12000 paramotors were sold in the UK in 2006.
and they are used to travel.... how far on average from the launch point???
You will be quoting lawn mower sales next. I am sure they are even higher. And they probably cover more distance (seriously)
I have no problem with people flying without transponders in so far as they are
legal doing so (ok, it renders an RIS useless much of the time, causing the £millions spent on LARS to go to waste) but they have exactly zero moral high ground to stand on if something goes wrong.
We all share the same airspace, and each of us ought to be chucking something into the common pot.
Fortunately, the statistics are firmly on the side of the pilot who gets airborne, puts the autopilot on, and never looks outside the window. All he has to do is keep above 1000ft AGL and enter IMC as soon as possible.