subtlealpine

Day 4. Full day Total training time: 3½ days Had a hectic week before so was pretty tired this cold heavily overcast, dark murky January Sunday morning. Got a text message from Steve at 8am saying he would be down the field. I honestly felt like lying in bed, but I knew I would regret it later, and I'd been wanting to train for weeks. Weather for the past six weeks had been too windy or too wet so I was keen to get some solid training in. Weather was cold, dry and still. About 4C and literally no wind at all, no frost. Heavily overcast, low cloud base. I finally dragged myself out of bed, and got down to the field at 10:30 where Steve was waiting. Spent the first hour getting the kit out and got the old bulldog fired up. Had some trouble with the clips and some leaking fuel, but it turned out the fuel had leaked out of the overflow pipe while travelling. Starts up beautifully and got it on my back to get a feel for it. It did cut out several times while getting it going, but was probably air in the tubes, will have to keep an eye on that. Another chap called Paul popped down for some practice (not one of Steve's students), so was nice to chat to another paramotor enthusiast. Hi Paul if you're reading! After too much chat and playing around with the bulldog, it was time to get serious. I decided to do a forward without the motor and run down the field with the wing above. The wing came up easy despite the nil wind and I ran down the field and got warmed up nicely, a great start to the day with a perfect launch and run. I was happy. I decided to practice a few more times and at this point a slight breeze came in. Trouble was, the breeze kept changing direction, although it was very light, not enough to even lift a windsock, just the little ribbons. The next two runs were not so great as I was running cross wind so the wing came up good but then I couldn't keep it in the air and it ditched. Got a bit frustrated at this point to be honest, and decided to have a rest. After a drink and a sandwich, did another run down the field, here it is for you wannabe paramotorists, it's bloody hard work, especially on a big 31 meter dudek synth LT wing. At this point there was a nice gentle breeze of about 4mph and I heard some paramotors on the horizon! Two guys came in to land from St Neots and it was great to see them land and have a good chat. One of the guys had a bulldog too so that was good to see. I did another run without the motor to provide some entertainment to the guys that had just landed: At the end of that run the wing was coming down into a very large muddy puddle with lots of mud so I frantically tried to keep the wing out but failed, and got a bit of mud on the front edge, not too bad though. We then watched our visitors take off and it was then time to get the motor on and do a dead motor run. i.e. running the field with motor, helmet and wing but without it fired up. I am still surprised by how heavy it is, even after Steve kindly siphoned off half the fuel from the tank so I had less weight. This run did not go very well, as you can see: I hadn't experienced the pull of a large wing with a motor on my back before and so face planted into the ground and I felt like a right idiot, haha. Steve came running over and helped me up and untangled me. Good job the motor wasn't running! It was about 3pm by this point and I was getting pretty tired. It did cross my mind to pack it in right then and go home for the day and I was getting a bit despondent. Steve wouldn't have it, and kept my spirits up by encouraging me to keep going. So, we got the wing laid out again and I had another go. This time wasn't great either, the RH riser got trapped on the side of the frame which pulled the wing over. I wasn't holding the As out wide enough for the launch so got dragged to the side of the field and I didn't really feel in control of the wing at all. Steve encouraged me to go again, so I dragged myself back to the edge of the field, got the wing laid out and had another go. This time the lines caught on the edge of the frame again and the wing wouldn't fully inflate. At this point I was totally done in, so I asked Steve to show me how it's done. Of course Steve got the wing up beautifully but I could see it was a lot of effort for him too, it's a heavy motor and a big wing, and when it's not powered up demands a lot of effort. At this point Steve could tell I was getting a little pissed off with it, so we put the motor down and did some hand kiting without harness to get a good feel for the wing again. That was good and went reasonably well so I felt a bit better after that. The goal for the day was to end with a powered run with wing, but we didn't quite get there after lots of gruelling effort. Never mind, the next training session will be powered runs and I'll try and get some practice in myself in between. Steve was patient with me as usual, with good humour and spirit encouraging me along when I wanted to get a few times. So thanks again Steve!

