A couple of good hints in the video! Especially for beginners. But I'd invite you to not-so-turbulent-as-American-West central Alps in April, or to the Dolomites in June with north winds. Then we can talk about whether Europeans have any idea about turbulence.
28+ years flying paragliders, and I've always used speedbar when needed without any dramas, but... ...a couple of months ago, I added a Flare Moustache 18m² "parakite" to my kit for coastal fun 'n' games, and NOW it's clear what "speed" means. In effect, it has a speed-system in place of the brakes. Taking off is best in 8+ metres/second winds 😳 I've NEVER tried that with a standard paraglider, because in truth, they are NOT meant for speed. Paraglider = chill out machine. "Parakite" = speed machine, which will still fit in a tiny backpack. Cheers all. 🪂
I like to kite in strong conditions with just my rears/C's. No brakes, just rears. It builds comfort flying in the air with full bar and hands on rears. There is a lot of control to be had with the rears, and dumping energy gained from speedbar can help pump the wing after a deflation.
Love me some speed bar! The no the comp guys are speed bar all the time 😅. Good to practice that fine balance and using the speed system. Great talk Chris! Looking forward to your videos
I love your discourse I've watched it several times and I've noticed another thing. I asked the school if I have to have a speed bar . I'm just a bag of wind hanging in the air on another bag of wind. If you didn't have a speed bar you couldn't do a top landing. I'm not sure with the one in 500 collapse rate, if I want to be using the speed bar down low when landing.
Thanks for all your videos Chris. I'd love to see a part 2 relating to paramotor and speed bar use, including comments on reflex mode. My reflex wing (and I think most of them) have a limit on trim level to where you are allowed to pull breaks. I transition this into some rules for myself of: only fly in reflex during smooth conditions (early morning, calm evening) and only when I have enough altitude to 'comfortably' get a reserve out if sh*t hits the fan. To me it's basically a cross county tool and I don't use it for local flights where I'm just having fun. My main question is, if you did hit turbulence in reflex mode, with and without bar, would you consider use of rear risers even though these lines are lightly loaded, or pump tip steering toggles, or just stay hands up hoping you fly through it then release bar and pull trim in?
So, I need ~1/2 in. dia. cut dowl rods going through my c-riser webbing, or c-riser handles, like Red Bull X-Alps or something? My last flight, I should have had those c- riser handles installed...I got locked-in, down low on speedbar. (highway hypnosis)
Great topic. I'm now flying an Ozone Photon, my first 2 liner. Have flown the Zeno1 for reference. Came from the Delta4, and really am a huge fan of the ACR handles and the pulleys. I became known for never using brakes and only the ACR handles, which is awesome and efficient, and is the perfect trainer for the Photon specifically, and all 2 liners. The new wave of ENC 2 liners basically change the rules. The Photon is quite safe. How do I know that? Well, I have a very fortunate opportunity (free SIV) with an inadvertant application of full bar while trying to get in my difficult pod harness right after launch. I was still on brakes and not on the B risers, the rear risers. Got a full frontal not high up right after launch, and the Photon behaved like an A glider recovering from the frontal, leaving a small cravat on the left easily popped out with brake. Scared the crap out of me, but I was very grateful it did happen. Now, I have the rule: NEVER get in your pod unless you are off brakes and on your rear risers to prevent collapse if you accidentaly get on your speed bar. And you nailed it. Constant use of speed bar is how you get the performance. The Photon, like other gliders, is trimmed to be forgiving off of bar, but you are missing out big on the intended performance. Your use of speedbar is what makes you a unique pilot the exact ways that you use it. I use it all the time, and never inefficient brakes. I am religiously loaded up on the rear risers, and I still have only had the inadvertant speed bar incident. Never any collapses on D4 or Photon, and it's definitely because of loading up the ACR or rear risers instead of the brakes. It takes courage to ease up to it, but thermaling I find is most efficient on 1/3 speedbar, and super aggresive on rear risers. It allows for greater play with the rear risers without reaching stall point so you can turn as sharp as you like in thermals, and you have total control of your angle of attack. It loads the glider up the most you can load it up being on speedbar and rear risers, and it makes the glider much more stable. On full bar, and rear riser pressure, the Photon doesn't wiggle in the air like a Zeno, and the Photon wiggles the same as the Zeno off of speed bar. On bar, it's rock solid. Also, the Photon has the same line arrangement as the Zeno2, and there''s only 12 main lines. Each one is extremely loaded compared to a 3 or 4 liner. Darren Dix here, on dad's computer. Excellent video. You know what you're talking about.
