Phil_P

Could anyone who has a Bailey four stroke, give me the distance between the centres of the front ends of the hang bars please? Many thanks, Phil

Are those something you've come up with, with Luxeon type LED's Gordon, or are they a commercial unit? If the latter, where do you get them? PK

I complained to them that, contrary to their advert on ebay, the lights did NOT comply with lighting regulations. They have since removed that part of their advert. However, they continue to market lights that actually will show coloured lights to the 'wrong' side of the aircraft, an issue that I pointed out to them could actually bring a paramotor into a conflict situation. If you are going to fit nav lights, make sure they do what they are meant to do, and only display through the correct angles.

And if a four stroke floats your boat. Mr. P. at Bailey aviation has (IMO) a well deserved reputation for customer service.

I can get pushing 3 hours out of 10 litres on my Bailey 4/180 using my Thrust HP09. Can't use Bar if I want that sort of autonomy, but even so, that will be around the 90 mile mark in still air.. I'm 106kg Nekid, and that's on the 'M' wing which is 27.5 m2 flat 23.5 m2 proj. I'd agree that the prop is a major contributor, because despite the modest power output, the engine thrust is quite considerable, and certainly better than the GSC on the same machine at comparable revs.

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I can sew and cook Pete b Yeh, but I've heard you sometimes burn things

Grrrrr, sold an item on Ebay, clearly marked as UK sale only. Guy wanted it posting to Slovenia! Is that somewhere near Bristol? Told him unless he came up with a UK address within 24 hours, he couldn't have it. He didn't. Five days later, out the blue, he sends payment, and surprise surprise, a UK address. Told him it had been sold to the under bidder, and that I wasn't happy with him. Immediately refunded his Paypal payment. Contacted Ebay who refunded me the final value fee for the sale. Now he's been allowed to leave negative bleedin' feedback, and ebay say they can't delete it, even though the sale was never completed. I am so pi**ed off, cos that is my first negative in 750 feedbacks and several years of buying and selling. Does describing me as 'unfriendly' count as defamation, cos that's the only way I'll be able to get his feedback removed? 'Angry of Newark'

How about just trimming the top edge off the Fusion bag, getting rid of the rings. Then just hem the whole top edge and thread in a draw cord. Ten minutes work if you've got access to a sewing machine. PK

Sam, is that £1000 for motor, wing and training? If so, I think you are being optimistic. For that sort of money you are likely to get lumbered with a right nail both in the motor and wing department. Personally, I'd have thought that £1000 might just get you a motor on it's own, and even then will be at the bottom end of the spectrum. Hope that doesn't put you off, just don't scrimp too much or you will likely be disappointed. PK

Apco claim it saved 300 grammes on a total wing weight of 5400 grammes for the small, so about 5%. Remember though, that is weight saved specifically at the leading edge, not distributed through the wing. Also, the function (IMHO) makes a significant difference to inflation. I bet if a motor manufacturer could save 5% weight AND improve function, they would jump at the chance. There is also the advantage that the battens shouldn't deteriorate over time and with bad packing the way that mylars do. Whether you believe sales hype is of course up to the individual, but I know how much better it inflates than my previous wing.

Go on then? Please explain SW The latest Thrust HP '09 has got these rather spiffing 'Flexon Battens' in lieu of mylars. Basically a springy bit of plastic going from the bottom surface to the top, either side of each cell leading edge opening. APCO claim they are pretty much indestructible, but they are replaceable if say you managed to mangle them in a prop. Thus, much less care is needed with them when packing than with mylars, which can take on very distinct fold lines if packed other than flat. APCO also reckon they have saved about half a kilo just with this mod alone. They really do the biz, holding the leading edge open, and even in absolute zero wind conditions, the way they give the leading edge shape, it looks like the wing is already quarter inflated just laid there on the deck. Inflation is a complete piece of p**s. PK

I knocked up a sort of DIY concertina bag. A big piece of ripstop nylon, roughly square with the side length equal to the chord of the wing. Draw strings fitted to two opposite ends. and velcro fitted to the two remaining edges. A couple of straps with pinch clips on the inside surface, one near the leading edge end, and one roughly imn the middle. Fold your wing, tip to centre till you end up with a long sausage, half the width of the bag. Drop the sausage on the bag, parallel to the velcro edges Do up the two straps (gathering the leading edge mylars if you don't have a Thrust HP into the one at the leading edge end ) Do up the two draw strings which are now at the leading and trailing edges Fasten the velcro Fold, roll or leave loose. If rolled/folded, secure with a pinch clip strap round the bundle. Cost probably about a fiver.

I don't think video machines on the whole can be 'unlocked' Malcs. There are a few that offer NTSC playback, but they are pretty thin on the ground. Are you thinking perhaps of the DVD regional coding which prevents US DVD's from playing on UK machines? That CAN often be unlocked with a hidden keyboard 'hack'. PK

Marks solution isn't a bad one, but the regional pressure setting is actually a forecast that estimates a minimum expected pressure value for the region, for a given time period. I believe it is updated hourly. During the day, the setting can change quite a bit. The value that you compute based on your observations of a known reference height and rthe current pressure, will not necessarily return the correct value for the regional setting. Easiest way to check it is to listen into a local (largish) airfields ATIS on an airband, or even just listen out to any old ATSU in your area, they will give out the regional setting whenever someone moves out of their control into open FIR and needs to reset their altimeter to a suitable en-route setting. I have also had a look at the Brauniger site, and certainly the IQ Motor that I have, won't let you change altimeter settings once the barograph is recording (ie, once airborne). They claim it is an FAI requirement, so I imagine all other models will have the same constraint. This is a bit of a pain if the regional setting changes while airborne, if you temporarily want to set an airfields QFE for a zone transit.

