To be honest there are not many downsides to the actual cage itself. But to satisfy both sides of any argument you need to have some negatives, so, here goes. If you can think of any more then please let me know.

• Convenience: There is no denying the cage is more cumbersome than a conventional paraglider, this is much less of a problem than you may initially think. When the cage is folded for instance it will fit, complete with harness and reserve into it's own bag which is only slightly bigger than a lot of paraglider bags and about the same size as some that I have seen. When walking up the hill after a bottom landing it can be a bit awkward as the assembled cage is quite large. the weight does not tend to be a problem because you can leave it attached to your hang point, but then again you could always fold it up which takes seconds.

• Safety on the ground: A lot of people feel that having to control a metal framework directly above your head you will inevitably have it crashing down on you at every opportunity. I would suggest that while learning, you leave your nice shiny new, mirror finish full face helmet at home and use your old one, as I did leave a couple of scratches in my one. This was more due to my clumsiness on occasions especially on launch turns. As your skill grows this will become less of a problem and, in fact, JLD does most of his ground work without a helmet.

• Safety in the air: This is, perhaps, the most important aspect of any type of flying machine. After all, the whole idea of them is that they fly, and don't break, collapse or disintegrate and send you plummeting to the earth. Being very new to cage flying I can only at this stage pass on second hand and testimonial statement from existing pilots. But exactly can be said from my experience with paragliders. In as much I have not been in a life threatening situation with either and all of my information comes from my peers. The issue with most people it seems is the absence of brakes on the cage. The best way to look at this in my opinion is to visualize the cage as a kind of floppy hang glider which uses pitch control to speed up or slow down, and uses roll to steer. The reputation of the cage has been extremely good with only about six accidents reported with over 100 cage's being flown over the last few years and none of these were disabling or fatal incidents and none were attributed to the cage itself. From a cynical point of view you are at least as safe as with a paraglider and probably very much safer given the same conditions and level of skill. The cage has also a couple of unique devices to aid pilot safety. The first is the big ears handle that allows the pilot to bring in the ears of the canopy at any stage in flight or on the ground. The second is the single hang point which eradicates the turbulent throwing around that the PG pilot experiences during rough air or collapses.

• Legality: This is a tricky one. Because the cage is so radically different from a paraglider there are no formal tests in existence that can cover the cage so therefore it remains an uncertified glider. In a lot of countries this can be a definite problem. Germany, for instance, forbid the cage to be flown there at all. I myself have had to do a lot of work in Britain to be able to have the chance of gaining a special dispensation to register the glider with the BHPA in Britain. At time of writing I am just getting the relevant paperwork in order to allow me to do but it was not a forgone conclusion when I started. It has taken quite a long time, and several cage pilots (Andre Amyót, Karl Stice and of course JLD among others) helped me tremendously by passing on the relevant information as I needed it. I have found the cage community to be one of the friendliest and most supportive I have ever come across, and Karl Stice even invited me to stay at the family's own personal chalet during my stay in France to learn to fly the cage. Once my registration is complete, it hopefully should make the whole process a lot easier for future British pilots and if you are in from a country which does not yet recognize the cage then all is not lost, you just need perseverance.

• Tuition: There is currently no-one in Britain who teaches cage, and in fact the only two countries I am aware of involved in cage tuition is France at JLD cage and America with CageUSA. I went to France because it is closer. In the end it did not cost me any more and perhaps even less than it cost me to learn to fly a paraglider. For instance to take my CP rating cost me £172 but only because I brought my entire kit as I took the course and would have cost me £330 if I had not. For the cage tuition my airfare was £112, with train fares at about £34 return. JLD charged me nothing and is at the moment not charging anyone for tuition if they are buying a Cage. Anyway the overall cost of travel was £146. I did not have to pay for accommodation but I did share food/petrol expenses so actually paid just over £200 plus spending money which would have been the same whether or not I had bought the cage. Not a bad deal and I had a great holiday in France as well. There is at least one British School owner currently interested in teaching cage perhaps this year and as the sport progresses there will undoubtedly be more. The down side to tuition is that you have to start from scratch. Some people will be more adept than others but you will have to go through the clumsy learning stages to get to all the good bits, actually flying the cage.

• Cost of equipment: The Lagon cost about the same as all of the mainstream recreational paragliders and a good deal cheaper than a lot of them. It is very strongly recommended that you buy the purpose built cocoon for the cage due to the unique nature of the single hang point fixing, but even this cost the same as your modern pg harness. You can buy second hand cages from France but but they don't seem to be a lot cheaper and seem to hold their value very well.