@7:37 I think we learned about the 1/1000 being something that needs to be considered with Hurricane Helene in the mountains of the Carolinas. Eventually you'll find your self in air you that will make you wish you were on the ground.
1 in a thousand is the universal odds on any event, at some point preceding the event far enough out not too far in time. If the odds across the board are one in a thousand on the group and it includes me you and Chris I'm better watch that speed bar. When I went to the school and I got my parachute epsilon 9 I asked the teacher if I could just leave the speed bar off.
You forgot to mention, speedbar is pitch control on a paraglider. You should not be scared of it because a well trimmed paraglider will not collapse fully accelerated unless turbulance is very high in which case it might collapse even unaccelarated and if you don't have the skill to fly in those conditions then you should make a wise call and stay on the ground. You absolutely have to use speedbar when trying to penetrate into wind. Your glide angle is a balance of sink and forward speed . If the wind speed is the same as your glide speed, you will sink out in the spot you're in. The only way to penetrate is to increase your forward speed which means speedbar. You absolutely don't want speedbar if you are gliding down wind if you are interested in best glide (Unless in comp and you want to get to the next thermal quicker (but you will get there lower(always a trade off 🙂))). You are absolutely correct about using the rear risers for directional control (with weigh shift) when on speedbar. You are correct, paragliders are the slowest aircraft and the most advanced gliders cannot match the performance of a fixed wing. It's just physics. The difference between accelerated and trim on most gliders is about 10km/h. Nothing earth shattering 🙂
Good advice. I personally go on my speedbar when my glide ratio goes below 6.0. Obviously this number may be slightly different for everyone, depending on weight and glider flown. But I find that if I dip below 6.0 I can usually increase my glide ratio by going faster through air with no lift or sink. And when I put on bar it's always in increments. First rung is around 25%. Second is around 50%. Above 50% and you really need to be active with your weight shifting and flying with rear risers to ensure you don't get collapses. It's also good to practice efficiently transitioning from active flying to speed bar and off again. Speed bar is an important tool for safety when you're flying XC, particularly in situations where you find unexpected sink or headwinds around obstacles.
Wasn't the bar initially introduced as an additional tool in the box in order to escape the hill and get away from terrain in strong launch conditions to avoid getting blown over the back? Also with motor wings that are full reflex when fully accelerated all advise that brake use when fully accelerated WILL CAUSE DEFLATION. This is counter intuitive to many motor pilots that have stepped into a reflex wing without a good RTFM. There are many examples of that bar causing them much more trouble than it was worth especially without putting a good study on their wing manual.
You can get away with not attaching your speed bar until you don't. I wouldn't have survived a number of situations if I forgot to attach my bar. Getting blown back is the danger. The wind can get stronger after you launch as well.
I'm surprised how many videos I see on YT where someone is flying without their bar connected. Flying with speed bar disconnected, because the conditions seem mellow and the forecast is nice, is a bit like flying without your reserve because you're not planning to crash today. It'll probably be fine, but you'll be kicking yourself if it isn't. There's no real penalty to having it connected.
150hr pilot here and have never used speed bar and honestly don't know how to properly hook it up. I could probably figure it out but would rather be trained on it. I question weather I should ever use it seeing some of the videos that are out there from using it and making the wrong moves. I agree that these are slow flying machines and so far have been happy and feel pretty safe just using the trimmers.
Are you 150 hrs on paramotor? I feel like if you push into any higher wind situation on a paraglider, especially in the western US, speed bar use is something you should be familiar with to avoid blow back on a ridge, specifically right on launch given wind speeds can increase quickly with altitude. Also, many paragliders don't have trim. Yes, pushing bar can increase chances for collapse (same with releasing trim in turbulance), but it's much more preferable than getting blown back into rotor. If you stick to PPG you probably don't really need bar unless you're really pushing for speed.
1300+ h pilot here - free flight. I push my speed bar almost always when I fly straight. 50% accelerated is my standard gliding mode, 80% accelerated if I need more speed, and full bar if I need to escape or to be very fast.
