Malcs

if my demons don't get the better of me !

The only Demon you got to worry about on the weekend is me on the other end of your radio

Pete b

Give it to me honey!! Last time I flew properly was with your ugly mug shouting and grimmacing at me, maybe there's a formula there, can you bottle it?

Heh Malcs,

What demons are these?

Chris

The voices in my head after doing a perfect launch, I start running and they say "Don't be stupid man, humans can't fly" and then I abort a launch that my peers are always envious of!

Its fecking annoying but self preservation seems to have set in at the moment, 3 perfect forwards in zero wind last night, absolutely no reason to abort, I'll get over it!

I'll be at Lamborne too on Sunday so you'd be more than welcome to strap it on your back and fire it up and feel the 63kg as it nails you to the bonnet of my van.

Hopefully if my demons don't get the better of me then you'll see it haul my fat arse in the air too!

Gosh I'm sounding like a salesman, I'm not on commission honest

Well my niece calls me Uncle Shrek!

Skydragons is the Pap dealer for UK and he does get 2nd hand kit in sometimes, I guess there will be more motors on sale 2nd hand during the winter!

Simon

Last time we spoke you had ordered a lead for an N95, did it arrive and does it work?

Malc

Blimey, are you my twin? I'm exactly 6 foot tall and exactly 103kg too.

My Pap delivers enough clout from a small engine to haul my arse in the sky, its also quite lightweight, very comfortable in the seat and is as smooth as custard flying around on about quarter throttle, in saying that I've only flown the darn thing twice but compared to the H&E I used in training, well there is no comparison frankly.

I guess everyone loves their own machine and loves to think they've bought the best one so you'll get a ton of different opinions on this matter!

Malc

http://www.theloftworkshop.co.uk/pgrepairs.html

Thats where everyone else goes!

Cheers

Malc

Already answered this via pm but for others benefit they'll come set up for low hang point unless you specify otherwise I would think.

Paul (Bathboy) and I will be attempting a nice early flight tomorrow morning from our new site between Bath and Chippenham if anyone fancies joining us.

If you do, just pm me or call me on 07894 707965 and I'll let you have the details and a Google Earth file to locate the field.

Of course we'll be checking the weather from laptops by the side of beds first but at the moment it looks ok!

Malc

Hi Paul

Give Chris at Skydragons a call, I was there last night picking up stuff and he had plenty of spares for Top 80

07809 434420 or www.skydragons.co.uk

Cheers

Malc

Simon, planning to fly up early from Bath if poss (yes I know, if I can get my sorry ass in the air by then).

How about a bit of live music, I believe there are others here that play a bit including yourself, I sing and play blues harp and a tiny bit of guitar and can bring a whole pa with me if someone has a genny.

How about it, would make a great day I reckon?

Malc

My new wing is the Dakota, flown it just once but it pops up very easily and brought me down with my safest and tidiest landing to date. Will probably upgrade later once I've mastered the sport a bit more but for now it is just what I needed!

Paramotor Helmet?

Colin recons its a girl skipping if you turn it up side down.

I recon its just random (or pac man)

SW

I'll look for a girl skipping on my way home tonight and ask her if I can turn her upside down to check!

Ok, perhaps not

Looks like a paramotor helmet to me, are you sure Colin didn't sneak out before you and do a bit of low flying to create that?

Anyway, when can we all come to have a look at it?

lets start asking him questions that we know they won't know the answer to then, wind the bugger up a bit!

So, finally, after 4 nights of excuses and engine problems I set up last night for a forward launch in a nice big field.

I had fellow pilot Steve on the radio directly in front of me for guidance and I popped the wing up perfectly, it dragged me to the left a little so I followed it and brought it back in line, nailed the power and ran like hell, and kept running and running and running. It was at this point that the barbed wire fence looked a bit closer than I'd have liked and I had 2 choices, abort and definitely run straight into the fence or lean back a bit further, kick the legs up and hope for the best. I chose the latter and got away with it, just! It was a matter of inches and had I not kicked my legs in the air I'd have tripped on it and face planted in the next field.

So that's lesson one, no matter how big the field and particularly if you've no idea how long you'll have to run for then use the field, when I launched I had about 80 feet of flat mown grass behind me.

