Having flown sailplanes, hang gliders and paragliders, I can add that each one has its advantages and disadvantages. For scenic flights in smooth benign conditions, nothing beats the view and simplicity of a paraglider or a hang glider, the former is best suit for traveling anywhere in the world. For flying big miles in big air, nothing come close to a sailplane, and for me this outweights everything. But I will go on a limb here and say that the majority of sailplane flights are local flights which could easily and relatively safely be done also in hang gliders or even paragliders.

Ramy