helimed01

These were grease filled. My newest one is oil filled but unsure what type of Oil it is. Ive only done a few hours on it as its my spare motor. However not leaked any oil yet which is a first for H&E reduction boxes. When you find out which oil it is, and the volume can you let me know. Probably standard hypoid gear Oil. There appears to be an overflow screw which may be the level to fill it to??? Im not sure. Could try emailing them ventas@heparamotores.com

Interestingly this years fly in is 120 miles down wind of Dan Bs near Dartmoor. Looking at the Notam this is the field (attached). Google Earth makes it 51,29,629 N 1,19,587 W If not this field somewhere very close. Regards. Whitters.

Just found this thread for the first time. Perhaps I should put pen to paper while the wind is still blowing. Whitters.

Hi Bidochon. Early in my Paramotor career I had been flying with a large reserve that I had taken from a powered paraglider trike. It was a Metamorfosi conar 20. It was a large heavy bulk of a reserve weighing 5kg. In 2006 I entered a competition in France called Le-Raid which is a race across France. I spent time with the Belgian Paramotor team, none of which at that time carried reserves. Coming back from France I was seriously debating not flying with a reserve as I felt that by flying conservatively and safely I would avoid the need for a reserve. I was probably 1 or 2 flights away from taking my reserve off for good. Then on 18.08 2006 I took off from a stubble field and was climbing out to about 800ft AGL when for no apparent reason my wing started turning left, this quickly increased and the left side of the wing collapsed. I attempted to pump it out with the right break which made things a whole lot worse. I was now in a fairly steep spin falling quickly with almost slack lines and horizontal to the wing. With my throttle in my dominant right hand I pulled the reserve with my non dominant left, paused for a moment before realising that I was in big trouble. I was spinning and couldn't see clearly but the green bit was getting closer very quickly. I tossed the reserve out, I then watched the reserve bundle go into the collapsed wing, not good. I braced myself for impact having nothing left to recover, then suddenly a swinging jerk followed instantly by impact into a hedge on my back. This happened so quickly I hadn't even switched my engine off, I braced and in doing so was at full throttle landing in the hedge prop first. When I climbed out of the wreckage I could see that the prop, and fuel tank had exploded, the reserve was neatly laid out next my wing. I was completely unhurt. The reserve must have deployed at the very last second, which without any doubt saved my life. Unknown to me someone had seen me come down and called 999. When I was walking back to my car both police and Ambulance turned up. This was handy as I knew the Paramedics, they took me back to my machine and then conveyed both myself and my machine back to my car. Needless to say I have a reserve on my machine and will always have one. It took me almost a year to get over that. I almost gave up flying. The reason for the collapse was a knot in the D lines which I failed to see. There was a slight turn in the wing which I ignored. Poor pre-flight and post take off checks was the cause. Hope this helps. Whitters XX

Hi. Last year I bought a Flymaster SD+. I wanted free airspace updates with a GPS vario with all the usual bits. And also a unit that doesn't need daily battery charge, one that I could use for a week of daily flying without worrying about the battery. It has both moving map and airspace map. The Flymaster units are very user configurable and updatable. The down side is that the moving map isn't brilliant and nor is it interactive. For example you can't set a waypoint on it and fly to it yet. But Im sure they will sort that out in future firmware upgrades. When I bought it it didn't have a moving map. The airspace isn't fancy looking colourful but is function able and gives you warnings approaching and tells you if you can go under or over it and also how much height you need to lose or gain. It has world wide airspace and ground map downloadable free and updatable. Wherever you go in the world you have the airspace and you know how high you are above the ground you are flying over QFE. Of course it tracks your flights in its flight log and can download them to a fancy colourful chart etc which gives you all the useless info for the geeks like how fast or high you were going vertically and horizontally at a given point of your flight, how far you flew and for the tree hugger free flight maniacs triangular and out and return nonsense. I am very pleased with it. And it's reasonably priced for what you get. I also fly with an old and trusted Garmin 76csx which has street map view on it which a got cheap from eBay. It goes well with the Flymaster because I can set up go to waypoints to fly to easier, has more village info and can zoom in closer. The batteries only last about eight hours tho. I use 2700 mah nimh rechargeable batts and take four spare which last for a good few full days flying. I've recently worked out how to download Garmin airspace onto its SDmicro but I can't seem to overlay it onto the street level map, it just goes onto the base map. I can switch from one to another. It seems like the MATZ are missing from it. I havnt fiddled with it enough yet I am probably doing something wrong. Of course I always fly with an up to date airmap as per the rules..............;-) So thats what I currently fly with and it works well for me. Whitters.

