norman

What a breath of fresh air!

This is going to be interesting! If you are going to blog the project here might it be an idea to have a dedicated topic for Gulfstream's posts and another separate thread for the discussions? Listening to the quality of the replies they will be fascinating.

AeroWeather, exceptionally useful. WeatherPro - great sat graphics Skype Things Ping

Yep!

Guys, These details are circulating within the Full Members area. If we want to ensure that the Club is properly represented it would be organisationally prudent to have 'Specialist Members' that can be an informed point of contact about PMC matters. Any Full Member is eligible to put their name forward for these positions, they attract benefits as well as responsibilities to at least partly compensate for effort invested. Each member will ideally have another member who takes an interest and assists with tasks. If willing he may form an understudy to the 'Member'. Each Member will have their banner included within their signature so that we can all identify them. Radio Member - Slim (Stuart Morris) - Confirmed Regulation & Airspace Member- free Flight Safety Member- free Legal Member - free Engineering Member- AlaninSaudi (Alan Hunter) - Confirmed Technical Publications - Norman Rhodes Confirmed

Alan, Thanks for the compliment Alan but we did follow an incremental approach with Karan. It didn't take long to discover that he was a genuine chap with a dream. I would love to bring him across to the UK to fly and perhaps complete an instructors course when the time is right. Then everyone could meet the man with a fire in his belly and a light in his eyes. If he fails I can tell you it won't be for lack of trying. I suspect that he spends a fair amount of his waking hours planning MHASC activities. I don't think I have ever met anyone who really wanted to fly for a living who failed to do it unless there were truly insurmountable obstructions. Karan is a classic example. He does realise however that it will happen largely from his own efforts. We (Simon, Paul W, Piers and myself) are trying to provide the best poniters we can for him. He thinks about them, makes them his own after modification then really motors with his conclusions. For the record: I/we have never suggested to him - ever - that he should follow the course he is, it all came from within. He is the sole planner of his future, we are merely suggesting various alternatives based on our experience that we think may have a chance of success. We are trying to be 'enablers' and a resource for him. He has formed his company, started a dialogue with the NCAA and is seriously considering early release from his position with the Indian Army Ghurka Regiment simply because it will slow down his accumulation of flying time and keep him away from where he wants to be - Phokhara. You can see why we are treading carefully... Still, if you are born to live up there, what's the point is screwing around down here? What was that about a faint heart and a maiden? "Always listen to the experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it." Robert Heinlein

One of these I think maybe? A bit nearer these... Than these... Canoeing anyone?

"Why cain't we all just get along?"

Keep going Richard, stories like that are why people come here, they get inspired to do the same. Glad to hear the details, 'hope the PFL worked well!

Yes Phil, as soon as one pops up then we will sticky the details.

Good luck Paul, enjoy your paragliding. PG and PPG tend not to live that well together on the flying field as the noise we generate pees off the PG guys. They feel it threatens their established sites and I'm inclined to agree and sympathise with them. They should make you really welcome!

VMC?

Nice response folks, thanks. A few more wouldn't be wasted. Ta.

Dave, Simon, What a great bit of work. Top! Why NATS cannot seem to do this god only knows. I gather the Yahoo Group are looking at it and trying to pull a few chains. Good luck to them, great initiative.

Hi Col, Not that sort of forum Col, we don't flame each other here do we? I believe you are quite correct. RT + Installation licence normally required but there may be a clause that we can investigate or to put it bluntly, exploit. This has been discussed here a couple of times and the conclusion we came to pointed toward our status as a 'glider' in the eyes of the ANO. It infers that we can operate under exemption without an installation license as a paramotor provided we use only the designated frequencies. If we have a requirement to talk to ATC we can do so but must hold an RT Licence. Please do not take this as an authoritative opinion, it just looks that way to me from the way it is written below (on the CAA website). Getting to the bottom of this question requires research and phone conversations. if we consider it worth adding the provision of an RT examiner to our team then this will happen in the course of that project. As an examiner working on behalf of the authority it just isn't possible to operate within a grey area knowing that you are passing candidates who are simply going to break the letter of the law. We need a solution that is accepted by the system and that may take a little time to establish if indeed one does not already exist. I have not had the time to chase down the detail recently. We need a 'Radio Member' really, someone who is prepared to represent the PMC with related issues. Any volunteers? I can think of a couple of great candidates. CAA page - Airspace Policy - License Categories. CAP 413 Radio Telephony Manual & 452 Aeronautical Radio Station Operators Guide + the website are the relevant publications. Google.