Oh yeah! I don't know about the slowest aircraft that exists! I clocked my Ozone Photon at 70 kilometers per hour on 1/3 speed bar, tailwind obviously. It's faster than the Wills Wing falcon. I always whip most of the hangliders anyway, but they know they can't keep up with a Photon with a Falcon. It's not a Zeno though. the Zeno's always outperform the Photon, but the Photon is remarkably safe for having all the performance that it does. T2, on the other hand, no. That's why I am learning to fly hangliders too!
😀you can't be serious 😀 I fly hang gliders and paragliders and there is no question where to go if you want to go fast. The WW Falcon is a 'floater', right? 😀
When you're on speed bar, and you pull brakes when you should have pulled rear risers, you're gonna have a bad time! Pizza, French Fry! Southpark logic.
People should understand the word paraGLIDER. Problem solved. Anyway. Of course the Americans, like usual fly better, faster and in much more demanding fields and altitude like the rest of the world 😉. I guess he never heard SWISS ALPS in his flying career, and not to mention the main reason why manufacturers put a speed bar on a paraglider in the first place. Hilarious 😂😂😂😂
When you have pilots you have big egos and you have to have all sorts of confidence and think you're the best to keep from falling out of the sky. We are talking about a bag of wind holding up a bag of wind.
I like your video. Mathematically you make many errors. The United States is as big as Europe. There is always a mathematically deficient Swiss person who wants to compare all of America and seek out the flattest easiest part. I live in Nebraska. The clouds here are not as powerful as the clouds in Arizona in the desert. In Arizona the cloud height is a lot higher. The updrafts that form a cloud in Arizona are very powerful. If you were in Arizona in that dry air and flying and get sucked into a cloud, it is forming so quickly you can't fly fast enough to get to the edge. There is no equivalent in the Alps. So you want to take some little tiny area that's got one kind of geography and compare it to a giant of a place with many kinds of geography. I'm learning at a school in Minnesota they have to tow me into the air every time because it's very flat there. Then I get to glide down to the ground and I have a landing zone a thousand meters on a side. Just the one difference between the two areas Arizona has very little moisture and very high clouds. A lot of it is just as flat as Minnesota. Minnesota is wet Arizona is dry. One of the things with stupid people is they can't admit things are alike and different at the same time. That's the difference between thinking and feeling you can stand to have two different thoughts cognitive dissonance and figure things out. You can't have two opposite feelings.if you are Swiss and you feel your mountains have more turbulence than other mountains good for you but you're not thinking you're feeling. I bought an epsilon 9 one of the reasons I bought the epsilon 9 is in the advertising."this Wing will fly through turbulence better than you can fly it. However we recommend active flying."remember the woman on the German team that flew up into a cloud hit 33,000 ft altitude and the wing guided her back to the Earth and landed her gently enough that it didn't kill her? Pilot error is the number one killer in paragliding. Flying condition and turbulence are universal worldwide and they are all the same world wide. Most people are extremely emotional about this and if you translate it into emotional about people it would be obvious. My wing is not developmentally disabled, compared to other aircraft. That's the emotional feeling people have about a wing.
@davinderc yeah she was fully conscious the whole time she was in the air with that glider the whole time even when she was 33,000 ft. After she was oxygen deprived and damn near dead and damn near froze to death she still was the best pilot going and landed that wing
There are deserts outside the US, but what do Americans know about international geography anyway... Always "America's duh greatest country in duh world..."
@davinderc it's just a matter of how big a place you're talking about. If you're in a place the size of Europe you can travel a lot and never need a passport or know geography about anything that is not in Europe.
A couple of good hints in the video! Especially for beginners. But I'd invite you to not-so-turbulent-as-American-West central Alps in April, or to the Dolomites in June with north winds. Then we can talk about whether Europeans have any idea about turbulence.
Lmao
Is that because of high altitude very low humidity desert conditions with dust devils that go to 15000, or is it because of mechanical turb?
absolutely awesome videos - new best paragliding channel on YT!
28+ years flying paragliders, and I've always used speedbar when needed without any dramas, but...
...a couple of months ago, I added a Flare Moustache 18m² "parakite" to my kit for coastal fun 'n' games, and NOW it's clear what "speed" means.
In effect, it has a speed-system in place of the brakes.
Taking off is best in 8+ metres/second winds 😳
I've NEVER tried that with a standard paraglider, because in truth, they are NOT meant for speed.
