powerlord

ah right. you gonna train with Chilly ? the 10ks were over at Northrepps (near Cromer). I've flown around your area once when I was at the Wingfield flyin just up the road from you - flew over to Boston. It makes Suffolk look like the Himalayas ! stu

It's certainly a matter of perspective - I get where you are coming from. I have lots of toys - but I don't share em. My ducati in the garage gets used a few times a year. I have 2 sports cars, but one is just kept in storage in the garage (it's increasing in value several thousand a year so no point selling it), I have a motorhome I use for flying holidays and weekends a year, etc, etc. I have 2 paramotors (one sold last night, one to sell, then get new one next week) But with a few exceptions, I buy used, and then they cost me practically nothing. They don't depreciate, and they are there when I want em. They way I look at it is: - buy a 2nd hand paramotor for 2500 quid. Use or or don't - you'll sell it for 2500 quid in 5 years. So all you are losing is the almost negligible interest you'd have if the money was in the bank. Same goes for most good quality 'leisure' stuff. i.e. had my ducati for 6 years - worth same as I bought it for. Had my motorhome for 5 years - lost a bit of cash... but only maybe 5k total - that's 1k a year - I couldn't rent one for more than 2 weekends for that price. And if yer lucky (like with my car), you find it becomes a collectors item and increases in value! So provided you avoid buying new stuff, and buy good quality in demand boys toys - it's as good as money in the bank imho. The nature of leisure items premium pricing works in your favour here. i.e. almost all the depreciation is done in the first 3 years - then the fact they are very well made, well maintained, lightly used, and constantly in demand, combined with the fact new ones will be costing more and more, means that depreciations almost falls to zero. Now there IS the moral question of 'is this wasteful, etc'. But my view here too is: 1. this is better than buying new - it's green - this has already been made, you are just giving it a home 2. sharing boys toys just disnae work in practice. Take my motorhome - it's full of my stuff - my paramotor, my tools, my cloths, my food, etc, etc - thats the whole benefit - I can jump in and go away for weekend or have a flight (motorhome garage has all my paramotor and gear in it, so I use it for every flight). That just wouldn't work hiring it out or sharing it - I do know a few folk that do hire their motorhome out, but it seems a hell of a lot of hassle to me, and they are just sofa sitting motorhomers = so it's less hassle for them to take their belongings out every time - still a lot of hassle if you ask me though. And the sheer number of others that do the same, means: 1. there is a steady market for well maintained boys toys 2. 1 also helps to maintain the lack of depreciation. So in summary my view of this stuff is that basically you are not 'spending' money really - you are just choosing an alternative savings portfolio... and one that's a damn site more fun than looking at a bank balance

Paul Mahoney did hire for a while in Spain then France. i hired once off him in las candelas. buy yeh its not cheap either. youd be better getting a cheap 2nd hand motor and wing. 2000 quid should get you a good solid 1500 paramotor and an old but still good 500 quid wing. for example my reaction is a 2007 and as good as new imho.. but doubt I'd get more than 500 quid for it. and paramotor wise, I agree with Steve - use the schools and get familiar, then keep an eye out for a light 2stroke that got just enough power to get you flying well. You don't say what weight you are, but if under 80kg you can't go wrong with an older pap top 80.. clutch, light, stainless cage bends back easy and parts are cheap. Like many u could find your still flying it in 5 years time. Stay away from heavy motors and things with more power than you need. Sharing ain't worth th hassle.

Me too. It's the first wing I've seen come out in the last 10 years that offers me anything I'd actually want. still happy with my 2007 reaction 29 though tbh. It's only real two limitations as far as I fly it are: 1. Lots of the speed is on the bar...so if it gets windy, yer standing on the bar to get home. 2. The tip steering is a bit rubbish..but frankly as long as it goes in a straight line and turns a bit, that's all I want to poodle about the sky. U can stick yer slalom where the sun don't shine. they do seem to have went for smaller wings again then ? The reportair for my 110 all up weight would be a 22 or 24 ? how much are they selling at Neilzy ? stu

I got some of these a while back for my drones.. they are mentally bright.. would probably get ideal for PPG usage tbh and only 5 quid including ESC for up to 6s http://www.banggood.com/Xenon-Night-Strobe-Flash-Light-Automatic-for-RC-Multicopter-p-1022677.html?rmmds=search

