Mount of Stupidity

The Dunning-Krueger effect

Welcome to the 'Mount of Stupidity'!

Here at touch and go… the sky is not the limit, it’s just the beginning. Even after you’ve got your paragliding license in your pocket, the adventure continues, and we want to make sure you stay on the right track.

Have you heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? Two renowned social psychologists have discovered that ignorance often leads to more self-confidence than knowledge, so people with little experience often tend to overestimate their abilities. They may not even recognize their own lack of knowledge, which can lead to risky decisions.

Recognized despite lemon on the face

For the two psychologists, the following story symbolized a phenomenon that later became known as the Dunning-Kruger effect:

“One day in 1995, a bank in Pittsburg was robbed in the middle of the day. A man, not wearing a mask, smiled at the surveillance cameras after committing the crime. By the evening, the police had already arrested the stunned perpetrator. When they showed him the CCTV footage, he couldn’t believe his eyes: He had been wearing “the juice” after all. It turned out that he had thought that rubbing himself with lemon juice would make him invisible to the surveillance cameras. After all, lemon juice is also used for invisible ink. If he just stayed away from the heat, he concluded, he would be completely invisible.”

In their study, David Dunning and Justin Kruger describe that less competent people tend to

The ‘Mount of Stupidity’ model is about recognizing the threshold of the “Peak of Stupidity” and avoiding falling into the “Valley of Despair”.

During your training to become a certified paraglider pilot, you learned a lot quickly. A natural self-confidence develops from your sense of achievement, you believe you have understood everything and feel you can handle any situation in the air. Now there are two things that can happen to you. If you stop learning at this point, you may consider yourself a complete pilot, even though you may have only scratched the surface. Or, if you continue learning, you may realize that the subject area is more comprehensive and complex than you initially realized.

Valley of despair

Failure to recognize the ‘Peak of Stupidity’ can not only hinder your progress, but also set back your entire flying career or even cause you to give up flying. Only after you realize how inexperienced you really are will you begin to build a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that will guide you on a long and happy flying career.

Here are 9 tips on how to get the most out of your flying career

Fly regularly with experienced pilots to benefit from their expertise
Take part in theory lessons, lectures and courses to expand your knowledge
Deepen your knowledge of meteorology and learn new maneuvers to perfect your flying style
Attend a safety training course at least once a year, especially when a new paraglider comes into play
Broaden your horizons by flying to different countries
Venture into smaller XC or Acro competitions for additional challenges
Work on your fitness to stay physically fit as well as mentally fit
Follow the latest developments in paragliding technology and customize your equipment
Think outside the box - you may also be interested in other flying disciplines such as kitesurfing or skydiving