Paraglider = chill out machine.
"Parakite" = speed machine, which will still fit in a tiny backpack.
Cheers all.
🪂
Nice editing Colten! Been waiting for this one.
Excellent as ever. Keep the videos coming. They are always useful.
Good tips, Chris.
Great content as usual nicely done.
Good stuff, thanks Chris!!
I like to kite in strong conditions with just my rears/C's. No brakes, just rears. It builds comfort flying in the air with full bar and hands on rears. There is a lot of control to be had with the rears, and dumping energy gained from speedbar can help pump the wing after a deflation.
Thank you more than 200 hrs no incidents no collapses and I been flying a little be of everything, learning everyday. I wanna fly until the end.
Love me some speed bar! The no the comp guys are speed bar all the time 😅.
Good to practice that fine balance and using the speed system. Great talk Chris! Looking forward to your videos
Thank you for this video. Wise words. Keep it coming.
I love your discourse I've watched it several times and I've noticed another thing. I asked the school if I have to have a speed bar . I'm just a bag of wind hanging in the air on another bag of wind. If you didn't have a speed bar you couldn't do a top landing. I'm not sure with the one in 500 collapse rate, if I want to be using the speed bar down low when landing.
Can you just add handles and pull em with your hands?
Thanks for all your videos Chris. I'd love to see a part 2 relating to paramotor and speed bar use, including comments on reflex mode. My reflex wing (and I think most of them) have a limit on trim level to where you are allowed to pull breaks. I transition this into some rules for myself of: only fly in reflex during smooth conditions (early morning, calm evening) and only when I have enough altitude to 'comfortably' get a reserve out if sh*t hits the fan. To me it's basically a cross county tool and I don't use it for local flights where I'm just having fun. My main question is, if you did hit turbulence in reflex mode, with and without bar, would you consider use of rear risers even though these lines are lightly loaded, or pump tip steering toggles, or just stay hands up hoping you fly through it then release bar and pull trim in?
5:36 Details? Was this pilot on speedball? Good thought provoking video.
Man, I miss being out in Draper
So, I need ~1/2 in. dia. cut dowl rods going through my c-riser webbing, or c-riser handles, like Red Bull X-Alps or something? My last flight, I should have had those c- riser handles installed...I got locked-in, down low on speedbar. (highway hypnosis)
Great topic. I'm now flying an Ozone Photon, my first 2 liner. Have flown the Zeno1 for reference. Came from the Delta4, and really am a huge fan of the ACR handles and the pulleys. I became known for never using brakes and only the ACR handles, which is awesome and efficient, and is the perfect trainer for the Photon specifically, and all 2 liners. The new wave of ENC 2 liners basically change the rules. The Photon is quite safe. How do I know that? Well, I have a very fortunate opportunity (free SIV) with an inadvertant application of full bar while trying to get in my difficult pod harness right after launch. I was still on brakes and not on the B risers, the rear risers. Got a full frontal not high up right after launch, and the Photon behaved like an A glider recovering from the frontal, leaving a small cravat on the left easily popped out with brake. Scared the crap out of me, but I was very grateful it did happen. Now, I have the rule: NEVER get in your pod unless you are off brakes and on your rear risers to prevent collapse if you accidentaly get on your speed bar. And you nailed it. Constant use of speed bar is how you get the performance. The Photon, like other gliders, is trimmed to be forgiving off of bar, but you are missing out big on the intended performance. Your use of speedbar is what makes you a unique pilot the exact ways that you use it. I use it all the time, and never inefficient brakes. I am religiously loaded up on the rear risers, and I still have only had the inadvertant speed bar incident. Never any collapses on D4 or Photon, and it's definitely because of loading up the ACR or rear risers instead of the brakes. It takes courage to ease up to it, but thermaling I find is most efficient on 1/3 speedbar, and super aggresive on rear risers. It allows for greater play with the rear risers without reaching stall point so you can turn as sharp as you like in thermals, and you have total control of your angle of attack. It loads the glider up the most you can load it up being on speedbar and rear risers, and it makes the glider much more stable. On full bar, and rear riser pressure, the Photon doesn't wiggle in the air like a Zeno, and the Photon wiggles the same as the Zeno off of speed bar. On bar, it's rock solid. Also, the Photon has the same line arrangement as the Zeno2, and there''s only 12 main lines. Each one is extremely loaded compared to a 3 or 4 liner. Darren Dix here, on dad's computer. Excellent video. You know what you're talking about.
