Phil_P

I think that a lot of manufacturers tend to be a bit, how shall we say, optimistic, in their weight assessment. Sometimes missing out stuff like harness or cage even, either that, or never actually placing them on a real set of scales. I have no proof of this BTW, other than finding out that my Adventure F3, fully kitted, weighed almost exactly the same as my Bailey 175. The Bailey of course is often dismissed out of hand by potential purchasers for being too heavy.

What gets me is that they claim they are trying to improve safety, not generate income. A police bike, with the rider in day-glos will slow down a lot more riders albeit for a fairly short period of time, than any 'Stealth' copper ever will. If I wasn't so law abiding, I'm sure I would flash my headlights in the car at bikes if I knew there was a speed trap waiting for them.

I would say that has to be your judgement call based on the MET you have available. If anyone tells you it's a good idea and then it all goes pear shaped, you might not be happy. From a personal perspective, I'd probably just fly earlier

And info on that can be found here; http://www.para2000.org/wings/swing/arcus.html My experience of it is that it's a reasonable, solid first wing, but rather slow in this day and age. Phil

I've used mine with several airlines. I don't use it during landing or take off phases, as that just winds up the flight attendants, regardless of whether it does or doesn't cause any problems. If you ASK if you can use it, you will quite probably be told 'no', so I tend to follow Pete's advice, and use it unless someone says stop. If you are discrete, they will probably just think it's an MP3 player if you wear a pair of headphones You may find reception is a problem however, as you tend only to be able to pick up the 'birds' on one side of the aircraft, through your window. Phil

Bother, missed this bit lower down; "The aircraft shall be foot launched" So I can land on my bike wheels, but not take off on them.

In fact, I found this on Gordon Dunn's Pages; "A foot launched powered flying machine must be demonstrably capable of being safely foot launched from a horizontal surface in still air or light wind conditions" So it looks like having wheels is ok, as long as you can still stand up and run with it. I'm now thinking of an incredibly simple frame with three small bicycle wheels and an aluminium box central front to back spine that you could have a leg each side of..... hmmmmmm Phil

I thought the legislation said something like 'it must be capable of being foot launched' ? Phil Pete, don't tell me you are a Sept. 21st baby too?

I'm not talking to him! Ever again! I refuse! No, no, 'sorry' won't wash this time!

stick 'imasuper' into youtube. That should about cover it. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him! Phil

Corrected, thanks. Phil

Where mains voltages will score though is when you are having to use long extension leads. The lower current of the 240 volts means less resistive loses in cables. To run a long extension for 12 volts at 10 Amps would require hefty cable, and would still have appreciable loss. This is why electricity is distributed around the country at up to 120 thousand volts.

A dielectric is an insulator between two conductors. It is often used to describe the insulator used in capacitors, between the two charged plates, or the insulator in coaxial cable (antenna wire)

I hope Alan doesn't mind, I've taken the liberty of alphabetising the terms; A Assiette: is attitude (this confused the hell out of me as it came up as plate. probably has it's roots in 'sit'). Atterrissage: is landing. B Bille: is ball, as in the turn/slip indicator, a ball in a U shaped channel. Bougie: is spark plug (translates as candle ). Brin de Laine: is sprig of wool. This confused the hell out of me 'till I found that flexwing pilots attach a piece of wool to the front of the trike to show the symmetry of turns (follows the wind flow over the nose of the trike). C Calage: is pitch (of propeller or wing). Calage moteur: is timing of spark. Cap: is course. Cisaillement: is shearing, as in wind shear. D D'arrondi: is round off. Decollage: is take off. (to unstick, remember collages at school?) Decrochage: is stalling (came up as unhooking - what the **** does that mean I thought). Derape: is skid, as in side slipping. Derive: is drift. E Envergure: is wingspan. F Finesse: is glide angle. G Gouverne de profondeur: is steering of elevator. H Helice: is propeller. L Lacet: is yaw. Le factueur de charge: is load factor, as in wing loading. Lisible: is readable , as in clear radio comms. M Manche: is joystick. Montee: is climb. P Palier: is level, as in flight level FLxxx. Piquer: is dive. Piste: is runway. Portance: is lift. R Ralenti: is idle (low revs). Rayon de Virage: is radius of turn. Rendement: is output, as in power output. Roulis: is rolling. S Sillage: is wake. T Tangage: is pitch. (I assume as in pitch/roll/yaw?) Taux de chute: is rate of fall. Traction: is power. Trainee: is drag.

The error in this calculation is that 1/2 an amp at 250 volts, require 10ish Amps at 12 volts. Power consumption remains a constant (less any losses) not current drawn.

The watts being used on the light side will be approximately equal to the watts being supplied on the battery side, less a fairly hefty slice of inefficiency. So, if you are using 100 Watts, you might need to supply 150 Watts Watts = Volts x Amps, so Amps = Watts/Volts Current demand therefore = 150/12 = 12.5 Amps (seems blinking high, have I done something wrong?) Call it 13 Amps to make the sums easy 130 Amp/hour battery will supply 13 Amps for 10 hours (13 x 10) My inefficiency factor might be a bit high, but the battery will probably drop below the voltage threshold to drive the inverter sooner rather than later, so I'd guess that it's about right on swings and roundabouts. Phil

But the bit that was inside the quotes was "standard pilot headset". I'm guessing that this might be a headset used in GA. Phil

The Simo Mini2 has one of the best reputations for paramotor engines in terms of power to weight ratio, and general suitability for paramotors (and I don't fly one). Unless there is something seriously wrong with one, I wouldn't expect it to need much in the way of tweaking. If you are having to do loads of stuff to get your motor to perform as you need, I'd look at the basics first and only then start worrying about stuff like the digital ignition.