Because the atmospheric pressure can vary at sea level, just the same as everywhere else?, so you have to be able to dial in your ACTUAL altitude wherever you happen to be, prior to T/O, or have access to the regional pressure setting that altitude is based on (often erroneously referred to as regional QNH). Remember that most clearances will be granted on the basis of the ATZ QNH, so you need to be able to set that. I seem to remember that the Brauniger units won't let you alter pressure settings/altitudes once a flight has commenced, although I may be wrong on that point. The only "altitude" setting that is fixed so to speak is in fact not altitude, but flight level, where the level is referenced to a fixed 1013.2 hPa

When straightening cages, heat is your friend. Nylon stringing can be replaced with strimmer line. Balancing any prop (in the unlikely event it comes to you unbalanced) can be done with coats of lacquer on the light blade. Well worth doing, it really cuts vibration. In the future, minor dings can be repaired with super glue and baking powder, splits with waterproof wood glue or epoxy. Keep up to it and you'll reap the rewards in the long run. PK

Those Romanian props are OK. Nothing special but they do the job. £140 doesn't seem a bad price seeing as it included postage. The cheapest option seems to be to buy from Thailand (and I'd be happy to do that, as that is where my wing came from).

Wood, definitely. More robust, more repairable by the individual, and SO much cheaper. If a carbon one is the same profile, it won't produce any more thrust, although I've been told they can be a bit quieter. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who now goes forward and NEVER dings another. I would suggest that the odds are probably in favour of at least another one biting the dust (probably literally) Having said that, if money really is no object, if it was me, I'd probably keep two or three carbon ones because they look pretty. PK

Nah, can't have been. If it had been, he'd have been upside down over the top of you giving you 'the bird'!

I believe that the 2005 amendment to the ANO is what resulted in us being grouped together with gliders. I am not sure if there is a minimum instrumentation requirement on board a glider in order to be permitted to fly under IFR. Gliders certainly CAN fly under IFR, and this can be part of a clearance from an ATSU in order to cross I believe, certain class D airspace. Also of course, things like headings dependant on altitude and semi-circular rule come into play. It is unlikely that we as paramotorists would meet such a minimum equipment standard.

VFR Minima are not one of the areas where gliders are exempted as far as I know. We can all fly above cloud, providing we maintain minimum distances and have sight of the surface. It's only the last bit that can be ambiguous, because the documentation doesn't say whether or not the sight of the surface must be straight down, or can be slant. Really not trying to p**s on anyones' fireworks, just it's always nice to know IF we are breaking rules, and make an informed choice. That way, if we get screwed by the CAA we only have ourselves to blame, and our mates to contend with in the event of legislation being brought in. It's interesting to note the different attitudes towards different kinds of 'illegal' activity. The guy who flew a bit low close to a road was pilloried, but flying in proximity to cloud (which can be a major safety issue if an aircraft flying IFR suddenly pops out of it) seems to be acceptable. I think a bit more knowledge on air law by an awful lot of paramotor fliers (I hesitate to use the word pilot if they aren't up to speed) would not go amiss.

Don't think they have to chase us Phil, not in this neck of the woods anyway. The Police chopper has circled the Measham field, also did the same when I was flying out of a Nottinghamshire field, no doubt 'clocking' the location. I feel any complaint in the area, they know exactly where to come. Probably be there before you have even got back to he field. Bendme I suspect that might have something to do with the proximity of the field to E Mids airport where they are based. They've probably seen us flying round there so took a shuftie. They may even have been asked by ATC to have a look if we were occasionally showing up on radar. Best answer to that one is make all your flights cross country so you never land at your take off point And as an aside, did you know that Steve Faucets' round the world flight was classed as a local flight because his point of departure and arrival were the same place?

Full marks to Tygon from me too. I'd started using it on my Adventure, then swapped to the Bailey which uses it as standard. Absolutely no tendency to go stiff, transparent so you can check for bubbles, and pliable enough to fit onto just about any fuel union or negotiate pretty tight bends.

On the whole, the CAA will deal reactively and just respond when there is a crash or something like. Lets face it, there are plenty of folks flying around on trikes that don't have the required qualification or registration, plus powered parachutes and even slightly heavier stuff. The CAA won't bother chasing, they'll just deal with you harshly if and when you get it wrong. I can't see them deploying police choppers routinely to chase us (not to say there isn't the odd occurrence of that), it isn't cost effective or sensible use of resources. Personally, I don't actually enjoy low level stuff (at least not at my point on the learning curve). I'd much rather bimble along at 3000 feet, enjoying the view. Being low makes me nervous that my options are limited and I won't be able to deploy a reserve. Being close to the ground twice in each flight is enough for me.