AndyB

I observed 9 other people being trained as the same time as me. Four during my first week training and 5 the second. My first week was only 2 days as mother-in-law got killed on a zebra crossing and I had to leave! One person was in the air and VERY competent on day 3. Two only flew once. And 2 others I know have never flown after doing the training. My point is that the amount of training is very dependent on learning rate - how able the trainee is to learn....and overcome the scary factor. The trainers I had were VERY aware of this. If you are a quick learner and know will love it in the air then maybe a mate is not so bad. However, if you would appreciate learning at a nice slow rate then doing all the basics with a mate might not be a bad thing, but I would ask whether they are fully equipped to deal with all the things that could go wrong when you first fly.

Well I went out this evening and found no wind. When I say no wind, I mean drop a piece of tissue and you would think you are on the moon, type of no wind. So after some ground handling to tire me out and decided to use Poz's (Dan) 10 point zero wind take off plan. It worked really well. Just one issue. The A's on my Roadster have those little plastic clips on the metal triangles to hold the lines in place at the top. With 50% power, as I was running, my right thumb pushed the plastic off and went neatly through the triangle. It was well stuck! It was so stuck that trying to pull it out pulled the A's down! it had to stay there until I had enough height to get my left arm round the inside of the left riser, lean across and assist. I was taught to hold the A's between thumb and first finger. In future they will be hooked over my thumb! Anyway, it was worth the effort. The second pic is me flying over the Estepona radio control club. Plenty of planes in the air but too small to see on pic.

Yes MP001 headset (standalone) and separate helmet MM020A-N http://www.microavionics.co.uk/Helmets and Visors.html

I had the Microavionics with built in MP001a but it wasn't very comfortable. Fortunately it got stolen and the insurance company bought me a separate MP001a and helmet. This way I can fly with ear plugs instead if don't want headset. Also comfortable. I have helmet with visor, taken off for warm weather, on when in UK !

I can only say the Nitro is amazing.

Shame you didn't have your camera rolling - that would have got the you've been framed £250!

lol. You do pretty well yourself for a knackered back. Left me standing, well sitting, watching you go! It's since watching you make it look easy that I have been out practising. Managed not to do the catherine wheel thing again though!

Burst disc. In the the cross section the disc is about twice the size it should be. Both the discs above that have also burst and the 5 above that have lost their core and gone solid - they should have white in the centre of the disc when they are soft. Black is bad. The 2 discs below have been fused...but then 10 years got infected (discitis). The bacteria are small enough to live in the lattice structure of the titanium metalwork, so it had to be removed. The first pic below is the L3/4 disc, the next one the L2/3 disc, which has burst to the left side.

Many of us have knackered backs! Dan suggested I post my last MRI scan. This was 18 Aug 2017.

The reward

Tried zero wind launch off Playa Volador this morning. At ground level there was zero wind. At 10 feet up, still zero. With wind sock fully up, just a smidgin, but from land to sea, so launch was from the sea....up the beach. It is not steep, but steep enough to feel like a mountain when forward launching! Took 2 trys. I will not be doing this again!!!!

If you look at the levers you can see a cord runs from each through pulleys to the rear of the square wing attachment device. Pulling the rear of the device down pulls the trailing edge down and slows the wing. Moving one lever more than the other tilts the wing diagonally and hence trims it to maintain a straight flight. So this is just like speedbar and normal trimmers in that you can trim each side independently. There also appears to be a red strap either side which looks like it is a safety back-up in case the trim cords fail. Looks like the strap limits how far the square frame can tip if the cords fail. Quite a clever mechanism!

Shame. To be fair, it did rain here yesterday. Warm rain, still 22 deg.

Teaching PPG is not brain surgery...although it might need more patience than patients. My wife is not an electrician, yet I let her do the full electrics installation on a new build house....because I knew she would do it correctly and with diligence. Saved loads of money.

I thought DGAC was not certified, which is why it is not EN rated. This is what the BHPA say: The DGAC scheme is a manufacturer’s declaration and the BHPA does not regard this as an acceptable independent verification of a wing’s flight safety characteristics. A wing is uncertified if registered under the DGAC scheme only.

very long legs lol

Could we have tow assisted launch as well, in case of low wind?

Hi, I have been out on the beach in zero wind this week practising with the harness on. I have always struggled with zero wind as I just don't have enough oomph to run well (old and worn out). Got back to perfect launches again now. On Roadster wing, trimmers 3/4 out, wing laid out REALLY well and wait for any breath of wind to be in the direction I laid it out! It is worth a few mins wait just to get it right. I too think I was rushing a little before. I then strapped the machine on....and away first time, thankfully, was knackered!

This is similar to the really small one I found....they are using engines originally developed for model aircraft, which is why they are small. Some of the parts look like they copied a Parajet Zenith.

I just read the last part of the definition "the final stages of a difficult or painful landing".

Thrust does not equal power. Thrust depends on prop diameter/pitch to use the power. Nitro 200: 72 kg with 125 cm prop, 74 kg with 130 cm, 80 kg with bigger xl version. Thor 130: 57 kg with 115 cm, 60 kg with 125 cm and 65 kg with 130 cm. So I guess if you are comparing the biggest thrust version of the 130 with the smallest thrust version of the Nitro 200, then they are close. Worth bearing in mind that the higher the thrust, the more the engine is loaded and hence the higher it is stressed.

Huh?????? AC nitro 200 ......... 28 hp Polini Thor 20 .......29 hp Moster 185 ........... 25 hp

Landed ok. No need to worry about wind, there wasn't any. 10 mins after I landed it had gone as well!

Morning flying, practising launching in zero wind on ridiculously soft sand again. After flying for about 40 minutes the morning mist suddenly descended on me. I managed to find my back from in the hills, keeping low, but as I got back to Duquesa port, this was my view at less than 50 feet....wonder where my windsock is.

Good old Zeb!