500 feet extension cable is all you need ! But yup, motors are great these days - 25-30hp incredibly efficient brushless motors available. But lipos are only about twice as energy dense as they were when they were invented 20 years ago. Every year, as you say, we can count on the press running the latest story about orders of magnitude better energy density, but nowt every comes through. If/when it does it would revolutionise lots of things including our sport. It's already good enough for things like electric bikes to be pretty amazing. I've got 3 of em - build about 5 in the last 10 years. My current 'off road only' one does 35 miles an hour, about 30 miles to a charge of my 4kg battery pack, and all up weighs only 20kg. So for electric bikes, the technology (that doubling of lipo density combined with modern highly efficient brushless motors) has already imho made electric bikes a real solution - only held back in the UK for stupid laws (on road use 15.5mph - and EU law say you need to pedal too)... In more forward thinking countries (germany and holland, france this year), 'super pedelec' class is allowed which can do 25mph.. but you still have to pedal which is downright dumb if surely what you want is more folk to get on bikes, clearing the roads, and creating a greener world. stu

take the battery rectifier/charger out the equation - it's just added complexity you don't need. power the strobe via the lipo directly if the strobe will take your lipo voltage, but you don't mention what that is ? 3s 4s 5s ? If it is a 12v strobe, I'd suggest adding a 12v ESC or a step down buck converter. they cost about 2-5 quid. This will regulate the lipo to 12v for the strobe and will keep that voltage constant as the lipo discharges. stu BEng Hon Electronic & Electrical Engineering

Yup, at the end of last year I hit my 10 year milestone. So to celebrate I've put a playlist of all my paramotor videos from the last 10 years, sorted by my favourites. I hope you enjoy some of them and it encourages folk to get out there and fly. It's a playlist so the link won't embed properly - so follow the link and you'll start at my favourites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-NcAVY3DpM&list=PLhTs3gGIDmTo8FWV_EhFDVmB1O3hC-zwe blue skies. stu

Might be useful to some of you - I wanted a new drill, but didn't want to pay silly money for batteries and chargers: st

well, I don't do facepuke, but this is him here I think: https://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Paul-Martin/1229090527 stu

I think yer talking about Paul Martin fellow paramotor it's. He's just 10 miles from me. I've tried to get hold of him on his YouTube channel without success. I'll see if I can get in touch via eBay then...though I've already bought 40 quid worth of tarp, polyethylene glue and eye rivets now.

Yup... not only that but I ordered one ! Leccy clutch job... so both baileys on the classified section now ! as Steve says new ones have quick release arms so that should help fitting it in garage, plus I think when I'm on longer trips I'll assemble it once I get to destination then just keep it mounted on my rear bike rack with a tarp over it. vince says it does have a nylon washer now for the arms by the way. even with arms on though it does fit in sideways into motorhome garage with the prop on. We even got it in there with the bottom half of the cage on. ill have to fiddle to find the best compromise of having it as fully assembled as possible and still getting it in the garage when I get it. tomorrow I'm gonna CAD design some nylon mounts for the bike rack that the arms will clip into and print them out on the 3D printer. that plus a little Ali floor plate should allow the bike rack to do bike duties or paramotor duties - paramotor secured via a couple of reusable tie wraps or Velcro straps to base, and same to the nylon mounts to the arms. Should be able to mount/dismount in under a minute. ive ordered some white tarp, and will cut and rig up a waterproof cover for it too. and I'll work on a storage solution tomorrow for the bike in the garage... as that'll have to go in there if the nitro is on the back. stu

I keep 2 in my rear garage. Room for wing, toolkits, etc saying that just bought nitro and selling my 2 baileys. nitro will usually be in garage but when away for a trip will probably mount on rear bike rack assembled for duration of trip with tarp over it. I fitted a small 12v fan to mine to extract air and fuel smell. but tbh I don't really need to use it much with he baileys - my older pap had an open breather on the tank and that needed it more.

