AndyB

I have been power launching AC for 18 months - it is the only way I can take off with bad back. The Nitro I can use full power and my arms are strong enough to hold the lines clear of frame. The Tornado needs more gentle application of power.

Me too. APPI 15 flights with Skyschool. However, it was not until about flight 40 that I started to feel more relaxed and really comfortable. Since I live in the north of the UK there are no schools and no other people here to fly with. So, I went to the PMC and Parafest fly-ins and spent hours listening. I also followed the Paramotor Bible closely and constantly read about all the stuff I needed to know. Every flight I went out with the aim of practising just one thing I have red about. eg. It took about 15 flights to active flying sorted and be able to fly a foot off the ground, for ever.

I don't know if they still do this, but Skyschool used to to credit us with any non-flyable days and we could either extend a week or go back another time. I did 2 separate weeks and paid for 1.5 weeks. I was never rushed to a qualification, it was always dependent on completing the training log. My last day I only needed one more flight to complete, but the weather was murky, low cloud. My last flight needed a spot landing, engine off from 1000 feet. This was discussed and I had the option to either do this and get my wing damp, stay another day or come back a different time. I did it was done with zero wind (and I mean zero), but the low cloud got my wing damp. Visibility was ok, just a bit damp. With the incentive to get it right, I landed on the dot!

And Skyschool teach in the UK in summer (UAE, Italy, Spain and Portugal the rest of the year).

I did APPI. Very comprehensive training. There is a log book that follows that link closely so each item is signed off by your instructor when completed.

Great, well done. FB might be right then! Do you know the figures for previous years?

Just seemed more useful than AXA = 800, plus BHPA (for which you did not give a number), giving a totally unknown total! And I did say some of the FB will not be flyers and many will not be on there.

Graham, I am in Yarm. Happy to give you some ground training when you have a wing (I don't use my crispy UK wing for ground handling and my old one I left in Spain). I can't fly due to knackerd back at present. There is a nice field half mile from my house.

The UK Paramotor group on FB has nearly 2000 members. Some will not be flyers and many will not be on there. The UK Paramotor buy and sell group has 2400 members!

Don't you have to be a BHPA member?

Yes, named item on Tesco insurance...which was fine until it was stolen. Then had a really big argument with them. They said it was excluded (as it was an aircraft) and I said, but you accepted it as a named item! They paid up and then would not insure it any more! Now I have a tracker hidden in it and a camera watching.

I can't go as going into hospital. Have my place. Andy

You can't really compare per number of people doing the sport. It has to be per hour since eg there might be 10x as many pg's as ppg's but the ppg's fly 10 times as much, so they do the same hours.

Facebook groups: Paramotor; Paramotor UK, European Paramotor pilots.

In flight feet dangle down like normal. You don't even know the trike is there. I've looked at some others. Many seem rather over-kill in terms of connections. I think the difference is whether you are intending to be in flight as per normal with a trike dangling below you......or sat on the trike, which then has to support your weight.

While on the ground the black thing is a lightweight plastic spacer that allows me to sit on the standard harness seat. I this position my weight is on the trike wheels. As the wing takes up my weight it lifts me off the plastic spacer so that the only weight on those mounting tubes is the weight of trike.

Great data, love the 21 hours and one will die! The problem with these stats is, well, they are stats. The probability of death in 1000 hours does not mean your probability of death. It means someone in that spot's prob of death in a 1000 hours. So others could do 999 hours and have no accidents and then you do the silly thing and become the statistic. Within each sport the figures are averaged. So, for us, if you don't do aerobatics (especially near the ground), don't fly with others (cos they fly into each other), don't fly in strong winds/gusts (collapses), then you are much safer and have eliminated the major causes.

Nice, but I prefer more than 7 deg!

Mine is connected to the side tubes, but there are various ways of doing it,

I rarely look up at my wing when launching as I can feel it so well through the harness. I also still have full weight shift steering so can turn without having to use brakes. I also still foot launch...because a) it is fun and b) there are not many places I can use a trike.

my homemade trike. I have 2 sets of wheels so can swap them quickly for either beach or grass. I added stops on the leg rests to stop feet sliding off....

Provided you are moving, a bike will steer just as well with zero castor when you lean. The wheel turns because of the gyroscopic precession. This is why the faster you go, the more stable the bike feels and the harder it is to fall over.

I think you would be much more in control if you steered it yourself. Otherwise, the trike will turn when pulled by the wing, then go to far since it will require more wing pull the other way to straighten it up. You can also steer yourself deliberately in a direction you want to go. Just a different point though. Castor is usually there to provide stability ie straight up and the wheel will vibrate about the vertical axis. With some negative castor the contact point between wheel and ground is trailing the point where the steering axis is and thus is "self steering" and stable. This is why all bicycles are like this - not so you can steer hands free, but so they are stable.

Still below my minimum of 6 or 7 deg.

I thought it was someone on a bike!....you can see their right hand on the throttle at the beginning.