flight time is only limited by the height your gliding from, and carrying things would be done with a large packs or what not, not storing things on the glider it's self.
paragliding is actually a popular sport and in mountainous areas i'm sure you'll find a community of them. all it is your doing is gliding down like a paper airplane from somewhere high up, if you know anything bout anything when it comes to aviation this is chump work. another form of paragliding tho is just using a sports chute and is more "safe" but a lot more difficult to build than a paraglider