norman

PDF - download here.

Dear all, I have posted a topic on the Paramotor Magazine's forum and would welcome your thoughts and comments either here or there. This missive was prompted by a recent conversation with a paramotoring luminary who recounted a tale to me of a ditching in the sea by a friend. Had the guy not been a diver and had a cool head, he would not have survived. He emerged a changed man by all accounts. Retreating to bunker with tin hat on.

Here it is!

Did Saturdays visit to Mere go as planned? If it did, any impressions?

An a delicate one for me please. Uhhm... I think I must be a XXL! You rotters!

From Local Thai paper.

From Paramotor Magazine forum. How many times does the warning about this crop up during training - timely warnings. Perhaps another reason to carry a quick and easily accessible knife though who knows how rapidly the 'G' built up during the spiral, and how long he had to recognise what the problem was and sort it out. An interesting one to ponder?

There are loads of forums about, but few of them 'live' with active and lively contributions. TalkPPG and even the Paramotor Magazine forums are relatively inactive. Flying magazine, a massive US publication has a forum that is.... virtually dead last time I looked. I think content is king. Opinions and experience enrich - if people can learn from these places they visit and the more graphics they contain, the greater the interest. Eg: Hairsey writes well and people want to read what he has written as it is well put together, very informative and based on considerable experience. Still, when you are writing, you ain't flyin'. I spend a fair amount of time on these things because I enjoy writing and am awake during UK daytime which may well be the middle of the night or very early in the morning where I am. Just another opinion....

That's well good enough for me Simon. I sense we have a common loathing...

Does this smack of the 'Peoples faction for the liberation of the Palestinian people'? How many organisations can the sport respond to? Is there a need for paramotoring to be serviced and supervised by its own parent organisation? I dunno', I'm confused, I just wanna' fly .... How about the experts here? The BPMA website.

My God it's tempting. Pie, Theakstons AND peas.... What a fantastic website and the graphics - superb! [/code]

Simon, I have put a post on our (BA pilots) forum to promote your taster day. I am not sure you will be besieged but it might turn up a few leads. Good luck.

Dave, huge bum reducing as I shed kilo's towards paranirvana! I have my instructions from the management - 'Ethiopian racing snake' it is then - no more pies.

Everest motor is in situ!

Damn! I would come but I am on a single day off between trips - - - I'd get shot! Please excuse me butting in but Mere is just down the road for me and I have spent a little time bothering Gilo and piddling around with him on his workbench. For those who have never met him and his team, you are in for a treat. He is a great character and will open up the black arts of paramotor construction for you. I found him to be a wellspring of enthusiasm and a man of huge talent. He will probably be wearing his pajamas, eating his lunch and zooming around at light-speed whilst he regales you with tales of Everest and what might be around the corner for us all. He burns enough energy to power a small village and weighs in at around 65kg! Don't miss it.... he is a man on a mission and doesn't have time to waste. If he is devoting time to a factory visit it should be well worth the effort. Have a great time all. ps: I am dropping by Mere this afternoon (Tue) so I will let you know if the Everest machines are still there. They make really interesting viewing.

Thanks Mike! Fat bxxxxxx? Tell her is was merely a matter of technique, that's what I told mine when she said exactly the same to me!!! I think Le-Macro could blast Dumbo into orbit so it had no probs with me. I look forward, as you say, to seeing you on the hill! All the best,

Thanks Tony, Yes it was quite a couple of days. I wish (oh I wish) I could have got back firmly into my seat or I might still be up there.... well, you know what I mean.

