phil1975

Ganers, You're half right. The beaches here in Cyprus are covered in broken glass & a sea of used Condoms, which makes a lot of them bad launch sites. The totty makes up for it though & it's still 25 degrees. Not surprised about the blade though. The Military are getting more & more shafted on an increasingly regular basis. It's a job these days, not a career.

I always seem to get draughts in the clothing gaps around my wrists, ankles, neck etc. Gaiters work well, along with tucking trousers into socks. Under a flying suit no one can tell! For wrists a long sleeved top with thumb holes works well & for neck I use a goretex motorcycle balaclava. I have to say last year that I was seriously looking at heated gloves - whatever I do I can only really stay up for an hour before I get cold (although the last time I flew in the cold it was -4 & my engine blew up before I had a chance to get too cold)

Thanks for the tips. I'll take it up with me next time have a play & see what happens. What others have said is pretty much along the same lines as I was thinking, so I'm hoping I can get a few decent shots. It's just such a big bit of kit to try to stash. Hopefully the results will be worth it?

I have been looking at ways of taking my SLR camera flying to try to get some really good photo's, however it's throwing up more questions than it's answering at the moment. I realise that an SLR isn't really designed to be taken on a Paramotor & that any solutions will be compromises... So does anyone out there fly with an SLR? If so how do you deal with the following? 1. Carrying it. Ideally I would like it attached to one of the arms. The problem I'm getting is securing it so that it doesn't move & I can get to it. The alternative would be to wear it on my body, but it's pretty bulky & gets in the way of my (front mounted) reserve. 2. Securing it. Some sort of lanyard to the frame feels the best, but again I'm struggling to come up with something I'm really happy with. 3. What camera settings do you use to get the best results. I'm guessing around 1/500 sec & faster is best to stop blur. Anyone had a play & come up with. I'm hoping someone will have some really simple solutions, that I just haven't thought of yet...

Steve, The cheapest way to get the motors out is via a shipping company. Cost is around £120-150 each way & takes around 2 weeks, but "this is Cyprus my friend"so it may take longer? Provided I have enough notice I should be able to get the house pretty much any time, split the cost between 2 or 3 & you're laughing. The cheap accommodation pretty much offsets the cost of getting yourself & your kit out here! Temperature hasn't gone below 20 degrees yet so I wouldn't bother with flying suit!

Dan, Bingo! I am working out here for 2 years. Couldn't leave the Paramotor behind could ? Work is a 5 minute drive from Curium. Haven't landed on the beach yet but dropping in for a brew & flying out again is just asking to be done. If anyone is heading out this way I can put you up in a local house for 30Euros a night!

Rob, funny you should say join the Army because, at present, they have no Paramotoring clubs and very few people actually fly at Paramotors. You are right though when you say there are a lot of people with the mindset of "I want to do that" when they see a Paramotor. It's surprising how many people appear out of nowhere ( usually when I'm packing away ) taking an interest. There are some amazing opportunities to fly in some more out the way / interesting locations... Michael, going back to your sky photo - here are a couple of pics from my last 2 flights:

I've not been on the Forum for a while. Good blog. I fly a Synth 29 & I find it does roll a little on occasion. It isn't really a problem for me. When you are coming in to land & find the wing rolling keep your hands up & do NOT try to cancel it out with brake inputs. When you flare the roll will disappear. When you're flying either put in a slight turn to cancel the roll or ease off the power for a few seconds & the wing will sort itself. Mine rolls exactly the same as yours is in the video of you landing, I haven't really sussed out what sets it off & TBH I'm not really all that bothered / worried about it.

What's happened on this forum since I've been away - far too much man love going on!

Having said that, some of the expensive kit isn't much better either. When someone invents something cheap, light, reliable, fun etc all in one package then you'll know about it because everyone will be buying them. Until that day I'll just keep flying what I've got & enjoying it (which is why we all fly in the first place).

I bought the mirror & realised I don't have a paramotor. Anyone selling a Bulldog?? I'll get my coat...

Funny you should say that Morgy, have just signed up for kite surfing lessons

Luke, are you having a break from flying or getting something else??

Another alternative, that I saw whilst training (& watching every Youtube video there was) was landing near a garage taking the tank over the hedge & filling up. There are 3 things to be aware of: 1. Your choice of Paramotor has a detachable tank (not all of them do) 2. You have the land owners permission to take off again. 3. If your motor is 2 stroke oil would be pretty useful! (a baby bottle is good here - stash it in the harness).

Thanks Darren. I don't think I'll be able to start my Paramotor (yeah - it's a Polini Thor) again without that image coming into my head. Can you get electric start for a Thor??

Sods law, just found it... http://www.parajet.com/team/blog-entry/ ... road_trip/

I read somewhere (think it was one of the Parajet team pilot blogs - but I can't find it again) that they had flown a prototype Bailey V5 injection. Could be interesting!

Steve, I'll have a look at the link this evening, am at work at the moment. Funny you should mention the Bailey though, was at Parajet the other week looking at a v5 zenith. Also had a quick peek at Morgy's Bailey the other day too...

I spoke to the manafacturer, who said this was OK. I have to say I'm not convinced. I will take the plug out, clean it & then do a proper plug chop. I've looked at the tank & fuel lines - both OK. The prop is clean too. My climb rate is a bit low (I can get, at best, 100ft/min) so I'm thinking it is too rich. I'm not really happy to tinker myself so I'll take it to someone who I trust to tinker without killing it. The motor was recently re-built, but has now flown around 6 hours - so I'm guessing it should be fully loosened up by now. I'll clean the plug, run it up & do a proper plug chop first & see what that looks like & go from there.

I think I need to get myself onto Brazilian Ebay. That looks far better than what I was looking at!! The fuel meter looked like a good idea, if it worked, but I was a bit sceptical - hence the question. Just a bit peeved that my motor is drinking so much fuel & thought it could be useful in seeing if my fuel burn actually is as bad as I think it is. I think I'll just stick with the good old fashioned measuring jug. Then go flying with different trim settings & measure exactly how much I'm getting. 6.5-7ltrs/hr from a Thor 100 pottering around with trims fully in or at most half out seems a bit excessive though, or maybe that's what they all do??

My paramotor seems to be using a lot of fuel recently. Was idly looking around Ebay & saw this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/paramotoring- ... 3104198012 Looks like a potentially useful bit of kit. Anyone used one or got any opinions on it (good or bad)?

It depends when??

Alan, I loved your photo's. Looks like a great place to fly from. Here are a few of mine from tonight. I'm really happy that I've finally managed to actually take some half decent photo's when flying:

Finally a flyable couple of days! I managed my longest (1h55m) & highest (6253 ft) flight to date this evening. It was a bit bumpy for the first 20 mins then it was like someone flicked a switch & it turned really smooth. Turned the engine off over a mile up & had a beautiful 15minute glide back down. I am now officially happy again! Did anyone else get off the ground? Lets hear your stories...

I fly a Synth & can remember pooing myself at the thought of using my trimmers for the first time. To be honest it was a bit of an anti climax - the wing didn't fall out of the sky or spiral out of control. I tend to let one side out then the other, making sure both sides are even - makes it easier to fly on part trim if you fancy doing that. On my last flight I even flew crosswind with one trim all the way out & the other partially out, which allowed me to fly without needing to constantly correct my direction. All good fun. Wait until you try the speed bar for the first time, you feel the effect more than the trimmers.