Hodders

Really good day. Lots of people to chat to ranging from 2nd day ground handling up to 15+ flights. All good fun. I always try to set myself targets - today's were to improve take off thought process and to come in to land with excess height and actively manage altitude loss. Pleased with the take off - a couple of wind shifts required direction change and brake input as the wing was coming up and stabilising. Then an active decision to go with positive brake input to lift off. Spotted my target landing point at 1200' and went to engine idle. Put in 3 or 4 "S" turns on my approach. Landed about 5m from my target so really pleased with that. Not quite brave enough to kill the engine though ! Flight number 11 - done, not quite double digit air time though. Got into some bumpy stuff 10 minutes in resulting in unwanted course change and some rocking and rolling. Looked up and the wing was rock solid. Confession of the day - Ended up holding onto the risers like a big jessy and using some bad words - I guess my bump tolerance is still a lot less than the equipments. Almost turned round to head back and instead told my self to man up. Glad I did as by climbing up to 2000' and staying away from oil seed rape and buildings it all got a bit smoother. Ended up being a good 35 minute flight. It does make me realise how much I have learnt from @admin (Simon W) and @weesplat . It's been an amazing journey so far (with so much more to learn) so a huge thanks Simon and Colin for getting me this far.

Removed comments as I don't want to cause this site any problems. Suffice to say Dell Schanze is a *very* divisive person in the PPG world.

Beamers - make sure you check out the totally excellent members map on this site. There may well be someone nearby who you could get in touch with.

Great decision. Let us know when you're due to start and I'll make sure to say hello if I'm up at Membury.

Simon/Colin taught me and I would totally recommend them. If you want to ask any questions about my experiences,feel free to drop me a message and I'll happily give you a call. Or - just go for it !

Well done. I had a flight on Wednesday afternoon so must have just missed yours. Thanks for writing this up. I enjoy reading about other peoples experiences. Lets hope the weather starts to play ball a bit more often and you can get a few more flights in.

Seems that everytime the motor warms up it seizes. Then it cools down again and is OK. Could one of the rings be tight?

Love the idea, the wife wants details. Is this just accommodation and kit transfer (I'm guessing it is) or are flights, or anything else included? Also I'm assuming it's not a problem in still not totally signed off yet Simon? I'd love to come, it looks amazing.

Kiwi-K, I take your point. But when I think that each sqm is supporting about 4kg it is pretty cool. The fact that all the kit to get me off the ground fits in the boot of my car is just amazing. It really is the magic flying armchair I always dreamt of as a child !

Ever since the paramotorforums closed I would have expected the traffic here to be busier. Maybe the forum traffic is all going into the facebook groups? The nice thing about forums is that the information remains easily searchable unlike facebook groups. One of the reasons I'm so glad Simon took teh trouble to import the old forums into this new site.

Re: planes flying upside down. Refer back to the original diagram. Flying upside down causes the pilot to question the wisdom of such an endeavour. This translates into increased doubt resulting in turn into increased inverted lift. What I want to know is how 30 odd sq m of slightly crispy fabric can overcome gravity and get me in the air !

However, on reflection, I think that it is.

But then again, I'm not sure.

Sandman, I think that it is the number of posts that matters

I've attended a couple of Simon's really useful met/aero/VFR rules sessions but a motor maintenance/repair/service session is a brilliant idea - I've messed around replacing piston rings and bearings on an old pushrod 4 stroke sat in a Spitfire 1500 (my 1st car), but I'd love to know more about tuning and maintaining/repairing a high performance 2 stroke. Happy to contribute beer to anyone who puts together such a thing.

Sounds like you had a great day. The buzz you had really came through. Look forward to the next instalment.

Sounds like a productive day. I remember being told that it is just about impossible to do too much ground handling. Having had a variety of conditions over my 10 or so launches I can totally agree. Knowing what the wing is doing by feel is so useful.

Manny, enjoying this - thanks for posting it. Keep us all informed

Do you know what kind of powered flying you want to do? You have vastly more flying experience than I do, but buying an active wing that is just itching to throw a wing over and a barrel roll at the touch of a brake/throttle is not going to be the best choice if you want to enjoy relaxing XC. My (humble) suggestion would be to talk to an instructor fly PPG for a bit and only then (if necessary) buy a wing.

Not really an answer to your question but.... I'm pretty much a total novice with about 6 hours flight time and about 8 flights. Last flight I had the engine bogged down and stopped as I idled it at about 1500ft (it was running a little rich). A pull start would have been a lot harder to start in the air than a quick push of the green button. As a result it would have probably meant a land out and possible re-launch. I was very grateful for the e-start. Colin suggested - this is a very good idea - when I was on the ground with a warm engine to practise a restart using the pull start with the engine on my back. Whilst it was possible, it again made me grateful for the ease of an electric start. Assuming you don't lose the prime and the engine doesn't get too cold there is no reason a restart in the air should pose any difficulties but I'm assuming the usual caveat of having at least one landing zone in mind at all times would be extra important.

Charlie, how did they ship your engine back to the UK from Spain? I'm guessing they drive it back? What happens if you ask UPS or DHL to ship it? I'm sure if they use their own jets they can set their own rules. Maybe shipping in advance is they way forward?

Make sure to give Simon Westmore a call and pop up to the airfield. Look forward to meeting you there...

No need to rub it in ! How's the week been so far ?

Weather looks amazing....... and I'm away for the half term week

That sounds like a great idea - really enjoy the progress on the this project.