Day 3. Full day Total training time: 2½ days Had another full day's training yesterday with Steve. Great day, made lots of progress and was really great to have John and Andy there too, Steve's other students, to share the experience. I successfully made many runs down the field with harness on and kept the wing up from one end of the field to the other. No motor on my back just yet, but I feel confident now to strap in, run down the field and keep the wing overhead. Was a great feeling now that it finally clicked. Here's one of my runs down the field: Weather was cold, with a very light breeze with a few scattered clouds. Frost on the ground when we arrived. Perfect conditions considering the time of year really. Steve offered another tandem flight so obviously I said yes let's go! First launch failed because one of the lines got caught in a clip under the round metal protector. No big deal, we set up the wing and had another go; Here's the take off: Pretty funny that I kept running even though we were clearly about 20ft up in the air. I don't mind, I can take it.. Had a really enjoyable flight. Steve gave me the throttle for a while so that I could get a feel for it, I was quite surprised how sensitive it was. We then dropped down for some low-level flying at my request (been watching too many Tucker Gott videos) which was really great, as I've never done that before. I really enjoyed that. Here's a vid of the low-level flying: We saw a buzzard circling a field and we joined in with it and did a few circles too which was fun. Flew over Steve's house to check on the neighbours, all good, and then flew over the Castle Ashby House with it's huge driveway. Didn't get any photos of that unfortunately, will get them next time... Flight time was around 40 minutes I think, but who knows time flies when you're having fun! On the approach to land, Steve gave me the brakes to hold and I practised some turns and lined her up for a landing and then handed over to the pro for the final descent. Landing was smooth as butter, as you can see: At the end of the day as the sun was setting I got my new bulldog Vitorazzi Moster 185 motor out and put it on my back to see how it felt with it powered up. I was very very surprised at how heavy that thing was. I did have a full tank though and I've never had a motor on my back before. I was quite intimidated by the power of it to be honest as I gently squeezed the throttle I couldn't believe how much force it was pushing. Good experience, can't wait to run down the field with it on full power soonish. A fabulous day with Steve once again, and was great to share with John and Andy too. Looking forward to my next day's training where I can hopefully run down the field with a motor on my back. I'd better start going to the gym...

I've bought a paramotor! Got a second hand one that Steve found for me, but has low hours on it. Bulldog mark 3 frame Moster 185cc Classic engine. Wing is a Dudek Synthesis LT 31 in red. I took the wing out for a bit of ground handling and it's a bit feisty compared to what I'm used to, so will take me some hours to get the hang of it. All in all, excited for my next lesson with Steve and for my first solo flight!

Day 2. Full day Total training time: 1½ days Long time no post. I was away for a weekend, my trainer, Steve Page, was away for a weekend and then the weather was just too windy. However I did get a full day's training in yesterday and my first tandem flight! I've got myself a cheap ground handling wing and since my first session I got that out a couple of times and did not have a happy time with it. I was still very frustrated trying to stop the wing from rolling over. The first time I tried on my own, and I think the wind was too strong and gusty so after a few minutes I put it away again. The second time there was no wind at all, and trying to kite a wing with no harness with no wind didn't work out too well either. So, since my first lesson I felt like I made no progress really, and getting a bit impatient and frustrated with the whole thing, especially after watching videos of Americans seeming to go up every evening... So, yesterday I met Steve at the field at 9am with another student and had a full day training and it was amazing. There was a light 6mph wind clear skies, pretty much perfect conditions. Started the day with kiting the wing and made excellent progress and managed to keep the wing up for quite some time. After the kiting, just before lunch at around 11:30 Steve took me up for a one hour tandem flight. Wow what an amazing experience that was. Steve attached a chase cam as well with a go pro, to get some awesome footage, and of course, some selfies with the go pro selfie stick. Take off was interesting on the tandem, I'm in front trying to run without kicking my legs back too much so that Steve doesn't trip over me. I'm also trying to keep the bar pointed upwards so that I don't face plant and catapult Steve over the top of me. Anyway, it all worked out great and we launched with no issues over the telephone lines and then the lake. The flight itself was pretty amazing, saw four buzzards flying together in spiral, probably on a thermal. Flew over Grendon Lakes, towards the village of Finedon and then flew back for a landing. On the way back Steve did some mild wing-overs to test the new chase cam and I have to be honest, I felt a bit nauseous (such a lightweight). I managed to stop my self from throwing up over Steve and into the prop, so all was well. Landing was pretty much perfect, with Steve shouting in my ear "Keep running, keep running". I then had to turn around and walk backwards to allow the wing to drop. All in all a great landing with no face plants. A couple of photos: Chase cam: What an experience! Once my nausea had gone, had some lunch and then did some more ground training, this time with a harness. That didn't go so well as the kiting just holding the lines, to be honest. I found it much more difficult to get centered under the wing with the harness on trying a front launch. I found the reverse launches easier, but then I kept pulling the wrong brake. Sigh. Need lots more practise with the harness before my next session with Steve. By around 4pm I was pretty tired after doing lots of ground handling, and after packing away all our wings except the tandem wing, I thought I'd have a go kiting the 42 metre tandem wing! I was expecting a rough time with it, but it came up nicely and was much easier than my own wing to keep in there, with pretty much no effort, definitely surprised me. Here it is: Sun was starting to get low in the sky by this point and Steve offered me a second tandem flight, so of course I jumped at the chance. This flight was spectacular because as we were setting up, we could see a Virgin hot air balloon coming directly towards us. We got clipped in and went for a launch. The wind was starting to become a little changeable at this point so the launch as a little bit rougher. All I can remember is "Keep running, keep running". and then "If we launch keep running. KEEP RUNNING!" It felt like we got slightly airborne, but then my feet came back to the ground again, but I was still running, so it was all good. A few seconds later we were up and my adrenaline was kicking in big time! The view a this point were just beautiful with the setting sun and we immediately turned to have a tour of the balloon. Unfortunately the balloon was coming in for a landing just as we got airborne so we circled it from a few hundred feet up and watched it land in the setting sun. At this point another student arrived for a tandem flight was we made our way back to the field with breath taking scenery over the village of Wollaston with the sunset. What a fabulous flight. The landing was spot on with no face planting. A few photos of that flight: All in all a fab day and huge thanks to Steve. I feel much more confident now to practise on my own wing and progress to the next stage. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!

