Steve

Looks like paradise - what's that blue stuff above the tree line?

I quote Simon (the owner of this site): From today and during October the Paramotor Club is giving a free taster day for a friend a Flight for Heroes DVD and a Tip to Tip DVD, to anyone who upgrades or renews to a full membership.!!

Become patient, you'll need it with our weather.

Would be better to have a dimmer switch, just turn it down to 6mph with an off option for the gusts.

Good spot for it (bit of a carry up from Storey Arms?). If there are 3 or 4 paramotor pilots round here then they have been hiding. It's a small world up here, anyone is only two gossips away from anyone else - where are they?

If you're heading this way drop me a line and I'll give you some site grid ref options (depending on wind direction) if I'm not around on that day. Had actually crossed my mind but I'm pathetically unreliable for long-term dates which is a pain. Nice work. Did I see you a few weeks ago around Cefn Crew and Beacons Reservoir? I nearly crashed into the car in front whilst trying to watch. Never seen another paramotor up here though, the nearest has been around Gelli Gaer way. i thought a couple of friends who used to be in the parachute regiment could be convinced to take it up but no chance, I've had no luck getting another resident paramotor in the air up here.

Try these for your tach: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Digital-Tachometer-Hour-Meter-Motorcycle-ATV-Snowmobile-gas-engine-jet-/140803435732?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D260739497871%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D2317673980777132682#ht_6549wt_1165 And this for your fuel: http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/200801950637?item=200801950637&ViewItem=&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160 I use and recommend both.

Maybe I'm lucky but I've had nothing but co-operation and support from landowners and tenants for the past couple of years. I live and fly mostly in The Brecon Beacons and in the winter can fly from the common land in the centre of the national park north of Pen y Fan (once the forests of ferns have been cut back). When I first started flying solo I searched out several fields and was blown away by the fact that I was given permission to use all of them by each landowner. Sometimes a field would be rented (which is quite common) and farmers even went to the trouble of contacting owners to confirm it was alright and then got back to me. Never a hint of them being put to any trouble. The Beacons is a big area and I wanted more variety in where I fly from so last spring I started searching further afield and again there was nothing but help and support. For example I knocked on a door to ask whether they owned a nearby field only to be told that it wasn't theirs but they found and put me in touch with the owner. I visited him and he then offered me a choice of about twenty fields, many of which were superb for flying and I'd had my eye on for a while but couldn't work out who owned them (one even had a Spitfire make an emergency landing in it during WWII). All the landowners who helped me out were farmers, no trouble, no conditions (except for not flying when cows are in a field) and all friendly. It was a pleasure to take them bottles of Scotch as a thank you, which was a bargain. All of the farmers I've had contact with in The Brecon Beacons have no problems with paramotors and are brilliant. I've never flown from a field without permission because there was absolutely no need to do so.

I found this very useful: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilots-Weather-Commonsense-Approach-Meteorology/dp/1840370270/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348577398&sr=1-1 Simon Keelings' weatherweb explains everything in very clear and simple terms and is well worth signing up for his daily forecasts.

That's about right. Cheers Barry, I'll try it out when the weather improves ... zzzzz

Usually 4 or 5.

Sounds lovely and simple. On the Revo it's 10 markings, 5 is neutral (half out).

+1 on the big girls blouse. By half open do you mean neutral trim?

Cheers Morgy, I often keep my motor in the back when I'm travelling - just in case - so will give you a shout if I'm going to be in the area. My brakes are heavier as the trims are let out but I'll try landing with the trimmers out beyond neutral bit by bit and see how it goes - the Paramania WTS control line is not the best though so low altitude faffing with them and brake lines is probably going to be a bit of an issue. I find neutral trim generates more than enough energy for a good flare. The Revo2 seems to drop like a stone making it feel like it comes in faster than it is sometimes. The reason I'm interested in this is that my local area is mountainous and hilly and in all but the calmest conditions I regularly find that I can be taking off in low or zero wind and hitting big wind within a couple of hundred feet. There is sometimes wave coming off medium and distant peaks as there are so many of them so landing may involve penetrating a good head wind that I suddenly drop out of into nothing. Landing without last minute pulling in the trimmers would be good (although I have my doubts that I have the best wing for doing this).

Thanks, that would explain a lot. I keep away from my brakes above about 70% out, I fly a Paramania wing.

I'd love to know more about this Morgy. Do you just use wing tip steering for everything up until touch down? Aren't the brakes harder to flare with? I've never landed above neutral trim in zero wind and found that more than adequate and never even thought about going beyond that - but then again I rarely fly with others so sometimes miss picking up better techniques.

In an ideal world, but last week I was in a field on my own, no roads to it, the access is through another field, helmet and headset on, engine running and clipping in to the risers when a farmer and his young son arrived beside me asking if they can watch. I nearly jumped a mile, they appeared out of nowhere. Dude, you should report that!!! Being able to pop up out of nowhere would be a very valuable thing in the military! You may even want to remove your post before the men in white coats come and take them for testing!! SW Okay, truth is they came through a sheep gate in the hedge.

If you prefer, but I like to run it for a couple of minutes so it's at running temp. when I launch.

Nice one - where did you find the flying weather, there's been nothing in this neck of the woods.

In an ideal world, but last week I was in a field on my own, no roads to it, the access is through another field, helmet and headset on, engine running and clipping in to the risers when a farmer and his young son arrived beside me asking if they can watch. I nearly jumped a mile, they appeared out of nowhere.

Darwin's theory at work.

For me it's more about ground safety when others are around, I was always uncomfortably aware of the prop spinning at all times on my previous motor but feel much more comfortable with my current one which is clutched (although being aware of the throttle at all times of course remains paramount).

I don't own one but imagine it would be close to perfection if it had a clutch.

Thanks erm..full trim on you mean full speed right? I doubt it I fly a Revo2 and in nil wind it will happily land half way between trims pulled right in and neutral, or nearly all the way in if you want it slower.

Cheers - The camera was mounted on a Parajet Compact at the time which has a smaller frame diameter than most paramotors so you'd have better results on a bigger frame. ***** Edit: Duh, not frame, I meant to say cage.