AndyB

On my mid engined kit car I made an all stainless, 2" big bore, 3 into 2 into 1, hard mounted exhaust with no flex joints and no soft mounts. All mounts were directly to the engine. Did 60k miles with no issues. You might argue that it didn't vibrate as much as a 2 stroke, however, it was full race engine that idled at 2800 rpm. I can assure you it vibrated like crap.

The farmer who lets me use a field has horses in the field next to where I fly. He says they are fine and will not be bothered. They sometimes used to dash to one end of their field, but now they seem to have got used to me. However, his cows like me and make setting up really difficult as they want to be petted on their noses!

Well done, you'll get there. I just did number 150 in 2.5 years...and I did a knee landing last week.

I got some boots from Go Outdoors. Went in, asked for the lightest boots available. Googled them to make sure waterproof. Amazing and weigh so little!

Just to be clear, I dd not say a hood, I said a hoody works fine. There is a big difference. A coat with a hood can likely be much bigger than the hoody, which is close fitting. I have flown all the 3 of the Parajet variations and both the AC Nitro and Tornado with no issues.

I always fly in a hoodie. The hood bunched up behind my neck keeps it really nice and warm, just where the airflow is whistling around your neck/helmet. The only issue is to make sure that if it has pull cords, these are either cut off or securely tucked in.......although we have tried pulling one back and it cannot get anywhere near the prop. The hood NEVER flaps about as it is scrunched up behind my neck.

The picture shows the shank of a carabiner sandwiched in the top of the metal block, with a rope sandwiched in the lower half. ie like it assumes the whole block would break off and be saved by the rope. The more likely break point is the carabiner as it is restrained in metal.

I'm not sure your back up hang point is really a back up. Having the carabiner confined in a machined space introduces stresses that the carabiner might not have been designed for ie soft strap mounting spread loads without creating high stress points. Confing the carabiner creates high stress points in the pin. The failure could well be the carabiner. Two people recently dies just for using the wrong carabiner when one side snapped. The engine mods all look nice, but you will obviously be aware that engines that are intended to fly usually go through extensive testing in order to minimise in flight engine outs.

I have a lovely 400 amp arc/mig/tig/plas cutter....but usually no gas!

I've been watching your work. Nice going. Your welding is superior to mine! I use it so little I haven't got any gas for my welder so tend to stick to arc. Have you tried heat treating post welding? Might need a big oven!

H ha. I won't be doing that again....although I am planning on flying the Outer Hebrides next summer, much of it over water.

I am an ex competition swimmer! I once dived into Plymouth harbour in late May while waiting for a ferry. Now that was cold. Take a deep breath before hitting the water and hold it, even when the ice cold hits. It takes about 30 seconds for you to regain control of breathing. I have an Agama.

I was below the height of the trees for most of the river run. I could aim at the bank, but trees hanging over the river.

Just the water! The river up to where the dam is, was only very shallow. That was the most fun part as it was a very twisty little beast. So only the last bit over the reservoir was risky. I won't be doing it again, ticked that box now.

I was recently flying in France, without my head-cam on. I wanted some photos/videos so decided to be a little naughty and low fly a winding river, with really steep sides, that ended in a small dam. With my phone in my left hand the only option was to put all my weight left and use right brake. It worked quite well, a bit like active flying in slow motion as it takes longer to lean or not lean! Video a little shaky as a result! 20190904_085418.mp4

I have flown with all the Parajet models. None of them are as good as AC. I now have 80 hours on a Nitro and 20 hours on a Tornado. As for fiddly, there is only one fiddly bit (well one each side), that holds the lower hoop to the main frame. Mine still work fine. I don't know what other pieces you think are fiddly. For me, weight is king, so I have gone as light as possible. My new Tornado has the new lower weight harness, making it the lightest machine.

Also, just a thought for you Simon. All the people who have been trained abroad who then come to you looking for more tuition are obviously the ones that did not feel ok by the end of it. You will by definition not get the other 80/90% or more coming to you as they feel fine! This of course could lead to you having a very skewed view on foreign training and why so many of trained abroad think it was the best thing ever. I should add that I first trained to fly hang gliders in the UK and it took me over a year because of the UK weather! I have done both UK and abroad.

Simon, I think those are people coming back from Sky Spain? I trained with Skyschool who then moved to Italy and Oman. I am flying across France with all of the Skyschool instructors next week. Andy

I have a Nitro in the UK and a Tornado in the south of Spain. I got the Tornado because at 95 kg and unable to walk much I was struggling with take offs in low wind on the soft sand. The Tornado solved that problem. The ONLY issue I have had in over 100 hours (25 on Tornado) is the relay failed on the Nitro. The Tornado looks very similar to the Nitro. It is not an immediately obvious difference, unless you use the 3 blade prop for higher thrust...which I do. Because of the high thrust I had to learn to not just slam full throttle on when taking off, the result was lying flat on my face. I also had to learn to power launch differently with the Tornado, because the prop sound is so different. I love both of them. Nitro great for grass/hard ground, Tornado better for soft sand......and my trike which I made for when I give up foot launching.

Of course my experience of Spain was VERY different to Simon's. I found the training to be to a very high standard and came away ready to fly on my own. I did 15 flights in training and 130 flights since then in the last 2 years, of which over flights were on my own! Doing 1 week in Spain is not enough....unless you are my 23 year old son who could just kite and fly straight away. I did 2 weeks.

I also have an AC, but have got the toolkit down to half that size. You can find much smaller versions of each thing eg. you dont need allen keys but can use allen bits that fit the same socket wrench for the spark plug,

I didn't fly between 3 Aug and 25 Aug because the weather up North was just too windy. You are doing well at a couple of weeks!