Online acdemy please? Chris would rock at this
@7:37 I think we learned about the 1/1000 being something that needs to be considered with Hurricane Helene in the mountains of the Carolinas. Eventually you'll find your self in air you that will make you wish you were on the ground.
1 in a thousand is the universal odds on any event, at some point preceding the event far enough out not too far in time. If the odds across the board are one in a thousand on the group and it includes me you and Chris I'm better watch that speed bar. When I went to the school and I got my parachute epsilon 9 I asked the teacher if I could just leave the speed bar off.
You forgot to mention, speedbar is pitch control on a paraglider. You should not be scared of it because a well trimmed paraglider will not collapse fully accelerated unless turbulance is very high in which case it might collapse even unaccelarated and if you don't have the skill to fly in those conditions then you should make a wise call and stay on the ground.
You absolutely have to use speedbar when trying to penetrate into wind. Your glide angle is a balance of sink and forward speed . If the wind speed is the same as your glide speed, you will sink out in the spot you're in. The only way to penetrate is to increase your forward speed which means speedbar.
You absolutely don't want speedbar if you are gliding down wind if you are interested in best glide (Unless in comp and you want to get to the next thermal quicker (but you will get there lower(always a trade off 🙂))).
You are absolutely correct about using the rear risers for directional control (with weigh shift) when on speedbar.
You are correct, paragliders are the slowest aircraft and the most advanced gliders cannot match the performance of a fixed wing. It's just physics.
The difference between accelerated and trim on most gliders is about 10km/h. Nothing earth shattering 🙂
What an intro... goals :)
Good advice. I personally go on my speedbar when my glide ratio goes below 6.0. Obviously this number may be slightly different for everyone, depending on weight and glider flown. But I find that if I dip below 6.0 I can usually increase my glide ratio by going faster through air with no lift or sink. And when I put on bar it's always in increments. First rung is around 25%. Second is around 50%. Above 50% and you really need to be active with your weight shifting and flying with rear risers to ensure you don't get collapses. It's also good to practice efficiently transitioning from active flying to speed bar and off again. Speed bar is an important tool for safety when you're flying XC, particularly in situations where you find unexpected sink or headwinds around obstacles.
thanks for sharing your insights
Wasn't the bar initially introduced as an additional tool in the box in order to escape the hill and get away from terrain in strong launch conditions to avoid getting blown over the back? Also with motor wings that are full reflex when fully accelerated all advise that brake use when fully accelerated WILL CAUSE DEFLATION. This is counter intuitive to many motor pilots that have stepped into a reflex wing without a good RTFM. There are many examples of that bar causing them much more trouble than it was worth especially without putting a good study on their wing manual.
Wish I could fly in those American conditions once cuz I don't know if anything beats the turbulence of flying in the Alps.
Excellent information
Can’t think of a situation where I would even hook up a speedbar… but i’m still pretty new.
You can get away with not attaching your speed bar until you don't. I wouldn't have survived a number of situations if I forgot to attach my bar. Getting blown back is the danger. The wind can get stronger after you launch as well.
I'm surprised how many videos I see on YT where someone is flying without their bar connected. Flying with speed bar disconnected, because the conditions seem mellow and the forecast is nice, is a bit like flying without your reserve because you're not planning to crash today. It'll probably be fine, but you'll be kicking yourself if it isn't. There's no real penalty to having it connected.
This video will probably reduce several accidents
Thanks Chris.
150hr pilot here and have never used speed bar and honestly don't know how to properly hook it up. I could probably figure it out but would rather be trained on it. I question weather I should ever use it seeing some of the videos that are out there from using it and making the wrong moves. I agree that these are slow flying machines and so far have been happy and feel pretty safe just using the trimmers.
Are you 150 hrs on paramotor? I feel like if you push into any higher wind situation on a paraglider, especially in the western US, speed bar use is something you should be familiar with to avoid blow back on a ridge, specifically right on launch given wind speeds can increase quickly with altitude. Also, many paragliders don't have trim. Yes, pushing bar can increase chances for collapse (same with releasing trim in turbulance), but it's much more preferable than getting blown back into rotor. If you stick to PPG you probably don't really need bar unless you're really pushing for speed.
