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Thanks Mark, I'll give it a go

Hi. Can anyone recommend a flight tracker with sat map overlay and altitude at any given point along the track? Ta v much Dan

Hi Mark. Really appreciate your input, thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

Still a dream to step out of my house and fly from my back garden. Now then, where'd I put that lottery ticket?

I think for new pilots the novelty of flying PPG balances out the inconveniences that are inherent within the sport. I can remember for the first 4 years or so, I was completely transfixed by it, whenever I was in the car I was constantly assessing any location I visited by it's 'launch-ability' factor, always on the lookout for that flat piece of land, it was like an obsession. I grew a tangible hatred for over-head power lines. It was like a kind of madness. Unfortunately though (for me) that novelty loses it's edge and those attached inconveniences start to really grate, in fact I can see a point in the not too distant future where the difficulties and challenges in practicing the sport will outweigh it's appeal. But here's the rub; every other sport I participate in (mountain biking, motorcycling, paddle-boarding, sex), although I'm doing it, I'm thinking about PPG, but memories from the early days. It's a bit like Heroin, you're always chasing that first high. Ho hum, maybe I'm doing it wrong

Hi Paul. Unfortunately official launch sites in this area no longer exist. If you see a PPG flying, the chances are that they are either flying from somewhere without permission, or are flying with a very delicate permission that would be revoked if more pilots started turning up. I'm sure this situation is not unique to this area ie a pilot occasionally flying losing their permission because a load more pilots crash the party. It happened to me and it's really upsetting, especially when you have worked really hard preparing the site to make it flyable, and made promises to the land owner that only you will fly there. It would be great if we could have an official flying field where we could form a club, but any spare flat land just gets snapped up by developers and built on very quickly. Dan.

Unfortunately we lost that launch site when they removed vehicle access and built a wooden foot bridge right across it, last year

How have you measured your thrust? I'm asking as I have the same PPG as you, except I'm using an Eprop. I can measure my thrust, but not sure of the accurate way to do it

I remember this character from when I used to fly Cessna's from Barton Airstrip 15 years ago. He was bad enough back then, I guess this just proves idiosyncrasies become more extreme as you get older.

I've been flying my Niviuk Link 1 (23m) in combination with my PAP Polini Thor 250 and PAP Rolling trike. The combination seems to work fine even though flaring takes a fair bit of muscle. The other day I worked out the all up weight which includes me + clothing 85kg, PPG + 10 litres fuel 45kg, Rolling trike 15kg - Total: 145kg. Which according to the specs is 25kg over the max all up weight. I know it's far better to be over weight than under weight, but I'm not sure whether or not 25kg is pushing it too far. I'm flying 99% of the time in perfect conditions, so not too worried about weather induced collapses, but you never know what might come out of nowhere, and I imagine a collapse would be fairly dynamic. Any thoughts or experiences appreciated. Dan

I've used a Garmin Foretrex 401 for my flying for years now, but have just bought a Garmin Fenix 5, mainly because there are Garmin apps you can upload to it that have useful flying parameters (Alt, GS, Flight time etc). Just wondering if anyone using an Android watch with a similar app

Yes, we are extremely lucky to be able to fly, so freely in such an amazing place.

What days are you going to be in Bornos next week Danny?

Thanks Danny. I'm 82kg, but not sure I can get to Bornos next week. The forecast is looking great though, so might have to move a few things around