Risk perception for paragliding practitioners.

• Autor(a) principal: Paixão, Jairo Antônio da
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Tucher, Guilherme
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFOP
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufop.br/handle/123456789/5492; https://doi.org/10.5923/j.sports.20120202.01
• topic: Risk; Practitioner; Paragliding

As an adventure sport, paragliding exposes participants to different levels of life risk. However, the boundary between calculated risk and real risk is a subtle one, depending on the practitioner’s perception. Thus, this study aimed to analyze risk perception of 73 paragliding practitioners. The descriptive-exploratory study method was used. Data was col-lected via a questionnaire validated according to the Delphi technique. Variables were evaluated from a bipolar Likert type scale, ranging from 1 to 7. Paragliding pilots perceive risk as a genuine form of ludic adventure. When airborne, their per-ception of risk is related to their level of confidence in technique mastering and equipment quality. A selfish attitude was also observed: pilots are aware of their own risks but fail to realize the risk they can pose to others when rules are ignored.