PatPux

Flight 31 06/04/15 Back in the air, after 3 and 1/2 months off, to blow away the winter cobwebs, my last flight being my engine out just before Christmas A nice half hour flight round Pangbourne and Upper Basildon started with an easy reverse launch into an 8mph NWesterly. Then on over Basildon Park, a location for Pride and Prejudice and many other period dramas.

Interesting Alan, Thanks

Dusted the Macro off over the weekend. Had some difficulty starting it, eventually to the point where the starter wouldn't turn. It didn't sound or feel like a flat battery and indeed it wasn't. I had to remove the starter ( what a PITA that is, only topped by putting the sod back) stripped it down to find that the brushes were not sliding in their carriers so were not contacting the commutator. Not sure whether that had happened as a result of it overheating a bit or just being sticky after the winter layup. So worth remembering this if yours doesn't work. Perhaps if it were to happen to me again I would try a smart tap on the motor body to free them off without going through the rigmarole of removing it. Of course need to hear the starter relay clicking before its worth doing any of the above. Also replaced my old throttle cable, described here. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10162 So should be ready to go the first time decent weather coincides with a day off, which doesn't look like this weekend for me In any case, Saturday is out for me as I have to take my motorcycle frame (that I'm refurbishing), up to the painter..........in Lincolnshire. That is just where I found someone (through recommendation) that I trusted to do a proper job on it- the guy builds Merlin engines for the Battle of Britain flight , so reckon he'll have the right mind-set I'm told he made a camshaft for one from scratch- should be an interesting guy to talk to! Sorry- I digress. It will be my first flight since just before Christmas which ended with my first engine out. And far from that making me apprehensive (well no more than usual) about flying I think it instilled a certain level of confidence in that I have it out of the way and it all went according to plan. I was just thinking it is only a couple of months shy of 2 years since my first flight and I have a logbook with only 30 flights in it. What is the experience of others as to whether that's a normal number in the time or not- certainly, I know George Holmes, who first flew the same time as me is up around 3 times that, so I feel I have some catching up to do.

I replaced the cable because it was kinked and generally knackered which was making it tight, but I thought I'd try and improve that exit while I was at it. I think you have it, but this what I was trying to say about the adjuster.

Yes, that was the same one I had. But when the plate into which the adjust fits is at the angle shown in your photo the cable is not "aimed" at the carburettor arm, ie the cable exits out the end of the adjuster at an angle instead of straight. So to get that line better you have to rotate the plate and then the adjuster fouls on the starter motor. By putting the curved adjuster on I can rotate the plate to get the better line without the adjuster hitting the starter

I needed to change my throttle cable recently as it had become stiff and wasn't returning cleanly. Whilst doing it I decided to rectify what I thought was poor routing at the throttle end where the straight cable adjuster would bind on the top of the starter motor. I ordered this http://www.venhill.co.uk/Cables_-_Components_Kits/Universal_Cable_Kits/U01-4-100-A_UNIVERSAL_THROTTLE_CABLE.html and this http://www.venhill.co.uk/Cables_-_Components_Kits/Cable_Components/Ferrules_-_Bends/FB3C_FERRULE_BEND_ASSY_CHROME_-_YAMAHA__.html This is what it ended up like

3S Lipo sorry missed the second bit, no, it doesn't charge off the engine , it only draws 600mA, IIRC.

3S Lipo

Only just seen this. Get well soon , Pete.

Hi Tony. Remember you saying you were moving down there- St Tudy, wasn't it? All small cornish fields with high hedges, is it then? Yes, it would be good to have a fly

I'm going to be in Cornwall from July 10th for a week and have somewhere to fly near Trevose Head and Constantine Bay but that'd be a fair schlep up from St Ives, so I expect you can find something closer.

Just checking the date...........no, its not April 1st yet!.................only in the States!

Unless you've had some more in, Simon, Col had the last bendix off you when I was after one a couple of months ago.

If they're quoting £100 for a refurb.......its a no brainer for buying new from PJ, at £115+ etc, I would have thought. Especially as what you are describing sounds like a duff bendix, 9 times out of 10 it is.

As, I say, Burghfield will be Ok if it needs an electrical repair, but if the bendix is gone , I think you will be joining the ranks of those with a perfectly serviceable motor and a knackered bendix, having bought new because the bendix alone is prohibitively expensive.

YouTube and Vimeo are awash with them! Eg: https://vimeo.com/groups/paramotor amongst many others. You're welcome to use any of mine, though there are some far better.

I went through all this. If it's the motor you might get it repaired by someone like http://burghfieldstarterandalternatorcentre.co.uk/. They are proper repairers and I've used them for other stuff. It it's the bendix, and nine times out of ten, it is. You can go through the aggro and long wait and get one shipped from Italy at around £70-£80 for just the bendix or for £115 you can get a whole new starter (and bendix) from PJ. In the end I took the last option after much dicking around with the other two. The whole tale is in my blog.

