AndyB

Here's a thought for you. Let's assume someone takes off without their fuel cap in place on the tank. The air/fuel ratio at the surface of the fuel is 100% fuel. Some distance away from the fuel tank there will be no fuel and 100% air. At some point between these there will be the perfect fuel/air ratio for an explosion. This is to me by far the most dangerous thing about our kit......leave the fuel cap off and the result could be a bang. I have a video somewhere that shows this effect. We lit a large bonfire in the garden. We then took a 5 litre plastic container and put half litre of fuel in it. We left the lid off the container and through the container in a nice arc that would bring it down on top of the bonfire. Guesses below pls as to what happened.

As I have said before, I have flown elec radio controlled planes for nearly 20 years. Many of my planes push the batteries to their limits of current, temperature and duration. However, I have NOT had a single fire in flight. I have had rectangular batteries turn into near spherical balls after expanding. I have had cell failures, loading up other batteries. still no fires in flight. The above story is more like a "scare story". it has no details. It may as well be a story showing someone lighting a campfire on his lap ad then saying "campfires are dangerous when flying|" My own experience shows that just following simple rules means the LiPos remain safe to use. Just because some twit does something really silly (just guessing), does not make LiPos any more dangerous than a lot of the other stuff we deal with when flying. Thoughts on what went wrong above: Most LiPos used with ppg are multi-cell, but only in series. ie my own machine uses a 4 cell battery, with all 4 cells connected in series to give 4 x cell voltage. If any cell fails, then the battery is dead as no current can flow. This is called fail-safe. So the fault will not have been a cell failure. The usual reason is for failure is over-discharge. The user just keeps using the battery and takes the cell voltage below 2.5v (each cell starts at 4.2v). This is just user error and to me on a par with deliberately running your motor lean. Just don't do it - it will break! I always check my battery before flight and make sure it is 4.1v or higher per cell.

I attended my first fly-in this year, where you HAVE to start the motor on your back. Before then I had been trained how to start it safely on the ground. I found a great compromise. I sit in the harness on the ground, with my arms through the shoulder straps, but not all the buckles done up. Just make sure the machine is positioned in a place where it is safe to start! It is important to have a routine that you stick to pre-flight so you don't forget something. Because I have started attending a number of fly-ins I have changed my routine so that I now never start it unless on my back.

I often fly early morning on beaches as there are no people. Prob is that sometimes the 24 hours sea breeze gets interrupted overnight and I have a very slight breeze off the land. In places the soft sand is as steep as your field above. Take-offs are fine. Once you have built up speed, climb angle is much greater than the slope. However, I would never land up a slope, even as shown. Everything happens more quickly. As well as you falling (gliding), the ground is also coming up towards you. I usually fly long enough that normal sea breeze has returned before I do. On the one occasion it didn't, I landed downwind and down the slope.

I have flown all times of day in the UK, including in strong summer sun. Yes, the thermals can make it very bumpy and not as pleasant to fly in, but I have never, ever, so much as seen a wing-tip dip! And the thermals have been strong enough to keep power on when having to land over the rape seed field before getting to my landing field - there is always a strong 'up' over the rape seed, which then tends to dump me onto the landing field, so a burst of power is good to re-establish flight!

Accessories..... Waterbed, walking stick, seat (or wheelchair), first aid kit, flask, and I think commode was mentioned previously.

No need for money. Just as reactionjackson says....use your charm.

I use Google Earth to identify possible fields or beaches. Then check out said places for slope and surrounding hazards ...trees and power cables. Then start knocking on doors. Ihave a video on my phone showing take off and climb out. It took me about 12 hours of trying before getting the most amazing friendly farmer. I offered aerial photo and video of his farm and he has been really helpful. He has cows and I can use any of his fields

Wait for warmer weather.

I am 86 Kg and have 28m.

Well I think the it is best to use the best stuff. This would be two part epoxy mixed with either micro-balloons or micro-fibres depending on what is being fixed. Micro-balloons provide lightweight bulking out of the glue. Micro-fibres provide strength. This is an extremely strong stuff!!! I have repaired the leading edge of carbon fibre using a mix of fibres/balloons. Fibreglass suppliers/repair places supply all these. I think Si is rather expert with these as well!

Spyder is very similar to Roadster, that I have. With trims out or speedbar, the brakes are very heavy and not very effective....tip steer is used. A tight turn can be done with just your little finger! With trims in and no speedbar, the tip steer can be used.....but not quite as effective as before. The thing to remember is that if you are flying low in this mode your hands are not on the brakes if something goes wrong and you need to land quickly.

If I said 9 flights in 2 days, would that be annoying? The only problem now is that my old muscles are complaining..... a lot!

I have had numerous discussions with the Spanish equivalent of the CAA. The main air law excludes all small flying machines. A separate Royal Decree covers the small stuff....but then in one sentence EXCLUDES "anything that takes such effort to launch from foot". So to date I found no law covering PPG. I am told by locals that the police are not really sure of the rules either but always ask for your insurance, your pilots certificate (proof of training) and if you have the land owner's permission. The only time I had the police waiting for me to land, they just wanted to have a chat about PPG!

Dan introduced me to this brilliant flying site at Bornos Lake. Have a look where this is on Google maps... 36.819467,-5.720984

They also cost £2000 each and usually only run for 10 mins! I have a model Typhoon with a 5 inch elec turbine in it. Runs for 8 mins on 10 amp.hour batteries! Also, I wonder how well it works with the "spool up" time. It can take 5 to 8 seconds to get full throttle response.

Grass and sand are nice. Gravel is bad. 100 m square minimum in all directions is also nice

I had surgery on my elbow after I landed on a long thin (20 m wide) gravel car park, on the top of a very steep hill. The car park is 100 m wide, but 80 m of it is on 30 deg slope! Wind was perfect for take-off....along the line of the top part of the car-park. Landing was of course then 90 deg cross-wind, which was now coming up the hill and across the car park! Did a perfect landing on my side and used an elbow as a brake.

I would use one of the extra tall poles for windsock so you can get it as high up as poss. It looks reasonable width side to side, hard to tell from pic. For sure, if you take off with the wind along the length of the field you can guarantee the wind will shift 90 deg so you are landing side to side!

....or turn GPS off before taking photo.

I think you are right. Just put it turtle, sit on it and straight up you go!

I never turn the sound on so wasted on me!

1. Use full power for take off. Hold the power on. I have seen 2 guy's who kept getting scarred at the change in angle as full power kicks in and nearly crashed by backing off! 2. Know when to abort the take-off.........and when not to. I had a tangled brake line that was much better dealt with at height. I think this needs specific examples, eg. if you prolong oscillation (side to side movement) by over-correction then abort. 3. Torque steer (well thrust really) correction. Which side and how much to expect. I have seen a guy pull so much brake he swung round the other way. 4. Apply brakes smoothly, restrict brake travel until familiar with the wing. 5. Know how to use your reserve and how to check it before take off. Anyone seen the video of a pilot taking off....then his reserve deploys all on its own? 6. .............

Good idea....let's start a list.... 1. Hold the power on. I have seen 2 guy's who kept getting scarred at the change in angle as full power kicks in and nearly crashed by backing off! 2. Know when to abort the take-off.........and when not to. I had a tangled brake line that was much better dealt with at height. 3. Torque steer (well thrust really) correction. Which side and how much to expect. I have seen a guy pull so much brake he swung round the other way.