Looking for some good graphics to use in the manuals. Need a good picture of a 'wall.' Nice pix of the exercises at Airvault during the FI course. A nice forward launch. A nice reverse. Anything else - human interest etc. Please email them to me folks - don't be shy now. Ta. techpubs@pfm-fts.com

Safe Whatever we do in life we want to know that, particularly when what we are doing is potentially dangerous, that our safety is paramount in the minds of those teaching us. We want our training to be well structured using as many of the best techniques that can be mustered for us at a reasonably competitive price. Fun Don't we all aspire to be part of an organisation that delivers our training in an interesting and engaging way? A non-stuffy system as devoid of politics as it is possible to be carrying true to its core the needs of its members. If an experienced pilot or instructor wants to build a business doing the thing he has come to love most, as well a checking and verification he expects guidance, encouragement and support from his parent organisation. We want our sport to thrive and recognise that for it to do so we must play our part. We must deliver a balanced experience for our pilots loaded towards safety but packed with enjoyment and a sense of achievement for those taking part. Professionalism ... is an attitude of mind, a personal and collective objective. Anyone can be a cowboy, it takes training, effort and application to fly safely with consideration for those around you to highest standard you are able to turn in. That is where PCOM hopes to help. We all need help whoever we are, we need guidance from those who we look up to to define those standards for us and outline an ethos - a vision. None of us wants to be lectured at by a group of elitist posers, we want assistance delivered with humility, consideration and respect. That is exactly what well trained instructors do. If you have found different out there draw your own conclusions, you won't be far out. ____ ____ ____ Wing Registration This has been discussed here and elsewhere. It does have its benefits, the problem is administering it. Would you as a PMC pilot submit to a registration scheme within the PMC? Would you pay for the adhesive letters or numbers to be applied to your wing to a regulation size for every wing you own? The BHPA has exactly the same problem if it wants to do the same. "Who says I must do this!" is the call, " Who pays?" is the next. Voluntary registration? Would that fly? The BGA used to register its gliders with its own numerical system, now they have a national registration scheme. I would happily register my wing or mark it so that it could be identified. Any registration system may need to be lodged with someone like the CAA to give it 'reference' value. We have a freedom at the moment but it comes with it own price. Abusers can get away scott free. An interesting debate to have don't you think? 'Box Ticking' Bignos has it right on in a paragraph. Let's just recap why a syllabus is important. It is a structured way of acquiring knowledge - of learning a skill, information delivered at the right time in the right place. Without it there is no shape to learning, carts appearing before the horse and stable doors get slammed after drama has unfolded. A syllabus is an aid, a framework. Without it quality training just doesn't happen. A syllabus can exist in someone's head, but nobody can see it, it needs to be accessible - hence PCOM. Everyone reading this can recognise quality training when they get it, it sends you home with a glow in your gut and a desire to move further next time. Disappointment leads to drop-outs, the bane of GA - the 'churn rate' is a significant and often debated problem within GA flight training. By the sound of it PPG has a similar problem. Pitch up, have a lesson, buy the kit, fly, put the kit in the garage and polish it, get out of currency, give up and sell the kit. Not a pretty cycle but great for the equipment sales people. To make it to the sunlit highlands you need a good guide and mentor. Then you stay there.

Thanks Bignos, very informative. Ta.

Bignos, When you have set up the TT does track and ground-speed become visible anywhere? ETAs for way-points etc?