The WB32 and 37 carbs are the same choke size as each other, so will flow the same amount of air. The only real difference between them is the way the high jet is situated in the venturi. There has been some discussion that this actually makes the 37 more susceptible to carb icing. The butterfly notching mod will help to improve idle, and transition as you open the throttle, but doesn't increase air flow in total, it simply encourages air over the low speed jet rather rather than it flowing round the whole butterfly circumference. The only way you'll flow more air, is by fitting a larger carb, but is that actually what you want to do? Larger carb also means lower venturi airflow speed, so likely poorer fuel atomisation. Is there a specific problem you are trying to rectify, or are you hoping to increase power output? If it's the second one of the two, you are probably flogging a bit of a dead horse I'm afraid, unless you want to do some porting and polishing work on the internals (or take your engine to Stan Stevens or someone similar). Phil

What is probably meant by 'Standard' is the large two plug system used on GA Aircraft. These can be used with a suitable adapter in aviation handhelds like the ICOM IC A6 etc, and probably in a similar way, the Yaesu Vertex VXA series. They can be made to connect to sets like the Vertex VX series, but it does require a little understanding of how the various PTT systems work. Phil

It is. And just to clarify, any airfield on your chart that displays the letters LARS (Lower Airspace Radar Service) will be happy to talk to you, as will many smaller fields that don't have radar. The LARS service was set up to provide some degree of safety for aircraft that might normally operate without contacting ATC at all. The 'Basic Service' is what you would request on an initial call to a participating ATCU, and is the service that replaced the 'Radar Information service'. You will be expected to pass information on your type,location, altitude, heading etc. Take your Flight Radio-telephony ticket and all will become clear. Phil

My thoughts on the subject, for what they are worth; If the 'A's are longer on the PPG risers, that would imply a higher angle of attack and a slower setting (supported by your empirical findings when free flying). Would it not be worth considering NOT anchoring the trim tab in PG mode, but rather alter the trim to bring the PPG risers closer to the lengths of the PG version, ie with a lower AOA and slightly faster? I can only assume that the fully trimmed setting is designed for low speed take off's and landing's, and that this isn't optimum for free flying. But what do I know, Phil

The glacier in your pic looks like the Mer de Glace. Looks nice and smooth from way up there, but down close it is incredibly rough, with huge blocks of ice as big as houses, and chasm's you could drop a truck into. Phil

The rate of climb is influenced by; a) The wing, size and design b) Surplus power from the motor, beyond that required for level flight c) All up weight of the whole shebang, including you, motor, wing & everything else To increase rate of climb you must alter one of the above; a) by making the wing larger, you are decreasing the wing loading i.e. the weight per square meter of fabric above you. You will climb faster. Care must be taken however that you remain within the correct all up weight envelope for that wing at that size. Paramotorists tend to fly 'heavy' on their wings, that is towards (or even beyond) the upper weight limit for a wing. In that case, they are increasing the wing loading, and will tend to climb slower. By doing so, it reduces the chance of a collapse (although if such a collapse occurs, it will likely be more dynamic). It also increases the airspeed of the wing, thus improving penetration in windy conditions. Modern wing designs are undoubtedly more efficient than some of their older cousins, and so give you increases in both climb rate AND speed. However the paradox remains, that in order to increase horizontal speed, and maintain the same rate of climb (or maintain the same speed while increasing rate of climb) you need to supply more power, either by opening the throttle further, or fitting a more powerful engine. b) Increase power available. As mentioned above, the more power you have available, beyond that required for level flight on a given wing at a given load, the greater will be your rate of climb. c) become lighter. Thus you will have a greater surplus of power. Be cautious of moving too close, or even beyond the lower weight limit of your wing. For most, if not all paramotorists, we have to perform a three way balancing act involving the above three factors. You must choose what combination suits you best for your particular requirements. E.g., are you happy to fly slowly on very calm days, and perhaps climb to greater heights faster, or do you want to really go places, even in marginal wind conditions, where you need extra penetration in order to move forward against the wind? Are you willing to carry the extra fuel you are likely to need if you move to a more powerful motor and improve your climb rate and/or air speed? For what it's worth, I flew a Swing Arcus (not 2, 3 etc.) XL wing with paramotor (trimmable) risers. I flew at an all up weight, somewhere near 160 kg. when first starting. My Adventure F3 with Solo 210 Plus engine (the 'plus gives an extra couple of HP) gave me a positive rate of climb even with trimmers at full fast, but not VERY positive. However with speed bar applied, I would descend even at full throttle. Most folks with a more modern wing left me pretty much for dead, both horizontally and vertically. I am now flying at closer to 140kg AUW and have switched to an APCO Thrust HP '09 in medium. My power unit is now a Bailey 170 four stroke. The Bailey is probably not substantially more powerful than the Adventure F3, although my personal feeling is that the Helix prop provides a noticeable increase in thrust. With this wing/motor/weight I am now very quick through the air, on a par with anything I've come up against. My rate of climb remains positive, but not sparkling, but I would say better than the previous combination, despite the much higher speeds. I can also just about use 'bar and stay level. So it looks like I have pretty much traded weight loss for speed increase. The bit I like, is that due to the good fuel economy of the Bailey, I have about halved my fuel consumption. This particular compromise suits me. Hope some of that is of some use to you. Phil

Do not touch Paramotor Store with a barge pole. They are a complete bunch of thieving ba**ards, who once they have your money, you can forget about ever hearing from them again. If that means they haven't posted out your item, then that'll be your tough luck. One or two have had successful dealings, but far more have not a good word to say between them. Ask on just about any of the other PPG/PG/PPC/UL forums and you will get a similar response from people world wide. I think even 'Click & Buy', a reasonably reputable online payment system, have dropped them after the number of demands for refunds. Phil