Fresh Breeze still stock parts for 210 as they used that motor for years. You can also get the power upgrade, bigger head and power exhaust which takes the 210 from 15hp to 18hp. Dan Burton is the uk dealer for FB. Just google Fresh Breeze UK. Actually here you go, I won't be lazy. The pull starter is listed here in spare parts for solo http://www.fresh-breeze.de/en/spare-parts/solo.html Regards.

Hi Rob. ive just checked the manuals and it's not listed. Baileys are normally very clean motors. Perhaps a dodgy gasket. Email and ask them. Regards. whitters.

Hi. Does anyone know where I can get a Fly Products 16L Fuel tank from in the UK. I can order direct online but I would rather use a UK dealer. Its for an old H&E R120. My tank is leaking from the bolt connectors due to vibration I guess. Its about 10 years old and has done a few hours. I don't think epoxy will hold for long so I may as well bite the bullet and buy a new one. Regards. Whitters.

Hi. I met him last year. He is a really nice guy. I really like him. And so would you if you met him. He flies into Glastonbury every year and has done for many years. He knows the organisers and has worked at the event for years. He is an eccentric gent that does have an urge to shun authority. That is the way he conducts his affairs in everyday life. He is an interesting character. Did he get permission to fly into the event NO. Naughty boy. Has he ever. NO. Naughty boy. Was anybody upset. (see vid) Only the armchair experts at home. oh and the CAA cos someone made a fuss. Was anyone in danger? No more than any of us flying over a large town ect. I do think he knows where to draw the line, before anyone accuses him of potentially ruining it for everyone. A proper bell end is someone who leads a flight of paramotors over an active ATZ because the bloke he met in the pub the night before said it was ok to do so. Now that is a proper bell end. Meet Dave and his dog. This is how he arrived at a fly in in Devon last year. Whitters. XX

Hi cas. The H&E is a motor from early in my PPG life. The first few reduction boxes were replaced under warranty thanks to Pete Searl. I've only bought one and had one refurbished which are the two in the phot, this was in 2009. The new one broke at the casing as seen in the phot, the refurbished one was the original and the best of the bunch achieving over 100 hours which is why I had it refurbished. It's just a spare these days as I have a Bailey and a Fresh Breeze Sportix. The motor is good and had new piston rings and exhaust less than 100 hours ago which is why I've kept it. I've used all sorts of grease over the years. Originally it was oil filled. I guess they havnt got it sorted as yet. I've had this motor 10 years!!! Can't rush these things!!. Don't fancy grease change every 5 hours or bashing around with bearings. I don't think the bearings are the problem. It gets hot and blows the seals. I think the gears are worn on the older unit. Thanks for your replies. Whitters.

Just wasted 30 min of my life learning how to reduce size of a photo on my iPad. Mailed it to myself reduced size in mail options.

Hi. Does anyone know if H&E have sorted out the problems with their reduction gearbox units yet? I've had many (5 or 6) over the years, Paid to have one refurbished at not much cheaper than to buy new, this lasted about 25 hours. Last summer my latest gave up. They always leak grease but this was chucking all the grease out and making crunching noises in flight. I tried to make one unit from two but on dismantling they were completely different. See phot. Tried to load phot but said too big. Whitters.

