Steve

Arrrgghhhh! Bastards.

Maybe I should have said 'mental torture'!

Agony!

Same here mate. I blame the army! Going to be hassling you for some flying in Cornwall in the near future.

My WAGS (Writer's Anal Grammar Syndrome) is driving me nuts - please have mercy on me and remove that apostrophe before I do myself harm. Good post though.

Nice one Paul.

Glad you had success with it - although for the sake of a tenner I would have bought a new one!

Here's a link to the 2017 Summer Fly-in.

So at what point do beginners actually have to learn proper ground handling skills which might benefit them in the future?

Welcome to the forum. If you're in Berkshire you are only up the M4 from the PMC school field at Membury. Look here for more info: http://www.paramotortraining.com/paramotor_training/home.html

A big thank you to Simon - and of course everyone who attended and made it a great weekend. The weather today (Sunday) was like the best British summer time weather can provide ... in October.

Choose your location, if it's not right then don't do it. Beaches are good. You should be using the brakes to do this, regardless.

Whilst sometimes tempting, I always wear a helmet - got a bang on the back of the head from the cage once, the lid made the difference between it being a problem and it being a non-issue. Why wouldn't you wear one? I always wear a lightweight helmet when ground handling too. It's just not worth the risk. I see people on YouTube without helmets but I always just think that they've never had an accident or witnessed one. It's the same with people I see riding a motorbike in a t-shirt - you just know that they've never come off and experienced gravel rash (or worse).

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/gopro-hero-6-black-vs-go-pro-hero-5-black-3298669

Apart from waking up and checking the weather forecast before even eating, driving through the countryside looking sideways at potential flying fields instead of looking where you are going, when out and about being distracted by spending a large proportion of your time looking up to read the conditions or remembering a recent flight, constant kit fettling, looking forward to fly-ins and spending too much time on the PMC site, paramotoring is merely a sideshow in your life. I have met a few who were seduced by YouTube videos into thinking it was something other than it is, and once they had learned that it can be hard work, the machines are noisy and vibrate and it's 'kin cold up there a a lot of the time, they have sold their kit. Most seem to become addicted though, fortunately.

Second the recommendation for Helicopter Tape.

Have deleted my comment as I shouldn't take the piss.

What, not even a hint of turbulence? CGI trickery, surely.

Look at Air Conception Nitro or Parajet Maverick. Shift up kiwi ...

Good on you Simon - and, as Alan says, unpredictable changes in the weather is just part of what you have to be aware of if you fly a paramotor.

Welcome to PMC Pasty. Where's 'down this way' located?

I don't trust any reflex wing which has a manual that tells you not to trust the reflex profile and to actively fly it if the conditions get slightly iffy. Or any wing manufacturer which moves the A lines back too far from the leading edge (IMHO). Or that uses shark nose. But that's just me.

The fact that you are here asking questions kind of answers that. You must get proper training and also spend time around experienced pilots which will do you just as much good (if you can handle that ). And don't buy anything, it's the most common thing on these forums, people asking what to buy. Just think about your training and think about kit later. Good luck.

That would be awesome just for how it looks!

It's interesting how various websites and apps often give differing information for the same place on the same day. Always use your own judgement, don't just rely on info necessarily being accurate.