Mark Pugh

I bought a new Ozone Sirocco 3 wing for paramotoring with my Zenith and Polini Thor 130. It was brilliant, flew very well and I could throw it around the sky with never a ripple in the fabric. BUT, I then had a hip replacement and decided running to launch in nil wind and landing on my feet with the weight on my back was no longer a great option. I wanted to continue flying so bought a very light trike (Bailey Quatro Plus) with a Polini Thor 110 attached to it. I have now had 6 flights and they all went very well, 6 first time launches even in nil wind and 6 good landings...the last one was a bit on the heavy side! PERFECT. Accept, I've bought a new weighing scale to get the correct size reserve and slightly over-estimating on everything, the all up weight was 70kg for the trike with fuel and old reserve, 90 kg pilot and 5 kg for the wing. That's a total of just under 165kg; so I bought a reserve suitable for 180kg, it was a good bit lighter than my old reserve, but the all up weight is still about 160kg. My Ozone Sirocco 3 is a size 26 and the PPG weight range is 80-145kg. There is no way I can lose 15kg on a diet, even if I flew naked with no helmet, radio, tablet, vario, altimeter, camera, etc. I'm still well over the recommended weight range. In all honesty I was surprised the trike weighed in at just under 70kg, barely legal. It is a small trike with mounting made specifically by Bailey for their PPG. I'm not throwing the trike around like I would my previous back mounted Zenith, I rarely even change the trimmers from launch position, but my mates now find it hard to catch up with me even on full trimmers, I have to do a few 360 circuits to let them catch up again. Should I be worried I'm over weight? Or just fly conservatively until I can ditch the wheels again?

OK, I chickened out!!! I decided to buy a Bailey frame that was made for the trike. Just clicks together with two split pins!

Thanks Simon, good to hear from someone with your experience. I have actually purchased a Bailey Quattro today. The actual engine it had been flying with was the Polini 110. Now got to try and mate up the Zenith frame with the Bailey Trike! I'll take a proper look this weekend.

I've been using my Parajet Zenith for years as a foot launch, but old age, crippled hips and knees has meant I've got to convert to a trike. Today I've purchased a second-hand Bailey Quattro. I've only just got it back home. Has anyone mated their Zenith frame to this trike? I've been advised to try and get the axle (centre of prop) at neck height, but apart from this, I can't find any information on joining these two. Parajet themselves have told me I can remove the two bottom legs, they are only to stand the machine up and are not structural at all. I don't want to over engineer it, but I would like a neat job!

I have a bad hip and knee stopping me flying, will the polini 130 fly a light weight trike????

This summer I updated my wing. I'd been flying a second hand Paramania REVO2 size 26 or 27 (I forget) and loved the wing. But it was made out of heavy duty (bombproof) material, and never mind what I did, it always seemed to land very fast. I'm getting older (57) and wanted something that was just easier to launch and slower to land. After chatting with Clive Mason, I took a punt and ordered the Sirocco 3 that he told me fitted the bill exactly. I trust his judgement and have bought reserves, carabiners, etc from him before. It was quite a long wait for delivery but I've now had ten flights on it and I love it. I can reverse launch in the lightest breeze, it only feels like a maximum of ten steps and I'm in the air and every landing has been stationary and slow. It doesn't feel like that as I'm rushing at the ground....but, with a wrap and the two stage flare, it's unusual I have to take more than a single step as I reach the ground. Just what I needed. Even on the first flight it felt solid and stable. I'm not into acro (way too old for that!), but it's solid on wing-overs and easy in and out of the spiral dive. Very pleased with this wing, a bit un-imaginative in the colour scheme and design. But the flying is brilliant. Very impressed. My last new wing was 1997 when I got an Edel Sector to compete on, but I've had a few second hand wings before converting to POWER.