Dragonphotographic

Learning lots on the Tip to Tip. 3 days in Roche, followed by a day and a half on Dartmoor really sharpens up the weather eye! Amazed, and very proud of the guys as they have forged on through conditions 'Armchair Pilots' wouldn't dream of going out for a smoke in! Looking forward to reaching John O'Groats now. Not least because the guys have earned the glory and of course because it means I can get back home and strap myself in to a motor and throw myself at the sky again

Oi noes of a farmer with a forklift m'dear. Eez good fer 'ang tests

OK, I was gonna post my training blog for last night first thing this morning. However, it's been a mad day! At about 8am I had a call from our local paper. They had 'forgotten' to send a photographer to our carnival so were hoping I had some pics they could use. It says a lot about a paper when you ask "What's your FTP server address?" And the Editor says "What's an FTP server?" They then suggested that I emailed half a dozen or so pics. This I tried to do several times, only to find that their ISP has a file size limit, and any pics I sent that way would be too small to print! There was no option but to burn to disk and deliver personally. Another problem. Since being made redundant from the day job a few weeks ago I have no car and the wife has taken hers to visit her mother for the day! Most annoying thing? Her Mum's house is round the corner from the Newspaper office! Anyway, we finally got it sorted on the wife's return and I could visibly see the Editor's blood pressure dropping as I delivered the disk a full half hour before press time Anyway, back to the blog. Yet again, Met check was saying steady 7mph south westerly for Dave's place. When I got there, it turned out to be 15mph+. More kiting fun. Another pilot turned up and he brought a Revo 30. (Thanks Kieth) Dave played with it for a while, then it was my turn. Having got pitched by every other wing I have tried so far, this was a revelation! It came up easily, stayed there and made even me look good The only thing it doesn't do as well as Dave's Genie I have been using is handling rotor. The Genie is an early, non reflex design, so demands more input. However, the upside of it is light rotor is less of a problem . In clean air, it would be very hard to fault either of them. At around 8pm, the winds started to die down significantly. Dave got out the FT motor. I carried on kiting with the Genie as Kieth fell in love with the FT. (He has been using an H&E so far, but his particular motor has 'issues' with fuel starvation apparently, leading to a few broken props to date) Then, at 8.30, the wind died to 10mph. I strapped in to the FT and Genie combo. Dave, having weeks ago identified my 'Banzai' tendancies took the precaution of removing the spark plug cap so I could GH in full kit without fear of me just hitting the throttle and heading skywards!. Everything was going bloody well until the wind picked up again. As I was walking down the field with wing and motor I felt a strong gust. Instead of lifting, I pulled the brakes. Net result was I was going backwards a few feet off the ground and not really enjoying the experience! Won't be doing THAT again! In my mind I was desperate to not turtle and risk breaking Dave's prop because I couldn't afford to replace it! I decided to sit on the skids (turning is NOT an option at anything over 10MPH I have found. Tried that) I got dragged for a second or two until I could grab the D's and close it down. FT crush bars are hard, but they stop you from getting crushed. AND the bruises look like fresh tattoos I have been told today. Result!

Phil, the Memory Map software will export files to most GPS units including Garmin, Magellan etc. It is excellent and easy to use too

OK, so I flat arsed the Flat top!! I could have powered out of that I reckon Don't rub it in. Bruises are looking way kewl though

Dave's Place. Another good one tonight. I have done a few ground handling sessions in local fields for the last couple of weeks, but it's been far too fickle to attempt a first flight for well over a fortnight now. Been watching the weather very closely because I am determined to make that flight before the start of the tip to Tip if at all possible. Tonight we knew was going to be touch and go. The forecast said it was going to die down around 7pm, making the rest of the evening perfect. Theoretically. As expected though, Met check was a bit over optimistic so we had some fun doing hang checks with the Flat Top motor dangling from Dave's Forklift. we also confirmed some ground siganlling drills, and even a radio comms check! It must be quite unusual to do a proper landing drill with the engine running at first? LOL I have to say, sitting there dangling a few feet off the ground and playing with the throttle was great fun as well as valuable practice. For me this was made obvious when one of Dave's mates, Andy did it. The smile that spread across his face when he felt the thrust of the motor for the first time was brilliant! Anyway, by the time we'd done all this the wind had apparently died down enough for us to decide to go to the field and see what was happening. When we got there, it was still a bit breezy to make a launch attempt, but just about good for some kiting fun. The wind was steady ish, but rotor from Dave's trees made things very interesting at times. By now it was obvious that the wind was not going to play ball and the light had started to fade fast. We packed up and headed back down the hill. Good fun as always, and another hour and a half of challenging kiting. I didn't trip or fall once. It's all gravy. Thanks again Dave. If you do need a retrieve driver tomorrow, give me a shout. If not, no sweat, I'll just go and take pictures of something.

