powerlord

Thanks for the flight Gordon. And nice to see me flying.

Yup reaction still going strong. Pft. That's music's culture mate. U stick to yer songs about combine-harvesters

Did it get held at customs Steve ? Or does uk mean 'se of England' cause it's freezing, windy and raining up here in Scotland.

I think someone just got out of the wrong side of bed. but usually new folk introduce themselves a bit rich. If you want folk to let you fly from their fields, etc ? So what's your background ? Where did you train ? What sort of flying do you like to do ? stu

The 360 footage is a nice gimmick, but you can't beat the quality of regular footage imho. Ben Nevis - in non VR https://youtu.be/9n44SO2a2v8

Flying the Cairngorm with fellow pilot, Gordon Robertson. The range was acting as a barrier for the clouds, stopping them moving west Only the highest peaks popping through like islands in the clouds. https://youtu.be/00wT14ZRNo4 stu

yup, you need the right conditions. a little wind and it can be a nightmare in the mountains.

Here's the first (non VR) flight video:

Flew over the Ben a few days ago (end of March 2017) in my paramotor. I shot some of it with the insta360 on a 3 axis gimbal. This is the results. As far as I know - it's the first VR flight over Ben Nevis on the internet!*** GO TO YOUTUBE TO PLAY -IT WONT PLAY PROPERLY EMBEDDED This is a 360 VR Video On VR devices (oculus, vive, gearVR) download from youTube and sideload to device (google sideload for your VR device) For non VR devices: phone/tablet: use android or iOS youtube APP (browser will not work). PC/mac: only Chrome browser is compatible (sorry). On phone tablet, activate look around mode, and as you watch, move your phone or tablet around for a 'window' on the virtual world! NOTE: if you are seeing a distorted warped image you're device is not compatible with 360 videos!!! **** NOTE: Gordon (GR002) Shot the first video last year I think - but it was for a film company and it's not on the internet yet - so I'm claiming first on the internet at least!!

Sunday night, I took the opportunity to fly along the Aonach Eagach Ridge to Glencoe and back. This was my 3rd attempt at Glencoe - the first two were... er..pant filling. https://powerlord.smugmug.com/Aonach-Eagach-Ridge/ Monday morning i flew from Kinlochleven to Ben Nevis and back. Lots of snow on the Ben: https://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/2017-Flight-to-Ben-Nevis And Tuesday morning I met up with Gordon (GR002 - see his torridon flight) , and we flew the Cairngorms (he's in some of the piccies) - lovely cloud stopped by the range with the odd peak poking out. https://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/2017-Cairngorms Now sitting over at Applecross. Weather looking too windy and rainy to fly for the next few days - so video editing time! stu

good to know. I use the retractable lanyards. Like these. I find em better for cameras and stuff as you've not got the loose cables everywhere. get the metal ones with steel wire like: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ungfu-Mall-Retractable-Buckle-Lanyard/dp/B01GE6FPM6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1490273420&sr=8-2&keywords=retractable+lanyard+steel maybe having one of your snap clips on the end would make em easier to attach to the cameras, etc ?

I find 'nil' wind the worst. Great when you get up of course, but can be a pain to take off. Not so much the running, it's more that in nearly nil wind - it's never nil. 2 or 3 mph is still fast enough that if you are running against it you ain't gonna be taking off - and it's rare to have ZERO wind. So those are the days, you setup, and then find that the wind as moved 90 degrees... so you set up again, and it's moved again.. and finally you get impatient and the 'what the hell difference can 2mph make' mentality kicks in... so you run like buggery, wing all squint.. give up, try again, etc that's the days that get me sweating like a priest in an orphanage. And that's the days I feel if I was a bit fitter I might: a) not be so impatient because I'm getting tired - and stopping, unhooking and rearranging wing wouldn't seem such a chore. b) not be sweating my knackers off quite so much when I do (inevitably) screw the odd take off up So while being fit is not a requirement, it doesn't hurt imho. But I assume the rucksack was a joke - just doing a bit of general exercise is good - cycling, running, press ups, whatever. And it's amazing how many people worry about every KG their motor weighs, but are still fat knackers - eating less pies and losing some weight is always a good idea if yer a bit heavier than you should be - you'll find everything gets easier for the sake of dropping the old calories stuffed into the fizug every day. I'm not exactly a porker - usually around 75kg (11s11), but had went up to an all time high of 79kg (12s6) in february there - due to the aforementioned pies (well alcohol, snacks, etc). I'm now down to 11s3 (71kg) cutting out the alcohol completely other than one night every couple of weeks, and dropping my calories down to about 1200 a day, and a bit of exercise. And it does make all the difference - that's just 8kg lighter, but I've got more energy, and Im up early, bla bla.. stu

just ebay I think. they've lasted well too - been on there 5 years or so now. I've got the big one that side, and a smaller one the other side.

originally probably. Private regs now - had em for years - I have two consecutive ones for - other's on the mota.