Happy Christmas everyone

Duplicated

I referred this to PJ and here is their answer I’ve spoken to the boys in repair and maintenance who tell me that they are only aware of this happening twice before. We are using slightly different button clips now which are a bit stronger so hope this should solve the problem. So it has happened before, but they now use a stronger spring. It might be worth anyone with an earlier MacroV2 having a good look at their button clip spring. It's not that difficult to get at- air filter off and remove the two carb retaining screws. Just be careful the spring (or any broken bits) don't drop out and down the carb (unlikely, I know, as the butterfly will be shut) Anyway new stronger button clip in the post FOC. That's Parajet for you You can get somebody on the phone, They deal with the issue, They hold spares More often than not they despatch same day. That's something some others could aspire to, judging by other posts on this forum.

TBH with what I had to walk across, it would have needed such a large set it would add too much in size and weight to make it workable, I think. And hopefully it isn't something that is going to happen too often. I think the better solution is to hone one's landing skills so that one can always land it on that "sixpence" right next to the gate next to the road. Actually the thing that nearly finished me off, was diligently walking in the tractor tracks towards the gates to find the gates unopenable and having to lift 35kg of half fuelled rig over the gate!.......I don't know! You farmers really need to start thinking about the stranded Paramotor Pilot

I think I will let Parajet know what happened. I don't know what they can do about it, and whether others have had the same thing or mine was a complete freak, but we're talking about a unit with only around 20hrs on it. Luckily for me it was when I was climbing at altitude having engaged full throttle, and so if following good practice of always having identified a landing location, should never be a problem The other obvious time it would happen is during take off, where the consequences might be more of a problem. I'm not sure what the preventative solution is. It's not an obvious check for fatigue at designated hours, because of the need to dismantle and would be hard to spot in such a small part. Perhaps too costly for Parajet, but a relatively easy user fix is to put a light tensioning spring on the choke plate, that would hold the choke open in the event the button spring fails.

Flight 30 13/12/14 Today was flight 30 and worthy of note as a training experience because I had my first engine out. Also worthy of note because of the cause, but more on that later.And I have to say the training paid off a treat. I had about 700ft over ground as I passed downwind back East over the M4 from a flight to Frilsham. I was just South of the Yattenden dairy unit when the engine stopped......and I mean stopped, no spluttering, no slowing, no nasty noises....just stopped. I immediately had 3 choices of fields, a long narrow one immediately next to the motorway, and two others smaller squarer ones just North. I had full fast trim on, so had to pick up the brakes and get the trimmers in, which I did without any drama. Once that was settled I gave two attempts to restart, but nothing.So I headed for the copse which bordered the downwind side of one of the smaller fields, before turning crosswind then into wind.I wanted to maximise my space in the field, but was also conscious not to risk getting downwind of the trees and being subject to any wind effects from them, so I kept to windward of the trees, I still needed a couple of Esses across the wind before I judged I was OK to get in the field well before the hedge on the far side. All was looking good and I flared for nice stand up landing with no running.I have just downloaded the fight log and I can see it was 1m:40sec from the the engine cutting and being on the ground. But i can honestly say that was still plenty of time to sort everything out, including a couple of restart attempts.So I had a bit of a walk out across a couple of fields, no need to have worried about not getting to the gym today.... that little jaunt nearly killed me, so what a stroke of luck that i came out by the West Berkshire Brewery, who were having an open day . The sight of a mad pilot arriving on the scene generated enough interest that I soon had a lift back to Pangbourne organised, to retrieve my car.Now the cause. I had my money on an ignition failure, because it stopped so abruptly, so i was quite surprised to see a nice fat spark when i got it back in the workshop. so i thought I'd try and start it up. Funny, I thought.....the chokes in, I dont remember engaging that.so i opened it. Anyway got it running and all was fine, took it up to full power and it stopped immediately. And low and behold the choke had re-engaged again.I couldnt believe it so I opened the choke and ran it up again. This time I watched the choke while I did it and as it came up to full power it was sucked across as if by magic!Difficult to believe, I know, but watch the video http://vimeo.com/114427918The culprit was a broken spring that engages the pawl in the depression of the choke plate. With no pressure on it the venturi effect in the carb is enough to suck the choke across!So quite a good day in the end. 1. First engine out with a decent landing, all by the book2. An easily fixed problem3. A couple of pints at The West Berkshire Brewery4. And I didnt mention.....but I'd even managed a decent forward launch at the start!

Even for me who has only a single wing and doesn't fly tandem, there is some value in peace of mind a UK based reputable insurer.

Just to be clear, the policy costs £150 plus 6% tax, therefore, £159. I have to say that if I wasn't already a Paramotorclub member and was looking at this insurance and had to factor in the membership fee as well, it starts to look pricey.