what one did u get ? I'm looking at the leccy clutch job. Vince ain't got one in stock, but I'm going to pay him a visit friday and have a good nosey around what he has got. My main concerns are around assembly/disassembly... basically the 'garage' at the back of the motorhome is a limited size. My old top80 2 part cage was great -you just slipped top part of cage in, and the whole thing slipped into sideways into the garage. no removing props, etc, etc. The bailey - more hassle - since the arms don't fold down flat, it wouldn't go in sideways - so cage had to be taken off, prop off and then pushed in backwards. this means cage has to be assembled every time and the prop put on and off. BUT, I can keep cage assembled in 2 halfs, and the prop is a single bolt, so it's not so bad. IF I had to disassemble the air conception every time it would be much more of a pain in the ar4e... cage far more faffing about to assemble, plus 6 bolts for prop everytime . urg - my first paramotor back in 2006 was a castellucio with a similar cage (the 4 bits and the nasty netting and springs - I bloody hated faffing about with it). So what I need to try out is: 1. can it fit sideways like the old pap. 2. if not and arms are stopping it, is removing the arms everytime maybe still less hassle than fanning about with cage/prop (unfortunately unlike the bailey arms there's perhaps a lack of though went into the design there, and they are not easy to remove - a bailey type R-clip type connector could have made these far easier to remove/replace (must be others who would benefit also from this?... on that subject - assembling videos wise it looks like its a metal to metal rotational join at the arm too ?(it talks about leaving a small amount of gap so it can move freely)... that's also a bit of a poor design - any metal to metal friction should be avoided - a simple nylon washer here would have solved both the gap problem, and the metal friction surely ? 3. if I get it in sideways, can I have cage sort of assembled, but just 'in half' ? i.e. top half pulled off the hoop and laid down across the front or summit. If all that fails, then the option is that when I'm away in the van not just for the day - I assemble it once, and then store it on the bike rack at the back - this fits 4 bikes, so 80kg+ is fine (I can swing on it).. so might make most sense to do it that way if the alternative is disassemble it completely - I reckon an ali plate bolted onto bike wheel holders, and some quick release locks onto the frame bottom, plus using one of the bike frame locks to keep it in place, etc. (and a tarp over it for waterproofing) I think that's gonna be the main things I need to look at with Vince tbh. From what I've read - it's getting a pretty much unequaled positive reception around the world otherwise. I might take some piccies on friday on fitment incase it helps anyone else with similar transport/storage concerns.

what one did u get ? I'm looking at the leccy clutch job. Vince ain't got one in stock, but I'm going to pay him a visit friday and have a good nosey around what he has got. My main concerns are around assembly/disassembly... basically the 'garage' at the back of the motorhome is a limited size. My old top80 2 part cage was great -you just slipped top part of cage in, and the whole thing slipped into sideways into the garage. no removing props, etc, etc. The bailey - more hassle - since the arms don't fold down flat, it wouldn't go in sideways - so cage had to be taken off, prop off and then pushed in backwards. this means cage has to be assembled every time and the prop put on and off. BUT, I can keep cage assembled in 2 halfs, and the prop is a single bolt, so it's not so bad. IF I had to disassemble the air conception every time it would be much more of a pain in the ar4e... cage far more faffing about to assemble, plus 6 bolts for prop everytime . urg - my first paramotor back in 2006 was a castellucio with a similar cage (the 4 bits and the nasty netting and springs - I bloody hated faffing about with it). So what I need to try out is: 1. can it fit sideways like the old pap. 2. if not and arms are stopping it, is removing the arms everytime maybe still less hassle than fanning about with cage/prop (unfortunately unlike the bailey arms there's perhaps a lack of though went into the design there, and they are not easy to remove - a bailey type R-clip type connector could have made these far easier to remove/replace (must be others who would benefit also from this?... on that subject - assembling videos wise it looks like its a metal to metal rotational join at the arm too ?(it talks about leaving a small amount of gap so it can move freely)... that's also a bit of a poor design - any metal to metal friction should be avoided - a simple nylon washer here would have solved both the gap problem, and the metal friction surely ? 3. if I get it in sideways, can I have cage sort of assembled, but just 'in half' ? i.e. top half pulled off the hoop and laid down across the front or summit. If all that fails, then the option is that when I'm away in the van not just for the day - I assemble it once, and then store it on the bike rack at the back - this fits 4 bikes, so 80kg+ is fine (I can swing on it).. so might make most sense to do it that way if the alternative is disassemble it completely - I reckon an ali plate bolted onto bike wheel holders, and some quick release locks onto the frame bottom, plus using one of the bike frame locks to keep it in place, etc. (and a tarp over it for waterproofing) I think that's gonna be the main things I need to look at with Vince tbh. From what I've read - it's getting a pretty much unequaled positive reception around the world otherwise. I might take some piccies on friday on fitment incase it helps anyone else with similar transport/storage concerns.