Hi Bobby. I've had a V5 for the past 18 months or so. I've done 130 hours on mine. I can't comment on customer care because I haven't needed it. This motor has been the most reliable machine by far that I have owned, and I have owned many. I still have a Fresh Breeze Sportix Simonini engine and a H&E 120. I have no financial interest in motors and am non bias. When my V5 arrived I was pleased with the weight and power. Slightly heavier than my 120 but more power. I have taken off from smaller areas like car parks, grass verges, country roads etc with the V5 because it feels small and light on your back and I have more confidence. On my GTX 26 It still maintains / climbs on fast trim full speed bar but does need full revs (see below). The economy is fantastic. I weigh 97kg naked, 110kg fully dressed not including reserve parachute and flight deck. On my Revo wings I get 2.25 to 2.5 litres an hour. Worst economy is on my GTX where I get 3ltres an hour fast trim. I plan my long flights on 3 litres an hour which works well with plenty of reserve. It's a 12 litre tank. It's nicely designed compact simple and reliable. Very clean, sounds nice, easy to start in the air giving confidence to stop the motor in flight and low maintenance. I havnt touched the carb and only removed the spark plug twice in 130 hours. For most flights I chuck 8 to 10 litres in and I don't have to think about fuel. I've flown many engines Simonini Black Devil Parajet etc. For me and my weight most use about 6 litres an hour. The Polini versions a bit less but you will not get to 50 hours on most of them without unexplained hole piston or seizure. That's my experience only. Comments welcome. As they say "if your 2 stroke motor seems to be running really nice it means it's about to seize up" LOL Negatives. The frame is lightly built, if you are new to Paramotoring and likely to fall over it will cost you. Power is less than the bigger Polini or Simonini but equal to Smaller Polini 110. Probably doesn't like long full rev full speed bar flying (see below). This is how I always used to fly but have adjusted my flying these days in keeping with my age. The fuel tank detaches which is good for out refuelling but is a bit tight and a bugger to get in. Also the fuel line leaves the tank underneath via a plastic L shaped connector which is unguarded and vulnerable. I've never broke mine but doing so when landing out to fuel will be troublesome. The fuel tank markings were inaccurate and the tank takes more fuel than indicated, probably because the tank was tight fitting and the sides bowed out. Because of this for the first few flights it seemed I was using much less than 2 litres an hour. I realised this when fuelling at the garage and 6 pump litres + my existing 2 litres = 7 ??? The V5s is much the same I believe but a bit lighter again. I prefer the look of the V5. The V5s has plastic head cover and different exhaust which I am not so keen on. I like shiney bits. I'm not sure on all of the differences. The early Bailey 4 strokes were heavier and had some trouble with cooling on hard flying. Increasing oil capacity and fan cooling has fixed this. However with this in mind my first few flights were all gentle slow trim on my Revo 30. I have since learned that more distance is achieved without speed bar and full revs. As per the manual instructions I avoid prolonged full revs / prolonged speed bar. The ideal motor would be a Bailey on the early volution frame which looked nice and was solid, but the one with netting. This might be a bit heavy tho. Bailey should give a titanium frame option. Although expensive would be better for new pilots. Bit of a long post. My experiences only. Hope this helps. Whitters.

Many of us are like you with a keen interest on going places. I started free flying in the 1980s. Did a few epic flights here in Cornwall coast to coast and all but mostly bombed out in the middle of nowhere spending the rest of the flyable day trying to get back to my car. Hence the motor. First a Solo 210 on a solar wings Typhoon hanglider. Then reflex wings came about and I got into Paramotoring. I got more airtime in my first 2 years Paramotoring than I ever did in over 15 years free flying. Paramotoring is quicker than free flying. About 24 to 34 mph airspeed depending on the wing. The wings are different and designed for motor and to carry more weight than the free flying wings. Pure thermal flying with a motor is more difficult than free flying due to weight drag and wing type. Bit like free flying with a small drogue Shute dragging behind. As for climbing up switching the motor off and spending hours ridge soaring and thermal flying, unfortunately it's not really going to happen. Certainly not in the UK. In saying that I do switch my motor off at some point most flights when playing with thermals. But not for more than a few mins at a time. I did run out of fuel once and managed to get back to my landing field after 20 mins of engine off but that was an exception. I attempted it as I had little option. There was an electric paramotor that had a centrifugal type prop which folded and pointed backwards when stopped. Didn't have a cage and was like a free flight harness. Not sure what happened to the development of them. That might work. Go for it. You won't regret it. Keep your free flying kit and do both. You probably won't do much free flying when you experience the freedom of powered flight and the flying weather envelope becomes wider. Whitters.