I'll bring mine. 6m

Mac, I started off by customising a rock climbing harness so it could take the biners in pretty much the right place. A US seller on ebay has developed a full type harness, by the time you pay postage and customs etc it works out cheaper to buy the basic free flight harness from paramotorsuk.co.uk That's what I did and others who have used it say it's perfect because it's more like a paramotor harness than the normal free flight ones. Welcome and hope you enjoy our great sport

For the Devon folks. Bio Diesel Southwest is based in Clyst St Mary near Exeter. Basically look for Creally Adventure Park and the estate is directly opposite. keep to the right over the weighbridge and the 'factory is just beyond that on the right. our firm ran all the vehicles on it with varying degrees of success. My VW Polo 1.9 twist ran perfectly. The Nissan Primestar van stuggled with any mix less than 60% petro Diesel to 40% bio. This we were told by a diesel mechanic was because it was a high pressure turbo system and bio diesel doesn't burn hot enough. As it stands in the UK atm, you are allowed to 'make' (for that read source) up to 2500 litres of bio fuel for personal use annually before you are required to declare it or pay duty. A home kit for making your own can be assembled for around £1500 or a ready made kit for around £2000. Bear in mind that you can make 2500L, your partner can make 2500L etc etc etc. Should keep the average family car going

Anyone who uses a BT home hub can opt in to their partnership with Fon. In return for 'donating' a tiny bit of your own bandwidth, you get a share of all the other people who have also opted in for free. looking at their claimed coverage, this should give a laptop with BT internet pretty good internet access throughout most of the route. From a daily upload and backup point of view that might be worth a go as well?

That's nice

Video of the 2007 World Championships in Bejing http://link.brightcove.com/services/lin ... 1344569302

Seriously, to set a British record it would be better immediately after the Tip to Tip given the relative proximity of Britain's highest point above sea level don't you think? Alternatively, a record could be set with a pilot taking off at sea level and then whatever height is gained until the fuel runs out would then be the benchmark. I would suggest NOT going to the Guiness Book of World Ripoffs. They charge a helluva lot of money just to tell you if something is a record, and a helluva lot more to verify an attempt. Contacting FAI would be much cheaper and more appropriate. http://www.flymicro.com/records/index.cfm?record=howto

A British bloke, Steve Truglia is attempting the same thing. Probably at the end of this month http://stevetruglia.typepad.com/blog/

Much as I love the fast jets, I'd much rather an Osprey tiltrotor done out like your campervan

No aircraft may fly over or within 1,000m of an open air gathering of more than 1,000 people except with written permission of the CAA, nor may it fly below any height that would enable it to glide clear. 1000m would put you square in the approach path for Exeter Airport from here. Bugger! I would have come over yesterday Dave, but I was hired by the carnival committee as the official photographer for the family fun run. (Theres two words that shouldn't be next to each other, fun and run, bit like military intelligence)

It's our town carnival week with events going on right up to next Saturday. If anyone's around saturday night, it would be awesome if we could arrange a flypast to go right over the carnival procession. I'm sure we could organise a landing/take off site. Anyone up for it?

He he, that's all well and good. But he can't just land on a beach he likes the look of

I filed a fraud complaint with Ebay and enclosed a copy of the fake email he sent to Dan. Must really ruin his day when his auctions get pulled

Yep, that's the same one

This thread has turned into a lively and very interesting one. On the point of copyright. I get very pissed off sometimes when I see one of my images used without reference. It happens often. One of my photographs is something 'created' by me. It's me that looks through the finder. It's me who decides the composition and exposure of the image etc. Before it's published, it's also me who does the final 'tweak' before anyone else sees it. In all those respects, that image is 'MINE' Yes, I have utilised the technology provided by others over the last hundred odd years, but the image is still 'MINE' After all, I have also paid my part of the R&D price by buying the kit available. I didn't invent paint, or brushes, or canvas,cameras,photography, photographic paper, developing chemicals or even digital imagery. But I DO claim ownership of my work. I don't, for instance, enter any competitions run by the BBC or ITV. Purely because their T+C's state that by doing so, you grant them free and exclusive rights to your image forever, and that they will only 'try' to give a credit 'if possible' Meanwhile, they make millions from other people's work! Someone whom I consider to be a very good friend recently asked to use a couple of my images to which I of course agreed without hesitation. However, when I saw my images used, and with my copyright tag edited out I wasn't happy. If you like a pic enough to use it, you credit the snapper. Otherwise, use your own bloody camera! I realise that production of a physical item such as a wing may be slightly different. It has, however taken someone a specified ammount of time and creative process to arrive at a final solution ready for production. Things seem to move fast in this game. (Unless you read the website 'blurbs' carefully, in which case you see the 'latest' wings were designed in 2005) Could the esteemed members of PMC come up with a design for an affordable wing? Of course we could. Do we need to knock off someone else's design? Probably not. But at least we know where to get it made for a good price. As long as we can retain quality control.

Ah yes, the early aviation pioneers. Nothing but a small engine, some thin fabric and wires keeping them up in the air. Aren't we glad things have evolved?

Well, two things I have always longed to do. 1. Photograph Icebergs and polar bears 2. Explore the Namib Desert As long as the radio can't pick up Radio 1 everyone's a winner!

The success continues. The Met Office has agreed to co-sponsor one of the wings, and has also offered a free two week weather service in the run up and during the event. I have put them in touch with Dan the Man for this one. They have also invited one or more of the pilots to visit the Met Office in Exeter to give a talk about the event and present an award at their annual staff excellence event in December. Result!!

I would think the easiest thing is to contact them and ask if it's OK to fly your big kite there now and again Both of the racecourses near me have model aero flying clubs so not an option when I asked