5k ohm is the usual value. It supresses radio noise. Makes a difference with radios or even some cameras taking video, etc. And yeh it's usually one or other not both..strange. https://www.ngksparkplugs.com/about-ngk/faqs/spark-plug-faqs/when-should-i-use-a-resistor-spark-plug

Hmm, well each wing is different, but most reflex wings I've flown don't overshoot on pull up like pg wings do. I.e. On a forward launch there's no need to jump on the brakes to stop the wing overshooting and collapsing. with pg wings I've flown they do tend to overshoot. so that's one difference imho.

Thanks, but I've got the motorhome now, so don't need one - hence my old one is for sale. But I'm sure others might be interested.

hmm..can't upload any more pics - limited to 150kb total even if I spread it across multiple replies ?? weird. so that's yer lot. ain't gonna be much of a build log then

So this week I'll be picking up my new Air Conception. It will spend most of its like in my motorhome garage, BUT as it's a bit faffy to put the cage together,etc - I thought it would be nice to have an option to be able to store it fully assembled for short periods. Basic idea is - if I'm touring about a small area it saves disassembling every time - or you find a spot, set up, wind changes, etc and it makes it much easier to admit defeat, store it, and drive somewhere else rather than make the mistake of persisting. So - bike rack was a 4 bike rack on back of my van. Rated to 75kg. I've stripped it down to 2 bikes as never need more than that - and added a riveted on aluminium plate to accept the paramotor. That's progress so far, as I can't do anything else with mount points, etc till I actually get the thing, but I thought I'd post now, so it's a sort of build log. I'm not going to be driving long distances with it on back, or along motorways, etc. But unlike with a car mount, there's not really the air resistance problem since the van's done the job of removing all of that. And the air conception only weighs 30kg full of fuel, so I'm well within load limit of rack. Plan is, it can just plop in there and quickly be secured/unsecured. When I'm done for the day - it gets dissassembled as much as required to fit in the boot at the back. The boot did have my 2 old paramotors in it disassembled, so is a decent size, but is quite narrow and not that tall - it's going to take some trial and error this week to find out how AC best fits in there and can be secured - ideally without removing the prop. super ideally - leaving some of cage attached. I'll post those pics here too.

That's a nicely engineered mount Gordon. is that zinc coated too ? Did you built it yourself ? stu

well yeh, there was nothing wrong with mine either till it bent all at once and fell off... But glad your's is fine. It doesn't however change the fact, that mine (also a thule easybase) failed. Perhaps they have made them stronger - I made mine what, 10 years ago now. Hence when I made the stainless steel bacrac I over engineered it massively just to be safe. If someone is building one though - remember you are not making it for the weight of the motor, or even for the weight of you sitting on it - I'd not be happy with anything less than about 200-250kg personally - acceleration forces are being rerouted straight down, and wind resistance is massive with any paramotor at motorway speeds. But you've all got the right idea about the upright bar - that's definately required or else all the load gets transfered into a sheer load on the bottom of the frame where you've otherwise attached the base - with the upright bar you keep that load straight down the bar which is what you want. mine is/was similar with the bacrac: just my 2c. And as I say - this is sitting in the garage in ipswich with a lightbar if anyone wants to make me an offer on it (in ipswich).

These are just over priced lipos or life4 batteries with bms built in. You get em in most bike battery sizes. But they are a quick drop in solution for sure.

That's static load. Thule was similar. However when driving at say 70mph lots of that air resistance on the paramotor can be converted to a downward force onto the mount . It can depend how you mount it and whether you also strap to rear of car.

Careful with the thule . They are not strong. I made one and it broke off going along the motorway...looked in mirror to see paramotor sliding along road. I have a custom build stainless backrac if anyone want it for say 150 squid. It has light bar and a welded on quick release system I built. YouTube paramotor car towbar and you'll find the video from me.

Ukppg used to sell training wings. Basically cheap Chinese things that looked like wings but were never made to fly. Never really saw the point of em. Maybe if you were a trainer. But even then, just having some really old wings would be better IMHO. Give any wing to an expert and they'll kite it like they own it though..so I'm not sure how relevant the 'each wing is different' argument is. You could turn it round and say - sure..and that's a good reason you should learn to kite lots of different wings . And all it does is get you up in the air. IMHO it teaches you nothing useful when u are IN the air - that needs its own training and experience. As darius says for example, you see lots of folk sometime kiting just holding the risers. ..well if u find that fun, wire in..but it's teaching you nothing useful for controlling a wing at takeoff and landing which is the whole (and only) point of ground handling.