bholleran

All, I am really disapointed to have to post this but due to an unfortunate set of cirumstances beyond my control. We are now in the position of having very limited / no access to hambrook. Please do not fly there unless you have contacted me first to check the current situation. Without wishing to pin blame on anyone I feel it is important to outline some of the reasons why this has happend so that others might prevent the loss their own site. I will post the details of what has happened openly on the forum but I will not name those involved other than myself as I am fully aware of my own failings. I am aware that some of you know who / what has happend with this in mind can I please ask that no one post \ suggests or hints at the names of those involved. So as to avoid further embarresment. And this really is not a go at any individual or group of individuals, and I do not want it to turn out that way. 1. I personally spent 1.5 years building relationships with this farmer to be able to use his field. I had exclusive access to the field for 1 year before I opened it up to others. (With the farmers permission). This situation remains unchanged. i.e. I still have access to the field. 2. After a lot of persuasion I managed to convince the farmer that I was trustworthy and would take VERY GOOD care of a key if he could give me a copy. He reluctantly agreed to do this, but at the time he made it quite clear that there were 9 other keys in existance that other people had to access the field. i.e. A Model Aeroplane club, a shooting club etc, but in the 2.5 years of being there I never saw any one else need access. 3. The key was generally held by me or 1 other person. And when access was required the key was obtained and flying took place. 4. On a particular occasion the other key holder had to leave the field before every one else had finished. And the key was left with 1 other paid up member. And arrangments were made to drop the key back to the other keyholder. 5. Without going into any details (For the protection of the farmer, and access to the field, please do not post on the forum, but P.M. me if interested) the key was lost. 6. As I knew this was very sensative I purchased a new padlock and 10 keys to match the original lock (£120), so that I could give to the farmer at the same time as telling him the key was lost, so that all he had to do was swap the padlock. 7. The farmer was rightly very angry, given the promise I made at the begining and he has now refused to fit the new lock. So the only access I now have is climing over the gate. These point were all in our control and should not have happened. But the next points compounded the problem. 8. Because of the issue last year of not getting the grass cut, by the time the farmer managed to do it, the entire hay yield was wasted and as a result the farmer made no money from the field in the year. 9. The field is owned by more than one family member and they now wanted to find alternative income source form the field. (I offered varying amount for dedicated paramotoring activities, but these were declined - Mostly because of the issues with the key) 10. The field in the near future is scheduled to have livestock or horses in the field so that it can raise money in that way. So all in all a royal pain in the backside. I am still working on a resolution to this but I think it will take some time and may end up being even more restrictive than it was before. From my own perspective this was the only field I had access to fly from. So for the time being any one who has access to a field that would allow me to fly from then I will be very open to a reciprical arangment. Any one else will need to contact me so that I can judge if access can be given. I am sorry if this comes accross as being harsh but, 1 careless mistake has really affected a lot of people who made use of this fantactic site. Lets hope that a new year will improve the farmers outlook

Thanks Simon will have a look at it. Andy Jim is a top bloke, When I was there on holiday last year he was more than helpful and arranged transport to the top of the mountain for me. If he can help he will.

Hi Stuart, I managed a 45 min flight yesterday in a break in the weather. But it was pretty rough. But I got some nice video footage of my parents house. And it looks like the weather has got worse and it look like it is going to stay bad till I go back. But i did learn that a reverse launch in VERY boggy ground is harder that it looks an it is very difficult go get any grip and even when you turn around you cant run as the shoes get sucked in. But all in all it was a good flight.

The bbc have it showing at 12mph same as Falkirk

Tommorow is looking flyable, any one up for it?

Hi Simon, I have only done it via wifi (i dont know how else to do it) and yes you view it while recording and not recording, so it acts like a big view finder. You click on a button on the phone screen to start / stop recording. And also remotly change the camera settings i.e. mode, 720p to 320 etc. It was very smooth when viewing it even when recording. I have no idea how far away it could be, the furthest I tried was the camera in the kitchen and the phone in the living room. So about 6 meters. The app was a little picky about connecting to the camera until I got used to it. But once it was connected it worked flawlessly. But the battery life is not great with the wifi on. From memory I think it was about 1 hour 40 mins. Where you can get 2 1/2 hours or more with it turned off but then you are have no idea what you are recording till after the event.

Hi Simon, I can confirm that you can send a live feed to your phone when in use. You can use it like a remote view finder. You need to down load a sony app. I cant remember the name right now but when I have my phone in hand I will repost with the app name.

I am leaving heading to Scotlan (Falkirk) in the morning (Sunday). I will be there for 8 days and visiting the Trossachs for a couple of days (Probably thursday and friday). If any one is looking to fly any where near there plese get in touch. I think wednesday is lokking possable.

Holy thread resurection I did finish it and flew it for about a year. The prop was a cheap wooden one that was broken, so I repaired it and used the paint to balance it.

If you look at this link (at the bottom of the page) you will see how high up the pulley is on the bailey. http://www.baileyaviation.com/V5_paramotor.html

Just googled and found this link which confirms a hot engine will produce higher compression. http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Engine/tests.htm

Not 100% on that, unless the engine is expanding when it is hot and the piston expands in the chamber causing more compression. Just a guess though.

