slim

You will be taken from this place to the place of public execution where you will be ... oops, sorry, wrong page...

So that's only really 1.5 'cos Col is so skinny See you there Col. P.S. Next time you see SimonW ask him for the prezzy I left with him for you.

Use it or lose it but don't abuse it. Flying is a privilege not a right. By all means fly over schools, churches, hospitals, prisons etc. but expect resistance if you become irritating. The more complaints the CAA get the more they will regulate us either with restricted airspace or with licensing and none of us want them to do that. Whether one regards it as fair or not, the guy on the ground has more power than the guy in the air simply because the guy in the air is exercising a privilege - one that can be removed. Abuse it and lose it.

I was personally involved in a case where a young man decided that he wanted to run an FM radio station during the Reading Festival. The somewhat crap transmitter he bought from a bloke down the pub not only transmitted on the FM frequency he wanted but also on several air traffic control frequencies associated with landing aircraft at Heathrow. To cut a long story short... later in the day he left a couple of tracks playing and nipped to the chip shop to get some tea. When he returned he discovered two van loads of blokes in black ski masks blowing the b****y doors off his parents' house and found himself face down in the middle of the street with several MP5s pointed at the back of his head. Shortly thereafter he found himself in court. It wasn't pretty. Ofcom have a 100% success rate when bringing prosecutions - of course that could just be because they only prosecute the ones they know they can win Don't worry Dan, we've all done things that... well, I'll leave it there Stuart

How about removing the "name" and "screen name" (or whatever) tags altogether and just having the badge with the logo and: Stuart Morris "SLiM" on it. It's pretty obvious that the top line is my name and anyone who doesn't recognise "SLiM" doesn't deserve to be told what it is I'm all for a minimalist approach.

Join the queue mate

Yes +1

As someone with a "professional" interest in the justice system I feel that now is the time to add my thoughts... There is nothing illegal about flying over a prison as longs as you honour the minimum height restrictions and are not in restricted airspace but it is not the flying that is the problem and why Her Majesty's finest are interested. Understanding why will help to avoid problems. The work of a prisons is not just about keeping bad guys in. A huge part of their work involves stopping contraband getting in. A low, slow flying vehicle over a prison could, very easily, be used to deliver weapons or illicit pharmaceuticals - most likely illicit pharmaceuticals - to the inmates. We've seen all sorts of delivery mechanisms including radio controlled aircraft, kites, helium balloons etc. tried. If you do fly over a prison then I don't think it is unreasonable for someone to want to ask you questions. If you haven't broken the law then you have nothing to fear and an open and honest approach will help. In reality you'll probably have a couple of fascinated bobbies who, once they've satisfied themselves that you aren't delivering a few wraps or spliffs, will want to know more about our fabulous sport. If your flightplans regularly take you near a prison, or any other slightly sensitive place, they'll soon get used to you. One last thought... prisoners are trapped as are the staff. They can't move away from your noise. If you regularly take off or land near a prison it is probably as well to regard the prison as a "no overfly zone" just as there are near many of our flying sites - horse stables, cattle farms, housing. It is simply being a polite neighbour and not upsetting the animals. As ever, the courteous pilot is the one everyone looks up to. Stuart

I like the idea of a route with historic significance. It hooks in to a story that can make the film more interesting, allowing the film maker to intercut between the challenges, successes and disasters of original heroic journey and of the new journey. Just my two penneth. Stuart

Ok, ok, it's time I came out of the closet... I too have an amateur radio license. And there's more... I'm a qualified instructor for all three levels of UK amateur radio license. There, I've said it. Now with that load off my shoulders I can walk amongst you with my head held high. Right. Now for a little seriousness in amongst all the frivolity: It is illegal to use a radio transmitter in anything that flies in the UK except a properly certified airband radio and possibly the license exempt PMR446 radios - but that is unclear It is illegal to use any radio transmitter at all that is not licensed or specifically exempt from licensing (e.g. PMR 446, garage door openers, etc) Last year Ofcom brought 70 people to court for various radio transmission offences. All 70 were convicted and got fines between £50 and £2000 depending on the severity of the infringement Use of the 143MHz (2m) waveband by pilots appears to be being "tolerated" by the authorities but that doesn't mean they won't start bringing prosecutions. If "we" all behave responsibly we may even succeed in getting allocated a bit of waveband but that is a long way off - perhaps it is a campaign that the club can sponsor? Oh shit - I think I just volunteered for something didn't I. What do I mean by behaving responsibly? 1. Use as little power as possible. This will minimise interference. There's no point in pushing out 5 watts from your radio to talk to another pilot a mile away. I've talked to people half way around the planet on 5 watts. 2. Make sure that the frequency you're using isn't one allocated to anyone else. For a start NEVER use a frequency above 144MHz! It belongs to the Amateur Radio bunch and some take licensing very seriously. 143.00MHz to 144.00MHz is allocated to the MOD but they appear not to be using it particularly heavily at the moment but it doesn't mean that they won't. 3. Keep things clean and to the point. There is nothing going to get Ofcom whipped up in to a frenzy faster than a complaint about a pile of foul language on the air. Right, off to lunch. Bye

I'll be there. Looking at the weather I might bunk off work early and come for a fly first though

of course you can just subscribe through the paramotorclub.org webshop by clicking here and signing up for a paramotor magazine subscription. It couldn't be easier.

