pauldeakin

I think that some memebers of this forum do not realise that paramotor pilots are a special bunch of people, when we tell people what we do many think we are mad. If someone considers taking up the sport and then decides not to, they are not a troll (whatever that means), they are normal.

Is that the norm? Having wings made in china?

Tom

Many of the top European brands are manufactured in Asian countries, this does not mean they are sub-standard in fact they often have superior manufacturing techniques, but quality should be independently controlled by paraglider company (as well as factory). Some of the bigger Paraglider companies have their own staff in the factory to control quality.

Not only paragliders, I noticed recently that the Helix factory is in Thailand.

Paul D

We already have wings with stiff leading edges that do not collapse. They are called hang gliders.

Hi all

I would like to thank you for the advice gained so far and ask for some more help.

I am starting to look for equipment now and have been visiting e bay on a regular basis but there are so many different motors for sale and i am not sure what i should consider buying.

I am 15 and a half stone at the moment and have been told that i should look for at least 200 cc engine. Is this good advice? Also i have no idea what type of wing i should be looking at.

Many thanks

Dennis.

It is a bit worrying that you are looking at buying equipment, but you don't have any idea about the type of wing you should be looking for, but anyway 200cc is not a good reference point, look at the HP rather than cc as some engines with smaller capacity are more than powerful enough.

Paul D

I do not think it is tow rated so do not fly it with power.

I assume that by 'tow rated' you mean the the manufacturer has said it is Ok for towing (in the user manual). According to the manual the Advance Alpha 2 is suitable for winching without any modifications.see: http://www.advance.ch/fileadmin/user_up ... nual__.pdf

Pete, I assume that you give this advice because you are thinking that if a wing is good for towing then it is also OK for paramotoring, that may be good general advise, but it is not always the case.

Many paragliding wings that perform very well under power have no 'tow rating'

Paul D

Before you start looking at ignition timing -Is your drive belt loose? does it squeek? If it is loose it will not act as a flywheel to get you past the compression when you pull start.

Try over tightening it a little and see if it pulls over easier, it does then set it to the correct tension, if it slips when set to the correct tension, try a drive belt dressing that makes it stick better.

Paul D

I can't see it dropping, still gusting 40kph on the coast at 7:00 PM, think I will leave it until another day.

Paul D

I would like to come along, Sunday evening, if the wind drops, is that OK?

I have been to your place once before to the SHGC event, but please remind me where it is (Postcode)

Paul D

That's interesting.

I've taken a look at tomorrow's chart. East anglia has a line of strong thermals at the coast. I guess this must be the cooler sea air being forced aloft as it meets the warm land mass?.

Steve

you v'e got the right idea, but it's the other way around, it it the the warmer land air that gets pushed up as the colder sea air wedges under it

Paul D

......... The way the weigh is distributed on your back having the fuel tank integrated, brings the unit higher from the ground and it sits on your shoulders nicely like a hiking back back, instead of having all the weigh at the bottom pulling you back.........................................

I prefer to have the paramotor low on the back, I have found that launches are much easier when the thrust pushes in the small of the back rather than between the shoulders because this encourages you to run more upright and direct the thrust down rather than leaning forward and directing the thrust up.

Paul D

I would suggest that all modern paragliding wings are suitable for paramotoring without any modification. Even comp PG wings and speed wings are now being used successfully.

Richard

It will need to be tow / power rated for you to use it under power.

SW

What do you mean by ‘power rated’ are you referring to the DSMV power rating, or are you saying that there is an EN Power rating?

I know some manufacturers will have there wings EN certified in a weight range that covers them for paramotoring. For example Free flying weight 100- 120Kg, paramotor weight 100- 165Kg get it EN certification at 165Kg then call it a paramotor wing. Others will have some additional load testing done 12G rather than the normal 8G and then call it a paramotor wing. I am not aware of any EN Power rating, am I missing something?

Or do you mean that the manufacturer is stating that it is suitable for power?

PaulD

The Idea of the cage lower than the seatboard is to provide a bit of a crumple zone, I don't think this will cause any problem, why don't you like this design?

I had a Walkerjet before that had a much higher seat base (or lower cage) and it was never a problem, I could run perfectly well without hitting it, anyway I will be getting a new PXP next week with the new PXP 180 engine, maybe you can try it, if you want.

Paul D

What configuration will.

1. Give the most thrust - A 3 blade or 2 blade and at what reduction ratio \ specific prop etc.

2. Be the quietest - A 3 blade or 2 blade and at what reduction ratio \ specific prop etc.

3. Best Fuel Economy - A 3 blade or 2 blade and at what reduction ratio \ specific prop etc.

As Pete has shown, there is no simple answer.

Even if you have a standard engine that is producing the correct HP at the correct RPM and a standard reduction and you have a three blade prop and a two blade prop that were specifically designed for that engine and reduction, then it would still not be possible to answer your questions, there are so many design factors to consider that effect thrust, noise and economy from a prop.

Many pilots only consider the pitch, but also the width of the blade the thickness of the profile, the shape of the profile, the shape of the blade (if it is thinner or thicker at the tip) the distribution of the pitch (more pitch on the inside or more pitch at the tip). All these things and others effect thrust, noise and economy.

Typically a three blade prop will be aprox 2/3 the width of the equivalent two blade prop, which often means that whether you have two of three blades is less relevant than the other factors mentioned above.

