PatPux

Nice One, James it's a mixture of apprehension on flying alone and unsupervised and euphoria at not f**king it up!

No, fraid not. Read here for connectivity

http://max.kellermann.name/projects/xcsoar/kobo.html

Here is my attempt at the Kobo Mini Hack.

ImageUploadedByPMC Forum1411636591.965926.jpg[/attachment]

3. Melt small slots in the covers to let the wires out and hot glue the module on the front cover

Would recommend Simon at http://www.paramotortraining.com/paramo ... /home.html. Get hold of him for a chat or go down to Membury. My declared interest is simply that's where I learnt and loved every minute of it. Should be in just the right place for you, too.

Flight 27 21/9/14

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2996855

I had kept my eye on Sundays weather all through the second half of the week as it showed decreasing wind over the day, so I thought if I picked my moment I could have a nice evening flight with a little breeze to help me away and calming conditions through the flight.

I have to admit to making the weather work for my continued lack of forward launch proficiency!

And so it proved- I got to the field and it was blowing a nice steady 9+mph from the NE, while I set up it decreased so that by the time I was ready I launched into about 7mph with a slight left brake correction , a bit of both brakes, another couple of steps and a final dab of the brakes again.

Once up to a 1000ft over Hardwick House I let out the trims and started to make about 17mph groundspeed directly into wind.

I was achieving this with about 3/4 throttle and 6600-6800 rpm for level flight. (As an aside-my digital rev counter was reading 3300-3400, so I am assuming it is reading half speed for some reason. It was an 8 quid job off ebay, and there is no programming on it so I cant really see how I might cure that, not that it really matters).

As I turned West over Gallowstree Common and set off downwind towards Woodcote I started to speed up over the ground to about 45mph , passing over the Oratory school, so it didn't take long till I was looking down on the Thames at Goring. Then on over the National Trusts Basildon House, a few circuits over friends houses on the way back to the West of Pangbourne, with some lovely views of the Thames in the evening light. All of which I photographed......appallingly badly, so there's little publishable evidence.

The sun was tucked between the horizon and the blanket of cloud so there was some lovely light but it was never the less quite gloomy, so the perfect opportunity to try out my homemade strobe, which Sally reported was quite bright and visible as I passed over home on my way back to the field.

Flight 28 30/9/14
 
An evening flight in a brisk South Easterly around Pangbourne , overflying a friends House up by St Andrews and returning over Pangbourne Lock

Flight 29 25/10/14

Took a number of goes to get the wing up in reverse, waiting for the breeze to pick up enough. Just couldn't get the wing right over head. When the breeze did pick up and so the wing came up smartly I was away in a couple of paces.
The target was to fly SW to pay Ray at Northway Porsche a visit. So off I headed across a stiffening breeze which was slowing my progress to 12-15mph over the ground. The Synth was masterful in the bumpy conditions, soaking up anything that was thrown at it.
I passed over Englefield House and lake and on over the small farm strip near the A4 as I tracked the Beenham Ridge, keeping fairly low over the open fields to keep out of the worst of the breeze.

Eventually I made it over Northway Porsche and gave the audience a couple of Esses before turning for home with some concern as to whether I had enough fuel to get back.

I needn't have worried though, as I turned downwind/crosswind my groundspeed rose to 50mph and I was back over my field in 10 minutes.
I did a number of Esses over the NE corner of the field and the railway  before landing in the middle of the grass area.

Ok that's maybe a slight exaggeration but this morning setting up for an early flight I tried to start the motor (v2 macro) and it was turning over very slowly with a newly charger battery... I did this for just a few seconds before the smoke started to bellow out of the electrical box. has anyone had this before? What did it end up being?

It was running perfectly just a few days ago and been sat in my garage untouched since then.....

I think that today I will have at least 2 very annoyed people waiting for first flights :-( sorry in advance guys.

SW

Sent from my iPhone using PMC Forum mobile app

It sounds like it will need a new solenoid, but you need to make damn sure the shorting fault ( probably inside the starter, if it was turning slowly on a fully charged battery) is sorted or it will do it all over again.

That all sounds like the solenoid shorting out. If there is a dead short in the solenoid starter circuit and the solenoid switch doesnt release when you let go the starter button it will continue to fry until you disconnect the battery. Unlikely ever to be an issue in flight unless you stop the motor because you want to thermal, for example, and then wish to restart.

Won't that need a referendum?

I know 4 others here that fly with the Dickies suit.

Yes, surprised George1966 hasn't chimed in , he swears by his.

Flight 26 13/09/14

After a frustrating few weeks , firstly dogged by a dodgy Achilles and then by recurrent unsuccessful attempts to get airborne on some beautiful calm evenings , I took to the air again yesterday afternoon.

