Hello,
I have owned three total now. They are for the most part pretty simple. Yeah anything that does not fall in the ultralight catagory (ie 5 gal of fuel or less, single seater, 254lb or less etc.) had to be registered. The FAA passed a dead line in 08 for all existing 2 seaters be registerd.
Anyway, as for comparason to the back packs (paragliders). They are a whole nother breed.
You can get them ranging in power, but the most common are the Rotax 582 (65hp). Though you can opt for the 100hp, but can figure on the cost being twice as much. Prices vary alot depending on new or used and the size.
If I were to guess a new 2 seater runs anywhere from 10 grand to 35 grand.
One of my previous ones was a rare one, fitted for taking of and landing on water. New it was just shy of 45k. Which is crazy, I bought it used by the way.
As for flying we are limited to the winds, anything above 8 to 10 mph is unconfortable to me. but you can fly in 12mph winds. It's hard to compare to a fixed wing, I have some time in a cessna. It's more like your floating I guess, and swooping down in pastures grazzing the grass is hard to beat.
By Sport Pilot we are limited to 10,000 feet, though I have never been close to that. About the highest personaly for me is 3600' and then I start to worrie about one of you big boys screaming by lol.
Also as far as crosscountry, it not practical, though I can easly cover 60 or so miles one way. And get about 3 hours of flight out of a 15 gallon tank. Speed ranges between 28 and 32mph on average. This all depends on the winds, weight and the chute. Probably the most common chute is the slow and sluggish square (actually retanguler) they range in all sizes, most common being the 500 square footer. And the sportier ellipticals are small but can carry as much weight, fly faster, cut on a dime, let rpms to maintain level flight etc. As with anything, there are all kinds of improvements if you have the money to spend.
Most of our flights are early mornings, late evenings when it's the most calm. So much more that 2 to 3 hours is about it.
Anyway, if you have any specific questions I'll do my best to answer. If you ever get the chance to go up in one, I can promiss it not to disappoint.
As for being safe, they are like anything else, it takes good judgment, common sense and so on. These planes are vurtually stall resistant, can't spin em, collapse the chute etc. Actually you can but, it's something you have to make it do and then its not easy.
It only takes one jacka$$ like in the above link to make our sport look bad and set us back.
Take Care,
Craig