Lesson 2, lean back to the motor, I have a tendency to run tilted slightly forward through fear of falling over but quite obviously that ain't gonna get me off the ground.

So, I'm in the air but climbing slowly (having moved the hangpoints back a notch after my first time on this machine I'm not convinced that was the right move). But, my wiggle technique to get in my seat isn't working and feels like it isn't going to, my back was arched, bollocks were crushed and leg straps felt tight on the top of my legs, very uncomfortable and quite painful, climbed as much as I could to give me some height to fiddle with it, hung the brakes and pulled and pushed with my left hand but no joy. This was now one of those moments where you want to press a button that magics you back to the ground and to safety.

Lesson 3, tighten the leg straps more next time, seems I'd had them too loose so I was just dangling and hence couldn't get in the seat as my arse was too far down.

So, did a circuit of the field and did some left and right turns to lose some height, not enough though, I was heading straight for same barbed wire fence so powered up and round again and came at it from a lower height, killed the power slowed the wing and flared for my first 'stay on feet' landing woohoo! So glad I didn't fall over as I now realise the motor is still running. Lesson 4, hold the kill switch for longer!

In this huge field there was one tiny strip down the middle where the farmer had spread muck!!! Lesson 5, target fixation, if you see something you want to avoid, look beyond it or in front of it!

Poor Steve never managed to launch so that was it, just a 5 minute eventful flight but so many things learned and got rid of my fear of landing which was a major headache for me! Next flight perhaps I'll notice the view, have absolutely no clue what I flew over last night!!

Malc

anybody up the field tonight??

Christ Francis, thats all a bit deep for me! I know I'm going through some kind of personal mental process, can't explain it in any terms but I also know that if I don't force it, all will turn out well.

I went through a similar mental thing with quad racing a few years back, I was terrified of taking double jumps for the fear of slamming into the 2nd one then one day it all felt right and I did it regularly and never got it wrong.

Went through the same terror with scuba diving but never got through it as I didn't want it enough.

My desire to fly around in freedom will eventually overcome my fear of taking off and landing, I have the same fear on a plane but of course the decision is made for me, if passengers could abort take off and landings then I'd have sent several planes off the end of the runway and done a few flybys too

All feels very healthy to me dealing with fears and aprehension.

the grammar is atrocious, probably originally written by a Nigerian i guess!

Probably a dumb address but the guy would have to provide some proof of it to collect the money, or does he just have to provide the code. Unless sending money to a friend you have to be stark raving mad to do any business transaction through Western Union.

Dan, can you provide a scan of the ebay invoice, I've heard about these but never actually seen one.

Probably worth reporting this to the police and ebay too!

What a rotten git eh!

Is this likely to be an early morning til late evening jobbie and a bring your own BBQ?

Might join ya!

Ah well, at least I got up, which is half the battle I suppose.

I think I'll go and find myself an instructor for a day or two, perhaps having someone saying "just get on with it, you're doing fine" in my ear will be all it needs.

I feel exactly the same matey, know damn well I can do it but not having that word of encouragement from the guy who trained me directly in my ear telling me that everything is fine and I should nail it kinda spooks me.

At least you got up and down, I had the most perfect launch last night and in perfect conditions too, still bottled it! Learnt a lot though even from that. I WILL be up in the sky this weekend! If only I'd started this in my 20s, when you're in your 40s you tend to think too much about injuries!!

and sign his email address up to plenty of porn sites, ahem...not that I could tell you how to find any, ask Pete B, he knows most things

What do you prefer

Big

Small

Long

Tall

Short

Fat

Thin

Straight

Gay

Female

Male

TS

TV

Black

Asian

Oriental

Indian

Dom

Sub

Old

Young

Mature

Granny

Just call me Honey

All of the above, and hairy too

Yes, good to meet you guys. Kicking myself this morning though.

My first attempt at a reverse launch, wing came up easy, turned perfectly into wind and got going, checked the canopy and the lines, everything felt comfortable, organised and smooth and that spooked me, all that bloody take off area in front of me too!!!

I guess it's all part of the process for some of us, I shall get it up tonight or tomorrow now or my mrs will nag me to sell my kit!