It was still quite breezy as I set up but pretty steady in direction, I needed a breeze to avoid too much running. And so it was, after an easy reverse pull up and a couple of steps I was away. Although a bit of penduluming in the first few seconds was a bit unnerving.

This was my first Easterly take off from this field and benefitted from being able set up in the recently harvested Western part of the plot.

I had a nice flight NE across the Thames towards Gallowstree Common, skirting some large camping and caravanning gathering at Mapledurham House. I also diverted around Wittles, as I watched a little 3 axis microlight take off from the little farm strip. It was surprising how quickly the bright blue aircraft, so easily visible on the strip, was lost to view as it climbed against the surrounding back drop of woods and fields. A good reminder for always keeping your eyes well peeled.

The flight has also spawned a mushrooming expedition to a field up near Goring Heath, where from 1500ft the "Fairy rings" of lusher grass dotted with bright white field mushrooms were clearly visible.
My return was the usual rapid passage as I turned downwind. Still with plenty of fuel on board I pottered around the edge of Pangbourne, before turning the engine off over the West end of the field and essed it out before making my approach directly into wind for a zero speed touch down in the 8 knot breeze. 

Nice to get back in the air again after a 5 week break, but still no nearer mastering nil wind launches, unfortunately.
The other lesson for today, not learnt from last time, is to carry more speed into the final phase of landing and be prepared to run it off a bit instead of trying to touch down with zero forward speed, which invariably means sitting down as the weight of the machine gets the better of you and topples you backwards.

1/3 of the price of a flight suit is even better :

Proving the point that if you put the word "flying/aviation/etc" in the description you triple the cost

Very nice and smooth

Looks like a good job- great review.

I'm thinking along these lines now- Lastnight i tried the camera on a chest mount- instead of helmet mount, and was amazed at how steady the camera was- but with the gimbal it would be so much better!

If i chest mount or cage mount the camera, and I do a steeply banked turn- will the horizon appear level, or will it be angled?

GD

No- dont think the chest mount would be on my list- certainly not a high priority.

I think next priorities would be telescopic pole, shoe mount, then follow cam.

GD

So the chest mount came up the priority list, Gordon. I quite like it, certainly steadier than the helmet. I also like it because to a certain extent you can grab it and point it or even unclip it and point it (with a lanyard, obviously).

As far as tilting goes, he does that in the review doesn't he? (I cant play it at work to check) But I think as you are pulling some g in the turn it confuses the accelerometers a bit and therefore doesn't keep the horizon completely level.

If you're not in a hurry and simply want to know where to get one, then apart from the obvious....Parajet, see this post

viewtopic.php?p=64515#p64515

I have one and am in pangbourne, berkshire

Nice one. Falmouth Estuary? I think I can remember holidays as teenager a long time ago having chartered a motor boat out of Malpas. Well here's my offering with the same title but on the North Coast around Trevose Head.

Oh for those steady sea breezes!

http://vimeo.com/100982295

[quote name="daneellard"

Oh for a full day' date=' (not too hot), with a steady, light wind. Then I think I could really progress.

Day 6

If you get that you won't be far away from your first flight, I would think. And the weather looks pretty good for getting a few consecutive days in. I would be surprised if we're not reading about it here within the week! Keep it up.

I would hang fire mate if you can

At least until I have a launch date

SW

Nice One, Simon. I've got a bit more time, my renewal with Axa is December.

Yes mine has 14 teeth, Parajet Macro OEM number is 3MG14556, hence Simons reference above , 3MG16556 is correct for you, the first two digits obviously reference the number of teeth.

Sorry! Scrub my posts here.simon is quite correct .

Just checked my PJ Macro one and it does only have 14 teeth as you say, so not sure that reference above is correct for your needs

This is what you need for the mini 2 plus

http://www.woodauto.com/Component.aspx?Ref=STR62007

Simon

If that is the right one, then that is the same OEM ref as the Parajet Macro and I got one from stock next day

http://shop.parajet.com/index.php/volut ... motor.html

OEM REFERENCE SJCE 3MG16556

I keep a pretty good record of my consumption, and that's what I get. There are a couple of things that might be impacting- I do get a belt slipping problem as the belt wears and my flights can be quite short, so will feature a high proportion of climb out. But even on my longer flights I will still be around 5-6 lts an hour.

Alan, nice to hear a unreservedly successful story. I have always liked the idea of the V5, especially the 1.5 lts for 40mins, I'd get 15mins on that if I was lucky! but I'm afraid it wouldn't have enough umph for my 105kg

30/8/14

Missed any flying over the last week or so, out with some sort of tendonitis, luckily probably only missed a couple of flyable days.

Some replacement lines arrived during the week from Dudek in Poland, one to replace the one I knicked in Cornwall and the other an AP2 where the loop stitching was a bit dubious at the riser end, bit strange really because the other A lines showed no sign of the same thing.

Back in the air as soon as I stop hobbling around; next week looks half decent.