@@el0zilcho yes, all hours on paramotor. SE Michigan resident living/flying in farm country.... very flat and wide open fields.
1300+ h pilot here - free flight. I push my speed bar almost always when I fly straight. 50% accelerated is my standard gliding mode, 80% accelerated if I need more speed, and full bar if I need to escape or to be very fast.
Oh yeah! I don't know about the slowest aircraft that exists! I clocked my Ozone Photon at 70 kilometers per hour on 1/3 speed bar, tailwind obviously. It's faster than the Wills Wing falcon. I always whip most of the hangliders anyway, but they know they can't keep up with a Photon with a Falcon. It's not a Zeno though. the Zeno's always outperform the Photon, but the Photon is remarkably safe for having all the performance that it does. T2, on the other hand, no. That's why I am learning to fly hangliders too!
😀you can't be serious 😀 I fly hang gliders and paragliders and there is no question where to go if you want to go fast. The WW Falcon is a 'floater', right? 😀
Don't try to scratch your nose on full bar on your Enzo3... Self inflicted SIV 😂
Eh calm glides I even took some photos :D
If you want to go fast, get in a hang glider.
A little bit faster.
When you're on speed bar, and you pull brakes when you should have pulled rear risers, you're gonna have a bad time! Pizza, French Fry! Southpark logic.
It s not that easy, especially if you use trim flaps when landing
Im here for the salty Europeans
People should understand the word paraGLIDER. Problem solved. Anyway.
Of course the Americans, like usual fly better, faster and in much more demanding fields and altitude like the rest of the world 😉.
I guess he never heard SWISS ALPS in his flying career, and not to mention the main reason why manufacturers put a speed bar on a paraglider in the first place.
Hilarious 😂😂😂😂
When you have pilots you have big egos and you have to have all sorts of confidence and think you're the best to keep from falling out of the sky. We are talking about a bag of wind holding up a bag of wind.
I like your video. Mathematically you make many errors. The United States is as big as Europe. There is always a mathematically deficient Swiss person who wants to compare all of America and seek out the flattest easiest part. I live in Nebraska. The clouds here are not as powerful as the clouds in Arizona in the desert. In Arizona the cloud height is a lot higher. The updrafts that form a cloud in Arizona are very powerful. If you were in Arizona in that dry air and flying and get sucked into a cloud, it is forming so quickly you can't fly fast enough to get to the edge. There is no equivalent in the Alps. So you want to take some little tiny area that's got one kind of geography and compare it to a giant of a place with many kinds of geography. I'm learning at a school in Minnesota they have to tow me into the air every time because it's very flat there. Then I get to glide down to the ground and I have a landing zone a thousand meters on a side. Just the one difference between the two areas Arizona has very little moisture and very high clouds. A lot of it is just as flat as Minnesota. Minnesota is wet Arizona is dry. One of the things with stupid people is they can't admit things are alike and different at the same time. That's the difference between thinking and feeling you can stand to have two different thoughts cognitive dissonance and figure things out. You can't have two opposite feelings.if you are Swiss and you feel your mountains have more turbulence than other mountains good for you but you're not thinking you're feeling. I bought an epsilon 9 one of the reasons I bought the epsilon 9 is in the advertising."this Wing will fly through turbulence better than you can fly it. However we recommend active flying."remember the woman on the German team that flew up into a cloud hit 33,000 ft altitude and the wing guided her back to the Earth and landed her gently enough that it didn't kill her? Pilot error is the number one killer in paragliding. Flying condition and turbulence are universal worldwide and they are all the same world wide. Most people are extremely emotional about this and if you translate it into emotional about people it would be obvious. My wing is not developmentally disabled, compared to other aircraft. That's the emotional feeling people have about a wing.
Why should we trust you? You also make mistakes: Ewa Wiśnierska landed herself, not the glider...
@davinderc yeah she was fully conscious the whole time she was in the air with that glider the whole time even when she was 33,000 ft. After she was oxygen deprived and damn near dead and damn near froze to death she still was the best pilot going and landed that wing
Are you high or drunk?
There are deserts outside the US, but what do Americans know about international geography anyway... Always "America's duh greatest country in duh world..."
@davinderc it's just a matter of how big a place you're talking about. If you're in a place the size of Europe you can travel a lot and never need a passport or know geography about anything that is not in Europe.