davemacdon

Simon, Many, many thanks for a great taster day. Was good to finally meet you and to learn many of the different aspects by seeing and having a more hands on approach - beats looking it all up on the internet, any day! A big thankyou also to Dave, who gave many handy, helpful tips, to newbie Gavin who made some mistakes first, so I could then make them myself and know that we all do it, and to all 3 of you who must have felt like rudolph, trying to get fat santa into the air, when trying to rope tow some space between my feet and the ground! I can only recommend you to anyone else I see and talk about paramotoring to and rest assured, any extra work I can do will go into my parajet collection pot - I have caught the first part of the bug and I want the rest. Thanks for all your kind words, I'm not as sure as you that I was that good, but I did leave with a big smile on my face. Hoping that the weather remains good, Dave.

Simon, I hope to come down on the 1st for a long half day. May bring a friend along but won't know if he can come until friday sometime. Would it be best to come pre or post afternoon thermal activities? Dave.

Congrats, Norman, on your first flight. Do you now need to change your signature to include "Large Bum"? Well done Dave.

Problem is Dave – Never taken off, just poo scraping at the moment.. A lot of councils will pay you to scrape up in local parks and open grassy areas - a new business venture?

One obvious answer - Don't land in poo!! Sorry, had to be the first! Dave.

Sat 28th 1930 hrs - Chinnor, Oxon A very deceptive night with regards to the weather: I was due to ground crew for two hot air balloons in Thame tonight, but they called it off, earlier due to the rain moving in faster than they thought. No probs, spend the night at home with the expectant wife, hoping she dosen't go into labour just before bed time like the last two times. But continued looking for the rain clouds. Very white sky this evening - can only imagine that the clouds are very high. Some wisps of clouds at lower levels, casting their greyer colour down at me, moving at a leisurely pace. Then it started raining - the first time I had actually tried forecasting myself by looking at the sky and I got it wrong. The lower greyer clouds in the distance weren't upon Chinnor just yet, and the cat is racing indoors to escape a shower. Maybe I haven't studied the skies enough seeing as I do not fly just yet, but was just amazed at how wrong I was when the H2O started falling, and I didnt think there was enough cloud to rain! Learnt a good lesson without even knowing it. I know not to underestimate the weather. I know there is a lot more to come tonight and I hope it dosen't interfere with tomorrow's flying for any of us. One other point - lots of different internet weather forecast sites, lots of different forecasts! Which ones do you find are the most reliable? Happy flying to you all, Dave.

Count me in too. Hope my shift pattern allows me to attend. As mentioned, Simon, I should be able to give additional input from a fire officer's perspective on rescue methods etc. Dave.

Simon, Ian Thanks for your inputs, I was not initially aware that you(Simon) carried out training as well, and from this point, I shall contact you soon with a view to coming to observe at some time if allowed. I have every intention of getting my feet in the air sometime soon, before another 10 years pass and I'm thinking the same thoughts, but am more worried about how much older I am. I have a friend who flies for BMI, who is nearing his paragliding CP. I understand the reasons for his want to be able to fly a wing before strapping a motor on, and am also aware that you will not be saying there's a wing, there's a motor, have fun!!! Hopefully I will be able to get some ground handling in with an old wing that my friend is trying to source. This should help accelerate any training I do. Ian, I managed to get an hour in a A330 simulator the other day, but have nowhere near your 7000 hours. Thanks again for your info, and I hope the weather improves more over the remainder of the summer. Please let me know if when and where you are flying so that I can hopefully(wife and iminnent birth pending) come and join you - on the ground at least!! Dave.

Hello to everyone, As a wannabe (not a newbie yet), I have been pondering over the 1st main question: Paragliding EP and CP course then paramotoring conversion course or Paramotoring course straight off? I realise that I will not be jumping off hills and worrying about where the next area of lift will be, but is there anything greatly extra that I will gain from doing the PG course first? Second question: I would love to be able to use the motor to get me to a comfortable height and then turn off and thermal. Should I be looking to be at the lower weight range of a wing(motor weight included) to enable me to thermal? I have heard that the wing is more responsive if you are nearer the top of the weight range. Third and final question: I joined on the weekend that you were to be demonstrating to newbies and had I realised earlier, would not have booked up boring things to do instead. Are you likely to have any more dates where I could attend and learn what I can similar to this weekend? Hope you are all flying safely and that the weather improves greatly. Dave.