Paul D

The cool sea breeze, is often constant and smooth on the coast especially in the evenings, but when thermals are kicking off and trying to punch through it , it can be pretty rough.

Paul D

ive seen the kobra polini fly, it has masses of torque, all polinis on low hang seem to have this torque twist,..............

I have found that paramotors with low hangpoints and swinging arms are normally are less effected by torque than paramotors with fixed points or higher arms, but more susceptible to changes of the angle of thrust especially when getting into the seat.

Paul D

That's a shame, same date as the British Open Paramotor champoinships

Looks like it may be an older model from Paramotor.pl (based in Warsaw)

See:

http://paramotor.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=18〈=en

If you need engine parts get them direct from Radne:

http://radne.se/store/

Paul D

I'd be interested to hear your reasons..given that I am a beginner...with a new Dudek Synthesis!

My reasoning is the same as the answer from 'aquatix' The test reports will tell you a lot about how your wing is likely to react when you get a collapse or fly into turbulent air, but basically a wing with a C rating is potentially going to react more dynamically than a wing that has an A or B rating and require precise pilot input to get it to recover.

The most important point for a beginner (in my opinion) is that with wing an A or B rating will recover without any pilot input.

Paul

Hi Phil,

Get yourself a modern wing such as the Dudek Synthesis (2007) and you can't go far wrong.

Cheers,

Alan

I probably wouldn't recommend a C rated wing for a beginner, maybe the Synthesis was one of the best choices back in 2007, but things have moved on since then, now there are plenty of good reflex and non reflex paramotor wings with a B certification.

Paul D

... I have a Windtek Pulsar (DHV1-2) that I want to use to give paramotoring a try before committing to buying a new reflex wing. I fly it without power toward the top of the weight range (120Kgs) but with a motor would be nearer 150Kgs with a full tank. Is this acceptable and what about things like higher stall speeds (would it be too high) etc.....

Tim.

Tim, I have flown the Windtech Pulsar with standard risers with low hangpoints with an all up weight of about 130kgs. Only flew a few times, about 2-3 hours in smooth conditions, and found it very easy to launch and control, and reasonably fast. Did not have any problems with it. If I were flying at 150Kgs with standard risers I would check the line lengths quite regularly.

Paul D

[quote=To perform the low level spirals should I turn clockwise or counterclockwise?

Cheers

Idiot (Alex)

Hello,

I suspect you are asking about steeply banked turns or 360s, rather than spirals?

The difference between a spiral and a banked turn is that when spiralling you are descending fast, when performing a banked turn you should not descend. When performing a spiral the leading edge is pointing towards the ground (nose down), you are descending very fast (14 to 27 m/s), it can take several hundred feet to pull out of a spiral in a controlled manner, so the only time that you do a low level spiral is just before you die.

Paul D

[quote=

Since Apco havee only announced the Force in small & medium up to now I can't see anyone having a demo version of the large size in UK this year (I reckon I'd be pushing it too much to fly a medium). Normally I would fly a L - XL size.]

Apco's High performance paramotor wings all relatively small wings, Thrust HP, Vista HP and Force are only available in Small and Medium. The trend is for smaller highly loaded wings that are fast and very solid, and stable. I think this is a shame because some of us still prefer to fly larger wings, the main reason being that generally speaking less power is required.

I would consider buying a Force if they made one about 29-30m squared (area)

Paul D

Hi Rob,

Don't know about Laos, but if you immigrate to anywhere near the border with Thailand, let me know, and I will invite you to come and visit and fly with a club that I fly with in Kalasin.

Paul D

I have several props that I want to test to see which performs best. I was thinking about static thrust tests, but my thoughts are that; when in flight you are moving through the air mass so air flows into the prop turbo charging it. So it is likely that the prop that gives the most static thrust may not be the best in flight, I would expect a higher pitched prop to give more thrust in flight. In which case the best way to test will be to measure climb rates with different props.

Any comments, anyone have experience of this?

Steve, - I would like to volunteer to test your mates Thrust tester, i would like to do static thrust tests, and compare the results to climb rate tests.

Paul D

My friend Gavin who is starting a Paramotor Repairs business has just built a Paramotor Thrust Checking frame...

Basically a frame where you mount the paramotor which slides a slight distance onto a meter which tells you how much force is being applied....

It's being tested, but if you are interested, he'd love to have volunteers.

He's in Surrey, so if you want, give me a PM and I'll get him in contact with you.

Cheers

Steve

If you are 100% sure that he was infringing the NFZ then I think you should post the photos.

Paul D

Saw it all happen but no idea who it was..

Myself, Andy and Rupert who were all aware of the Notams because of Labour Party Conference were flying from Tescombe cliffs to Beachy Head (heading east from T/O rather than west which would have taken us in to the NFZ)

on our first flight we saw a couple of other PPG,s who had taken off further in land and turned east at the coast but after we had returned and were refuling we saw one of these guys to the West of T/O in the NFZ.

About 10 mins later we saw him getting a very close escort out of the area by the Police Helicopter.

After he had landed the Police helicopter landed by the PPG and was on the ground for 10-15mins (but was out of our line of sight).

I would imagine the the offender will be prosecuted but if not we do have pictures of him/ his wing that we can post to try and find this idiots identity.

After this bit of drama we took off again for yet another super smooth flight up to Beachy head

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ NOTAMS - IT ONLY TAKES 2 MINUTES AND CAN SAVE A LOT OF HASSLE / FINES /ETC

Another example of one idiot spoiling it for us all

Eddie