ah well yeh if yer talking about uncompressed 4k footage thats a different kettle of fish I'm sure. I was just stunned to be able to edit decent 4k footage (from gopro, DJI osmo, DJI mavic, etc) on a wee macbook air tbh. Still using tatty old stubilizer prototype (with the pounds coins still glued on for weight balance from Slovenia). Never found anything better - though there are a bunch out now, they all have far too quick yaw even on lowest settings imho for helmet mounted use. Slovenia wise, maybe I'll give Brett a bell. I was thinking I could take the motorhome, and probably fit 3 motors and their meat suits in. Which would save on accomodation. But would still need some help from Brett for places to take off (hopefully better than his last ones). But it's not ideal either not having a chase car, etc like we had last time. But then again, if some kind, selfless individual wanted to take thier big transit van full of motors and let the rest of us fly over again, then I wouldn't say no

Hi steve - acht - after Vince's forum got binned I sort of lost my adopted 'home'...but taking the plunge and joining in with Simon's now. I've decided to make an effort this year with following things more, and doing some flyins..might even try and arrange a trip to Slovenia tbh.... Still been flying though In fact looking at maybe getting a new paramotor (top of list is the Nitro at the mo - going to see one at Vince's place on friday). I was trying to find the video showing the multiple 4k stream on a mac yesterday in my youtube history but couldn't find it - but basically it was pretty amazing - editing with 3 or 4 seperate 4k streams on a regular macbook and preview in realtime, etc. I actually edit in 4k on my macbook air fine - it was a bit jittery until I upgaded to El Cap, and then its smooth as silk.. it's obviously doing some sort of jiggery pokery - but the video showed a comparison with the same edits being tried on the same hardware in Premier, and it was a slideshow. Video wise, my latest purchases have been a DJI Osmo 4k, and an Insta360. I've tried the Osmo in flight (not good -better results with my gimbal and gopro4). I've still to try the insta360 in flight but have modified a gimbal to carry it, so should be able to shoot ultra smooth 360 footage on my next flight stu

Hi boys - so I'll add my 2c.. first - disclaimer - I've been shooting videos of my flying for 12 years, but just cause I like it doesn't mean summit else is crap. I have lots of 4k cameras these days, but start with the question: - who am I shooting videos for ? if it's you, then do YOU want 4k, etc ? if it's youtube, then who is your audience ? These days if you have a modern mac (anything with an i5 or i7) 4k is not a problem to edit in imovie or FCPX. But it does take a LOT of space to store - so decide whether you want the highest quality or not. Macs (and FCP) are pretty much unique in being able to handle multiple streams of 4k video in real time with no slow down at all due to making tightly coupled use of the intel graphics drivers, to give a counter point to steve above's comments - (but I don't think that matters to you). If you don't need 4k shoot in 1080p. For 1080p - have a look at the old gopro session - it's 150 squid and nothing touches it for the money imho - it's nice and small, battery lasts for ages. Stay away from the chinese cameras - they are all crap imho (including xoami who some people seem to think are great). Assuming you are using a fixed mount (not an electronic gimbal), For helmet footage you NEED wide angle - if you don't have it the constant movement of your head will make it unwatchable. wide angle IS fisheye. you don't get one without the other. You can 'defish' it but imho that looks terrible. So decide whether you don't mind the curved horizon business before you buy a fish eye wide angle camera... nearly ALL action cameras are fish eye for that reason - it's required for the first person view. Some allow the camera to crop into the centre of the sensor to give 'narrow' views but you are back to loads of movement. No need for the crappy gopro software, just import the videos directly into imovie - job done. If you decide to get into it more, Final Cut pro is what I use - but it's not needed unless yer serious about making fancy vids.

