider driver. Fortunately the duration of these events are generally brief and encounters are rare.

Still, if it happens close to the ground, it could easily lead to instant disaster. I'll probably never quit flying paragliders because it's just too much fun, but I will tell you that I'm a hell of a lot more vigil about scanning the terrain in my launch path as the very last item of preflight. The same goes for all approaches to landing.