Oh FAB! Only in Africa eh? Man, what a journey that would be - you would need a couple of cameras just to be sure you didn't miss a bit. As keen as I am on planning, you can only do so much. I waited for an age for dip clearance once to get down the West coast to run through Nouadhibou. I got it in the end but a Swiss helo didn't bother. As the French were running Jag Ops from the airfield against insurgents up country - the place was rather tense. The helo appeared suddenly over the airfield boundary from low level and very nearly got shot down as all the AAA spun round to meet the threat. If he didn't have an 'effin great red cross on his nose he would have been Pâté with lumpy bits in it. The chap looked rather pale when I passed him on the stairs to ATC crew report. TIA

The pre-event research for Africa would be interesting discovering where the gas stations are every 40 miles or so? But here I agree, how nice to have an adventure where the outcome is... in question. Fab! Bugger! why do I always look for the problems rather than the fun!

1 ripped wing or 1 busted motor = 1 long walk with the hungry indigenous fast moving local furry things ... Mind you, I suppose a native stands a better chance than yer average.

Great post Whitters PS: Eddie, I am not a PPG instructor, I am learning how it's done just like you. I am involved in manual construction, course design and instructor training where it relates to instructors/training skills. Ladies and Gents, We are putting together a website at the moment to better inform members of the nature and structure of PPG generally and the club's PCOM/Training scheme. When people come to PPG in the UK these questions are always raised and it takes most people a little while to understand the basis upon which PPG works here. I will pop up URL shortly when it is ready for you. For the record for any fixed wing pilot who reads this, I came to the following conclusions when I came to PPG after pursuing a few red herrings born of experience flying fixed wing types of all sorts. I found it helped for me to consider paramotoring in the following way when trying to rationalise what I already knew and relate it to what I needed to know about this new, exciting form of flight. Try picturing a PPG in flight. Place the whole craft and its pilot inside an imaginary bubble. Treat EVERYTHING inside that bubble as a completely new aerial experience. Assume nothing relates directly to what you already know and treat with great suspicion any assumptions that you may be inclined to make. Almost everything outside the bubble conforms and relates well to what GA experience you bring to PPG except of course the way you might evaluate weather. PPG's tight weather window for flying shifts the emphasis slightly doesn't it? As an experience fixed wing pilot you arrive (at PPG) with some benefits, but you also carry some distinct disadvantages. You have a bunch of muscle memory and reflex habits to re-educate. Inside that 'bubble' you are operating a very new flying machine which, whilst it is inherently very easy to fly, it can be quite difficult to fly accurately and well (some things don't change). You have a new set of vulnerabilities and hazards to become sensitised to, the ignorance or disrespect of which could cause you physical injury. Hope that helps - just another perspective. ___________________________________________________________ To address the topic. I believe Simon raises a wise and very important point relating to training that is close to my heart. When people (particularly young males) start to learn to fly they tend to spot objectives for themselves which seem to make sense. Typically they will try to solo in the shortest time possible or make progress as fast as they can, fly the hottest wing etc. I find that understandable and natural, but a flawed way to look at learning and building flying experience. As we progress through the syllabus we find that there are areas that we make our way through with ease, and others that take a while to understand and master. In any course of ten trainee pilots you will see them making progress rather like athletes or horses do in a race. Some move ahead early, then fall back to recover later. We all have similar trials with learning as there are challenges in flying for everyone. It tests us in so many different ways, that's probably what makes it such a wonderful thing to learn to do. When learning to fly we are not taking part in a race, the objective is to learn thoroughly, not quickly - quality matters, not speed. Perhaps this misconception grew its roots during the time the nation was training pilots for war. Then there was an absolute need for speed and those that didn't learn fast enough were 'chopped'. One consequence of this policy was that flying training losses in some areas, deaths to be frank, were comparable to combat losses. We don't have those pressures, our primary objective must be to return home to family and friends and relate to them how we faced our challenges and how much FUN we had doing it. I would encourage anyone to run their training as a personal experience, progress at the best pace for you, "Compare, and you despair" as they say in Yoga. Safe - Fun - Professional.

I can't get my head around this statement Idiot, what exactly do you mean by that? Great WHite? Salt water Croc? Kane Toad on steroids? or just a general ripshit, rooting' tootin' cowboy?

Sorry, 'should have looked more closely, will shut up.