Gliding again. When I was a lad I crewed for the late Alfie Warminger with his Kestrel 19m ‘hotship’ glider. We went to the Nationals at Booker during the ’70s to help Alfie to compete. Whilst slaking a terrible thirst after a long, hot and sweaty retrieve, Alfie mentioned that the following day we would be having lunch with the UK gliding luminary and pioneer, Philip Wills. We had a meagre snack as I recall but it didn’t matter, I spent most of it listening to this aging gent (he died in 1978) talking about gliding with an enthusiasm that washed away his years. He talked of the golden era of gliding when any cross country flight was a major achievement and people formed strong bonds cemented by a love of flight and the pleasure gained from helping each other into the air. The meeting was impressive and pivotal in my aeronautical development, I have never forgotten it, nor what it meant to me at the time as I was starting out in my flying career. Back to the present. The weather smiled upon us all and for Friday and Saturday we had near perfect flying conditions. Canopy handling, forward launch practice and towards the remains of the day, floundering around with forty kilos of motor on my back. This brought me to a level of happy exhaustion unvisited in my pink skin for a while. Probably just lack of fitness compounded by stumbling around the plowed launch site - but without the help of Simon, Terry and the indefatigable Colin, I can assure you - I would have expired by lunchtime. As the day drew to a close and we rounded out with a set of forward launches with motor (sans noise). I realised, as did Simon, that I was in no condition to do much more than raise a beer glass and fight the cramp caused by dehydration. So we called it a day and retired to the ‘Rose and Crown’ for a spot of dinner and a few sherbets to ease the pain. A very pleasant evening! Saturday started a little later than planned delayed only by a visit to the chemist to buy some sun cream and rehydration powders and by the time I tripped back onto the stubble, it was thermic and therefore good only for some gusty canopy handling watched over by the trusty pals who again helped out with the odd word of encouragement and a flick of a wingtip here and there. A quite lunch gave way to an easy afternoon and as the instability gradually died away we were treated to clear blue skies and an exquisite eight knots of reasonably laminar wind across the strip. Perfect! By this time I had donned the motor, had my brief and watched Terry perform a dedicated free flighter’s return to earth without power….. Safe and well to our collective relief. We need all need him in one piece, far too valuable to lose imho. The time had come - no further practice. Simon briefed me up and we both looked forward with anticipation to see how the Macro would perform in hauling my six foot six with twenty years worth of airline overfeeding into the luft. First launch attempt (reverse) went really well until I fell backwards, dragged back by the wing. ‘Didn’t think to increase the power to help myself out eh? Thought I could run the combo into the air? Klutz! ‘Faced into wind the second attempt (again a reverse launch - complete with internal butterflies) and managed to get the sequence right. “POWER’ - a mighty roar exploded behind me accompanied by a firm shove in the back, and after just two steps I was airborne! F*&*^$in’ INCREDIBLE! Leaving a swath of dust behind I climbing like a banshee into the slowly dying evening sunlight. I turned downwind after an extended climb-out through around five hundred feet or so. I had tried to slip back into my seat and only part managed it. The edge of my butt was perched on the seat but I was still substantially dangling in the launch position. Nothing for it I thought, but to return to earth. I had read stories of people in a similar position having problems on landing having lost the strength in their legs. Myself? I managed a reasonable touchdown then fell over (I like to pretend this was a homage to one of my generous helpers, but it wasn’t of course - I just screwed it up.) I packed my kit away a very happy new aviator or the Parachutal kind. Impressions of the experience? Well, not at all what I expected in some ways. I had thought that being unhappy about static heights would leave me apprehensive when airborne. Not a bit of it, the very motion of the device through the air seems to banish that one. The view is incredible and the sensation highly addictive. This is not something you will want to try and then walk away from if you are a flying nut. Absolutely magic plus a string of other adjectives and the odd expletive still doesn't do it justice. An impromptu ‘barbie’ at Simon and Patty’s place - a small flurry of Guinness' and a few chunks of scorched ‘wildebeest’ topped off a perfect day, the company was excellent and the atmosphere just magical. Saturday evening has now taken its place amongst my happiest flying memories. So much so that I can’t wait to get up there again under my wing, all talk of it being a ‘giant hankie’ have gone. This is now a wonderful flying machine - one that I can stow in my car boot and put together for flight in twenty minutes realizing a dream of decades. Gliding may have changed, I haven’t been around it for some time now but last time I did take a look it wasn’t that well. Be that as it may, the good news is that the very essence of the earlier spirit mentioned above is alive and well at the LambournParamotor Club. Philip would heartily approve I'm sure; as for Simon, we are all fortunate to have a talented and dedicated instructor of his quality mentoring our first steps in this fascinating sport. They don't grow on trees! Thank you guys! Photo upload on the way - domestics come first.

7000? Where did that number come from Simon? Post on the way - tomorrow.

Just the merest tad below 70kg acording to Gilo.

Just opening the slot. Due to start on Friday 10th and looking forward to it. Picked up the motor today and ran it on stand at Parajet with Gilo. Sweet sound the motor makes, throaty roar - the prop puts out a hefty buzz too. Fingers crossed (all ten at the moment) for the weather.

Just put the old pair in a sealed plastic bag and bin 'em. Put on a clean pair and try again.

Thanks Slim, just picked up the motor and very nice it looks too. Now I have 'all the gear and no idea.'

"Something for the weekend Sir?" Yes please, 6kts down the strip, clear skies, no thermals, a skyhook - then beer at 20p a pint!

Stuart, Your tenacity is inspiring, you are almost there. Given a little time the brain is great at sorting things out - the break may well be constructive, if frustrating. Out of interest, what size canopy are you using and what quoted thrust (in Kg) does your motor kick out? If you tell me your weight as well I can run it all through my tiny grey cells. No expertise here I can assure you, just curious. I just looked it up, "Through Adversity to the Stars" is the official translation, quite apt isn't it? I can't wait for my bruises and mouthfuls of mud, no doubt I will prefer the enhanced view later and the rest post launch - or is that over optimistic? Time will tell, I start on Friday - "Inshallah'. 'Hals und bein brukke"