poz

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

I have 2 Links, a 23 and a 27, and previously a Revo 2. All told I've clocked up around 1000hrs on them and have been happy with all of them. However, now I'm looking for the best 'nil wind' launch wing available. Compared to the Link 1 how do the new wings compare as far as nil wind launching goes? Thanks. Dan (Marbella)

Any takers? https://news.sky.com/story/abusive-and-hostile-low-flying-paraglider-sought-by-police-in-sussex-11485031

Magistrates fined him £600. He must also pay court costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £60. What the hell is a 'victim surcharge'?

I have 2 and ha've flown them for the past 3 years. I really like them as they are stable, easy to launch, and not too fast. Also, when in the mood, they can really be throw around. For what it's worth I recommend the Link. My previous wing was a Paramania Revo 2 which I flew for 5 years and also liked, The glide ratio was terrible, but that served me very well for getting into small landing zones. Not so well when I lost my engine. I think they are on the verge of bringing out a new wing? But I heard that a while ago. Hope this helps. Dan

Oh, you're so Wong ?

Haha, sorry Hamishdylan, it's just my weird sense of humour, I didn't do this with a penknife, an elderly client of mine closed the door of her Range Rover, and for a split second my finger just happened to be in the wrong place. It was no big deal, just a finger.

My dad was saying the same thing to me just the other day. I said to him "So how did that idea work out for you...and me dad"?

Excellent post Hamishdylan. It's so true about the 'perceived' risk, and it also works the other way round too. For example, cars are so much more dangerous than people perceive them to be. I've lost count how many torn apart bodies, and the inevitable and devastating aftermath, I've had to deal with over the years. Mostly due to drivers feeling safe in their vehicles as a result of widely marketed 'safety' features aimed at flogging cars. The trouble is, when a human body decelerates from 60mph to zero in 3ft, human organs obey the rules of physics, not the latest Ford advertising campaign Now, instead of an airbag in front of you if they put a huge spike on the steering wheel, I bet people wouldn't drive so fast: as you say, it's all about perceived danger.

I have a Polini Thor 130. In 14 months and around 60hrs it has gone through 4 flash starters and 2 cooling fans Apart from that, a cracking engine

I'm afraid this is going to be a long and probably controversial post. More popcorn required for this one. I've been flying PPG for nearly 10 years now, with a lot of air time (Southern Spain) 1500+ hrs, and GA (Cessna's and 'A' class kit planes) for 25 years. Unfortunately, I have a medical, neurological condition which prevents me from conforming to rules that are set by desk jockeys, rules that are not based on any informed analysis or common sense. As a policeman (retired) this did me no favours with the bosses as I tended to let everyone off, well those that broke rules that I believed were politically motivated, for example possession/consumption of cannabis, stupid non dangerous motoring offences; One day we'd be told to hammer the motorist with no discretion, and the next we'd be told to leave the motorist alone (wtf). My take was always stop them, bollock them and send them on their way without assaulting their wallet. I preferred to spend my time trying to stop crimes against individuals (mostly unsuccessfully thanks to a judicial system hell bent on defending criminals ). Going back to flying. I consider the skill of 'risk assessment' in any given situation a dying art, courtesy of an agenda driven 'nanny state' mentality that has all but been completely accepted. Perceived health and safety infringement has now made any form of risk taking largely frowned upon. This (IMO) is a huge mistake as FUNDAMENTALLY young men need to take risk... in order to have the nerve to go and hunt the woolly mammoth. The truly devastating result of this is just starting to show. "Men in the UK aged 20 to 49 are more likely to die from suicide than any other cause of death". https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a9202/britain-male-suicide-crisis/ Sorry, I digress again, back to flying. If I am honest, I can probably say that I break the 500ft rule with virtually every flight that I make, in that I will probably fly my 25kg back pack with 10 litres of gas at 20 mph closer than 500ft to some or other building, structure, person, vehicle). However, I can confidently say I have never broken this rule in my 1000kg Cessna with 188litres of Avgas travelling at 120mph , because that would be really dangerous, and alarming to 100% of those who would witness it. Those of you that think there is no difference between the 2 because the law is the law, should probably stop reading this now, as we are NEVER going to see eye to eye. But, whilst flying my PPG I have never broken my own risk assessment rules, which at any one time preserve the safety of any person, vehicle, building, structure. I suppose l liken a PPG to a bicycle (+ a few kg's). If it hits you, yeah it's going to hurt, but in all likelihood you would only be coming down if the prop was no longer spinning, and your speed during a flare would be similar to a bicycle, so my common sense says that it should not be subject to the same rules as a Cessna. I know I started this thread by saying this act by Green Peace will not help our sport, and I stand by this statement, not because I believe there was any danger to anyone on the ground, but because it was an act that was so high profile it could motivate some high level desk jockey trying to make a name for himself, or even trying to justify his high paid position, to sit up and feel compelled to take action and create legislation for the wrong reasons. As humans, we are manipulatable to the point that we are programable to think and believe virtually anything they want us to believe, by instilling fear, a need to conform and the need to fit in. However, some people; those that understand this, and wish to see the real picture, tend to put their faith in mathematics. They look at the numbers, and then ask themselves; ACTUALLY what are the chances of this bad outcome happening. If it's say 1 in 10,000, imagine 10,000 table tennis balls in a big bowl. One has a red dot. What are the real chances of pulling out that red dotted ball? I've gone off at another tangent....No I'm not stoned, I've just got so many thoughts on the subject ?? In some respects, this modern day fear of taking risks has had an unexpected but really positive impact on our sport, as it keeps the numbers low. Danny B is a good example of this. PPG was obviously too scary for him (I get that), but he felt the need to create this poor story about giving up because of other pilots (bless). This has the effect of keeping the numbers low enough to be uninteresting to politicians, unlike Drones which require no risk to be taken by the pilots, just a bit of cash, and therefore have sold in the billions making them a genuine target for governments around the world to create heavy handed legislation, and demonise drone pilots. The response I get flying low along the beach in my PPG armed with my massive resolution Nikon D800 and 300mm lens compared to the response I get flying over the same beach with my Phantom 4 Pro is laughable. One takes wide angle pictures where you can just make out that there are people on the beach, whereas the other can zoom in to a sunburnt belly button. They wave and smile at the PPG and confront and get angry at me for flying the drone. Programmed by the self-serving bureaucrats they'll never meet. Rant over. Dan