Hi Guys and Gals I'm sorry for the delay but we now have the SPOTS in stock! If you've already ordered then you'll be getting an email from me shortly with instructions for signing up followed shortly thereafter by your unit. If you haven't ordered one then now is the time to get one of these fantastic devices at the club only price and support the Tip to Tip charities. Go on, your loved ones will love you for it. Stuart

How do I find it? Hmm. It is both the most excellent piece of gadgetry I've ever owned and slightly disappointing all at the same time. The ability to go flying for a day and then download the entire flight into Google Maps and analyse the heights and speeds is terrific. Having an altimeter, a compass and a GPS on your wrist whilst flying is great for the basics but the vario is only updated every couple of seconds so it certainly isn't a soaring instrument. I've used it whilst trekking in the wooded mountains of Northern Georgia and again, being able to keep an eye on things and knowing that I can turn the GPS on and know for sure where I left the car is fab. Maps where not a lot of use, even if they existed of that area. Suunto's heritage is diving watches and the X9i (and X10 I think) are waterproof and pretty rugged. Mine has survived jet skiing around the bays and inlets of the New Jersey shoreline which involved a lot of getting wet In all circumstances you can't beat the purpose built instruments, a Garmin with a decent external antenna will always give you a more accurate fix and a Bräuniger alti/vario will tell you if you're sinking by a couple of feet a minute, but neither are fixed to your wrist. As a geek I find the Suunto Windows software to be almost unusable. It smacks of something written by a couple of blokes in a garage using VisualBasic which is a shame because it could be so much better with just a little more thought given to the user interface. So, to sum up... Would I buy another one? Yes. Hope that helps answer your question. Stuart

As one of the resident geeks I'll try and avoid too much detail but... The way GPS works means that it simply cannot give an accurate altitude measurement. The maths and the physics are against it. I've watched a stationary GPS with an excellent view of the sky change its altitude measurement by 50m in the space of 30 seconds. To see why, get a piece of A4 paper, hold it in portrait orientation, draw yourself a little satellite about 5 cm to the left of the page at the top. Draw another one on the right. Draw you at the bottom of the page. Now draw a line from each satellite to you with a blunt pencil or a thickish pen. Look at the diamond where the two lines over lap (where you are). You could be anywhere in the yellow diamond (below). The left and right point of the crossover is much smaller than the top to bottom. GPS is far more accurate horizontally than vertically. Keep in mind that in real life the satellites are 400 miles above you and so the triangles are much bigger and longer and thinner. You get the picture. Barometric pressure is the only way of giving a decent measurement of altitude during a flight (unless you have a radar altimeter but I know I can't carry one ) There is no substitute for a properly set up barometric altimeter but remember that you may have to set it several times during the day if the atmospheric pressure changes during the day. A good map is your friend. If you don't particularly care about absolute altitude then a Vario (which works on pressure again) will give you the most accurate feel for if you're rising or falling. The air pressure is measurably higher at your feet compared with at your head. Having said all of that - I use a Suunto X9i watch. The GPS tells me where I am and the barometric altimeter gives me a good enough measure of altitude together with an almost usable visual vario. It gives me what I want but none of the tools are "best in class".

It's already been done - ask SimonW for the photos or checkout August's TopGear Magazine

The one thing that vehicle isn't is a car mate Give me a break, you stayed awake for several minutes ;-)

That'll be a bit like flying over the northern end of Oz then

I've just had another post go missing. I'd commented on the "Prop fell off" thread yesterday and now there is no sign of it.

I should point out that the Paramotor club online shop is stocking tiny tach (the commercial version) now.

Usual time & place? See you there.

Sounds like an excellent day. So tempted to join you but the three hour drive each way is probably too much. Have fun. Stuart

You wouldn't happen to have been filming for something would you?

Ok, so now I'm intrigued Pete. What are you going to do with half a prop?

Hi Tracey, I posted a generic "you go girl" post ages ago but it appears to have got lost. Ho Hum. I have a couple of dry bags I use when kayaking. They'll each hold a camera, phone & radio etc. Not masses but everything you'll be needing to keep dry. Radios I can also do. In fact why don't we add a SPOT tracker to your load so that all the friends and family who can't be there with you can follow you on-line? Now there's a thought, I wonder if we can get a live webcam feed from you all the way over. If you're up for it I'll talk to some geek friends and see what we can rig up. We might need help from Dragon for a light weight but half-way decent camera. See ya soon, Stuart