I dont know how strong the frame is on the Zenith, but the way that bailey solve this is with a coller that attaches to the upright with the pulley on strap above that. This allows it to be infinatly adjustable and very easy to make. It could also be fitted on either support then allowing for both left and right hand throttle. I also notice that you have the throttle in your right hand which means that you cannot pull start and control the throttle at the same time. On a zenith can the throttle be reversed as I think you will find it easier to control in your left and pull with your right.

It does, the fact that the engine is warm has nothing to do with the amount of force require to overcome the compression of the engine. Although you would expect it to fire easier because it is hot etc.

I found this image on the following link which explains better what I was trying to get at. Where F is force

Hi, Mark, Ricky and I went flying this afternoon and thought we should video us starting ours. Since last week I had a problem restarting mine in the air and having to land out. The fix for me was to adjust the harness as it was too low on my back. It looks as though your is in the same sort of position i.e. you are having to pull up and straight out instead of down and across. To my thinking (If i remember my mechanics correctly) If it took 30 kg of force to pull the chord to turn the engine over enough to start it. Then if you are pulling up on the chord it is only really using the pulley as a guide and you will neen to exert the full 30kg of force. However if you are pulling down on the chord i.e. looped round the pulley, then only 15kg of force is required as the pulley would effectively half the force required. I am not 100% sure if I am explaining what I mean, let me know if not and I will try to draw something out to explain it better. Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PLKmppe03E I hope it helps Barry

I use the flymaster M1 system with a flymaster vario and I think it is brilliant. Albeit expensive. The M1 needs to be calibrated to the tank that it is fitted to. in any graduations you want up to 30 measurments. So for a 15 ltr tank you calibrate it every 1/2ltr exactly when you first set it up. It interpolates the rest of the points. It transmits this data wirlessly to the vario along with cylinder head temperature and rpm of the engine. It uses a recargable battery that last for ages. I have found it to be very accurate. I normally only set the remaining fuel to be visible on the vario, but I think you can set it to show the remaining flight time and average fuel consumption. I think the average can be set to a short interval so that it is very low. i.e. 1 min, but I would need to check.

I had been playing around before and was trying to catch them up, and I ws just over take off trim. Which I forgot all about as I was trying to start the engine. If I had went to full slow I would have had more lift and perhaps not had to land. Another lesson there.

Hi, Can you try it without the spark plug and tell us it it is the same?

Hi, At the moment I am a fair weather flyer and I do not like to be thrown around a lot. I come from a paragliding background and I am quite happy to fly in rough stuff if I feel like it but in general I prefer to take it easy. I had a Nucleon and currently own a speedster. I have flown the Nucleon through the weight range but I have only flown the Speedster at the top end of the range. The only reason I sold the Nucleon was I was offered more money for it afer 1.5 years of use than I originally paid for it So in my opinion the follow were observed. (Comparing the two, not compared to other wings) Nucleon Excellent - Rock solid stable even in very rough air with no user input Very Good - Glide ratio Very Good - Tip steering Excellent - Speed (Trim in and out) Good - Launch and ground handling - Requires the Trim to be set at out 1-2 in light wind and requires a slightly different technique Speedster Good - Stable in rough air - requires active input in very rough air Excellent - Glide Ratio Very Good - Tip Steering - Slightly more responsive than the Nucleon Very Good - Speed (Nuc was marginally faster) Excellent - Launch and Ground Handeling So overall I really liked both and I was happy with both, they are just different. If I had to lose the Speedster my first choice would still be the Nucleon. But if it was a straight choice between the two again (knowing what I know now) I think I would go for the speedster, because of the easy launch \ land and ground handling. It just means that I can get there and fly, I have far less aborted launches. BUT this is at a compromise of the super stablity of the Nucleon. But for me coming from paragliding I am quite happy with that. I am not saying the the speedster is unstable it is just less stable than the nucleon. Because of the financial implication that you have I think the Speedster will do you just fine and you will be happy with it. I hope that helps.

Thanks very much for clarifying - I stand corrected.

My Under standing was that it was rated to carry this weight, not including the weight of the wing. I am sure some one will correct me though

Hi As far as I am aware you do not include the weight of the wing or fuel in calculations. So I would make it the following. Pilot (95kg) + motor (28kg) + Reserve \ vario \ clothes \ boots etc (12kg) = 135kg So I would go for the 31m

Not sure I entirly agree Mark, when you look at the video I was a decent distance away from you when I first tried to start the engine, but I was slowly catching you up. And I thought I had allowed both enough height and time to restart before the crossing. But as I could not restart and was getting lower and closer to you the presure increased I made some silly mistakes. I think what I should have done was at the point where the engine did not start I was in very good lift with good height, I should have turned and went back along the tall face. And tried to restart if it had still failed, I would have then realised and could have worked the lift more to make sure I had enough height to cross, and I would have kept the seperation between us allowing me to continue without the presure. Or after the crossing rather than going round the corner I could have soared above the beach to gain more height before going round the corner. Or realised the inevatable and landed on the beach and took off again (As I ended up having to walk back to it anyway) In some ways I put too much trust in the motor, if I was paragliding I would not have attempted to cross at that height. If you look at the height of the paraglider pilot was behind us, I think it would have been more appropriate. But because I had the motor I sort of felt it is ok as I can restart any time I like (If only things were that simple)

Video now corrected.