Day 1. ½ day Total training time: ½ day Never flown before, never been hot air ballooning, microlight, light aircraft, helicopter. Never parachuted or done paragliding. I did go up in a glider once but it was very brief because of a technical fault. That's it. Today I spent the morning with Steve Page ground handling and I really tested his patience... It's much harder than those YouTubers make it look! My arms feel like they're going to fall off! Aching shoulders, arms and fingers, mainly because I was not doing what I was told half the time. I can only do one thing at once and found it quite hard to know which brake to pull when and how to keep the wing in the air. After a couple of hours I got the harness on and tried reverse and forward launches without a motor. I must admit I was a bit slow on the uptake and only managed to keep the wing up a few times for no longer than a couple of minutes. I was quite frustrated with it at times, but felt that by lunch time I had made some progress and had slightly more than a 50/50 chance of keeping the wing up. Slow progress, but I think it will come eventually with practise. I plan on getting a ground handling wing to practise on in between training sessions so I can get trained up as quickly as possible and get up in the air with you guys! Three paramotorists flew over while I was practising, which was great. Tim, was that you? Thanks to Steve for his patience and good humour! This is me struggling:

Hi Simon, still not received the book, were they sent out? Thanks.

All I can say is Wow, thanks Diyan! Will buy you a pint if we ever meet up! What a great comprehensive answer and you confirmed for me that I'm making the right decision going with paramotors. Haven't had my first lesson yet, but I hope to do that in the next few weeks, just waiting for a good weekend weather window.

I haven't had my paramotor training yet (almost booked it) but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I am wondering what the pros and cons are of each and whether I should be going for paramotoring or microlights. What are the pros and cons of each? I know I may get a biased response here, but try and be as unbiased as you can. Reasons I want to get into paramotoring: Cheapest form of powered flying Ease of transportation and storage of the aircraft Flexibility of take-off and landing sites - much greater than microlights Why did you choose it over microlights (or other forms of flying for that matter).

Steve Page seems to be the nearest instructor to me but I don't see him on the forums, is he on here? Has anyone trained with him, what was the experience like? Website: http://www.nvppg.co.uk/about-nvppg.asp

Thanks Simon, nice community you have here. I'm 46 yo, and have always wanted to fly since I was a kid. I made 60 applications after I had completed my A levels for commercial pilot training but got rejected from all of them, I think it was because there was no demand at the time and there was a recession on. I then applied for officer training in the RAF (my family have a history), and I got rejected on the medical due to not having 20/20 vision. Oh well. So, ever since I've wanted to fly but with family etc never had the money to go for PPL. It never occurred to me that I could do PPG, and to be honest paragliding without a motor never really appealed as it seemed so limiting. Since discovering PPG through Tucker Gott's McDonald's video it all clicked and made sense, so now I'm psyching myself up to do the training and convince my wife it's worth the money. Hope to see some of you in the air soon...

Thanks Danny I seem to spend a lot of time in MK these days, still pondering getting my training done. Not sure whether to do it this year or wait until the Spring. A mate at work is a skydiver and he recommends getting my training done in a country with better, more reliable weather, but I'm not sure that's a good idea from what I've read on the forums here. I think I'll get it done in UK and if it takes a couple of months, so be it. I've been wondering about UK law regarding PPG. e.g. legal places to take off and land, areas that are forbidden, etiquette around flying over houses, private property, etc... Is there any info on that I can read? I've ordered the handbook Paramotoring: The essential Guide from the store, just waiting for that to arrive as I'm sure it will answer some questions. Cheers, hope to see you around next year some time...

I'm looking to get into paramotoring (almost convinced my wife) and wondered if anyone does it near Bedford? I'm quite close to Cranfield airport. Where is the best place to learn? I've had a lurk on the forum and it seems Clive Mason might be nearest? Is he a good instructor? If anyone in the area is going to go flying, please let me know and I'll come along and buy you a pint afterwards. (Reward for all the questions I will ask you!)