Hi boys - so I'll add my 2c.. first - disclaimer - I've been shooting videos of my flying for 12 years, but just cause I like it doesn't mean summit else is crap. I have lots of 4k cameras these days, but start with the question: - who am I shooting videos for ? if it's you, then do YOU want 4k, etc ? if it's youtube, then who is your audience ? These days if you have a modern mac (anything with an i5 or i7) 4k is not a problem to edit in imovie or FCPX. But it does take a LOT of space to store - so decide whether you want the highest quality or not. Macs (and FCP) are pretty much unique in being able to handle multiple streams of 4k video in real time with no slow down at all due to making tightly coupled use of the intel graphics drivers, to give a counter point to steve above's comments - (but I don't think that matters to you). If you don't need 4k shoot in 1080p. For 1080p - have a look at the old gopro session - it's 150 squid and nothing touches it for the money imho - it's nice and small, battery lasts for ages. Stay away from the chinese cameras - they are all crap imho (including xoami who some people seem to think are great). Assuming you are using a fixed mount (not an electronic gimbal), For helmet footage you NEED wide angle - if you don't have it the constant movement of your head will make it unwatchable. wide angle IS fisheye. you don't get one without the other. You can 'defish' it but imho that looks terrible. So decide whether you don't mind the curved horizon business before you buy a fish eye wide angle camera... nearly ALL action cameras are fish eye for that reason - it's required for the first person view. Some allow the camera to crop into the centre of the sensor to give 'narrow' views but you are back to loads of movement. No need for the crappy gopro software, just import the videos directly into imovie - job done. If you decide to get into it more, Final Cut pro is what I use - but it's not needed unless yer serious about making fancy vids.

http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Slovenia-Paramotoring-Trip stu

Hi guys, I was hoping you might be interested in my new GoPro video stabilization product. Simon has been following me on Facebook for some time (Jay Spacker on there if anyone wants to find me) Basically it allows the action sport user to create super smooth videos with their GoPro, whether it’s helmet mounted, on the end of a pole, or even fixed to their motorcycle. And I designed the Pro specifically through paramotor flying - lots of paramotor footage in the kickstarter video. I’ve had some coverage so far in Engadget and The Register (links below). https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14 ... a-stabiliz Anyhoo, have a look and consider becoming a backer. stu press links so far: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/04/stub ... steadicam/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/03 ... ckstarter/

http://youtu.be/PmXw2CoBvHU [youtubevideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmXw2CoBvHU[/youtubevideo] stu

Never found it a problem for me when I've been touring scotland. I usually spot a suitable field, and just ask the closest house or tractor driver, etc if it's ok. I've never had one say anything other than - go for it and can I watch. Also, you have a legal 'right to roam' in scotland which arguably could cover you anyway - so if no people to ask, no crops to damage and no animals to scare you'd be very very very unlucky to come across someone who would complain if you just set up and went for it anyway. stu

[youtubevideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkkZ61O0AZA[/youtubevideo] stu

Well it's been a while since my last invention… so hopefully this one will make up for the wait: Some of you may remember I modified a pair of video glasses, making them monocular, and mounting them on a mic boom, so that I could pull it in front of my eye occasionally and check that my goPro was recording what I though it was recording. It worked pretty well, but I've now moved to a new helmet… in part due to bouncing down the side of a Turkish mountain on my head with the old one…. I'll save that tail for another time. I started doing the same thing - mounting the boom on the new helmet… then I had a bit of an epiphany - as a side line in other hobbies that can eat money - I've recently got into quadcopters - building one up that will fly my Gopro, adding live video feed and video goggles to I can fly it remotely by video, etc…. Well, one of the things I got was a 'Cyclops OSD'. These are about 80 quid, and sit between the video camera (e.g. go pro) and the transmitter. The OSD has a GPS, and adds on screen graphics to the live video - altitude, bearing, speed, vario, distance from home, direction to home, time in the air, etc….. Nice to have stuff for RC flying by video…. Coincidentally, also exactly the information I need when flying my paramotor!!! Yup… you've guess it - Mk2 Helmet is a full live video HUD with real time telemetry graphics for all the above data. It means I don't need to bother with a phone strapped to my arm anymore, it has no problems viewing in direct sunlight, it's available all the time (I just look up to my left and its there), plus I still get the go pro output for framing my videos. As the HUD is focused at infinity, it also work really well with both eyes open - the graphics appearing to be suspended in the air in front of your face. It has passed ground tests (my neighbours now just turn a blind eye when they seem me with something like a helmet on running up and down the road)… and will be trying it on my next flight. video here - still shots of the helmet and the HUD output at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqKC_HgARRI stu