DavidG4

Thanks Andy

Thanks Andy Andy,thanks is APPI to BHPA as PADI is to BSAC in diving terms? PADI is how the world dives, BSAC is how some Brits THINK the world oughtnto dive and BSAC looks down it's nose at PADI. Truth is PADI works just as well, maybe better...

Fare enough. I haven't seen the adverts but was a bit surprised. There's no way i would pay for a flying training holiday on the basis that I MIGHT fly once! I did read a few that dismayed me with all the "if yiu land hard and bend the frame, you pay. If you scratch it, you pay, if you snag the canopy, you pay" stuff. What do they expect from students...??? The last thing a student needs is fear of bankruptcy I'd have thought.

Si Unless I've missed a post or two you've missed the point...Kira hasn't trained overseas yet but has been flying in UK as a EP pg pilot but is considering overseas training . She has looked for pm training abroad but is dismayed by the fact that she might fly only once in the course. Kira, most of Simon's training (anyones) won't be classroom but in the field...its ground handling which takes time as you know from yiur EP. Simon's point about training abroad is interesting...pilots of any aircraft who do ab initio training abroad will often struggle in UK conditions. Perhaps Kira should phone Simon? Sorry to poke me nose but I can see confusion unfolding. I think D

i doubt it. You might have a collapse from which the only way out is to Chuck the reserve. If you 'slam' you won't walk away. That's more accurately called a crash. Rare indeed.

and for that reason it certainly does bother them. There's thermic, and then there's THERMIC! We like thermals, we dont like collapses and turbulence of all sources can lead to collapses. Before you just see and copy you have to be very clear on what you're seeing...

That's what's meant. Our wings are what most normal* folks Think of as parachutes and parachutes are safety chuteS. Engine stops...aircraft becomes parachutist. No big deal. Unless youre a crazy American flying over alligators. *they like keeping two feet firmly in the ground...

Ho Ho Ho....this is gonna run and run. The thing is this, you're flying under bit of nylon held together with strings and kept in shape by forced air... What the wing will fly in and what you will want to fly in are quite different - the fear factor is strong when there's nothing betwixt thee and the ground but strings and they are being bounced around. Have a look at Paranoob's youtube videos and see how often he says "oh, that was rough" and stuff like that. The wings will collapse in turbulence yes, but they need a fair bit of it. These wings are designed to self recover too, in a split second usually and within so many degrees of rotation - probably faster than you or I could sort it out. But that doesn't mean that you will like the experience. Then there are thermals and there are thermals. Google Ewa Wisnerska. She knows about thermals. Most pilots don't fly in the heat of the day because it is uncomfortable and can be dangerous, yes...but even in the summer the mornings are cool and the evenings (after the late PM thermals have cracked off home) can be blissful. I've not flown motors, only gliders, which are far worse not least because you're always closer to the ground, but even then summer flying can be had aplenty. What you won't see if people flying on hot days around the middle of the day...that's food o'clock. Simon and others will answer better I suspect.

Lol. No I heard you th first time, I said I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME... Thanks. D

WOT??

In fareness you can't fall from the sky in a paramotor...the safety chute is already out anyway! You can be in a forced landing though...

In the air? Is that possible?

Very, very true Simon.

The pg world is even more divided by the BHPA. I can see THEIR point but they are a bit OTT. By banning non BHPA pilots from slopes what do.they achieve? Well, I guess they control quality on the slopes and so protect permissions but given the bell curve distribution of skill levels and aptitudes it's a tough call. A non BHPA trained pilot could be a lot better than a bad BHPA pilot. But who would know? Thats why I stopped pg flying...too many people, too variable a skill set. As a professsional pilot I do expect a certain mind set, maybe unfairly, but I really dont want some.doofus. killing me. When I went to the bore fly-in with my sons we were amazed by the lax attitudes and rather APPARENT gash attitude to airstrip control. BUT we were also deeply impressed by the general safety mindedness. So we concluded that what we were seeing was not gash attitudes but a lot of decent pilots having al ot of safe fun by knowing how to Have fun safely, knowing what corners can safely be cut. We came away VERY impressed by PMC pilots to be honest AND WE REALLY WANTED TO JOIN IN. We xouldntntell who was BHPA and who wasn't. Conclusions? Draw your own.

Glad the forced landing was uneventful. Good luck.

Ah, that's not qualified then...that's trained. I wasn't sniping though, genuinely asking. D

Thanks Andy.

To what? Did you get the BHPA Pilot cert or Club Pilot or something? I'm curious, because of course the BHPA would tell us all that their training 'qualifies' us with some sort of rating...which it emphatically doesn't. But in pg they've rather stitched up most of the sites, so you're stuffed! (ive no axe to grind agin the BHPA by the way. But I am curious... I would enjoy training with Simon but must admit the call of the sunshine strong in me it is...hmmm. David

Well done mate. You may it sound fun. Im still struggling for cash - been off work for a year so things a bit tight. maybe later this summer.

Is that even possible? Can a brake toggle reach the prop arc???

Thats a remarkably fair and honest answer Simon and not what I was expecting!! I grew up in paragliding...there'd be a very different answer. I was refraining from comment but now feel freed!! David

If it was a fixed wing issue id say you're looking too close in. Move your gaze furher along the 'runway', defocus and look for the grass round your ears. When you want to flair, check, count to two then flair.

Nice website...cool fishnets!

Im glad someone has answered this as I didn't want to be first . As a paraglider pilot we were trained that using ground handling wings (tea bags some called them because they were old and porous) is a bad idea because IF it suddenly lifts you up you're flying, and you're flying a teabag so you're in big trouble. So we were taught always and only ground handle the wing you'll know will fly. I don't know whether a ppg wing will fly without a motor under it though. Just my pennyworth. As an aside I did ask whether I should get gh practice using my pg wing and Simon advised against it because it will be different from my future ppg wing so teach me bad habits. Fair enough. David

Glad.you got.your answer and thanks for telling us. Good luck with training.