Along with being delightful, the flight was also very educational.

Early on I found that as the rig rocked slightly to one side or the other with changes in the wind, I was feeling as if I was going to fall over.  I realized that this was my mental programming from being in a wheel chair all the time.  In my chair, if I were to feel it lean more than 15 degrees or so to one side, I would know that I was in danger of tipping over and so would get that little rush of adrenaline to make sure I caught myself and didn’t fall over.

In the paragliding rig, I was of course completely safe, as I was dangling far below a stable wing, and I knew I was safe, but it was still a little hard to override my mental programming.

Further, because I have essentially no trunk control due to my level of injury, if I didn’t hold onto something I could fall all the way to one side of the rig during a good gust of wind.  Not only would I be stuck there until I reached down with an arm to push myself back up, but it would be really hard to keep from feeling a good deal of fright, no matter how comfortable I am in the air, if I suddenly fell over all the way to one side.

I should experience a little more stability once I am piloting and am holding the controls, but really, if I were to try to support myself with them at all, especially when tipping over, it could have very undesirable effects on the wing.  So I think for someone like me who does not have much or any trunk control, having a little higher back support and then strapping oneself to it would help significantly.

I think it would make a huge difference actually and increase my ability to enjoy the flight that much more.  And frankly, it might even be necessary.  If the back were of the design that it could tilt forward but not back, was adjustable as to how far it would tilt back, and had an elastic cord attached to it so that it would move forward only with sufficient force, I think it would give me all the support I would want laterally (assuming I was strapped to it) and would allow me to bend forward somewhat when I wanted to but keep me from falling backward.

Things would be a lot different if my harness was directly attached to the wing and I were dangling from it, but since the wing needs to be attached to the rig (otherwise I would bear the weight of the rig when flying), my upper body has significant freedom to  move in all four directions.  A setup like I have described here should remedy the issues with trunk instability.