Richard Pearse

I've been a three-axis microlight pilot for a few years but can never tie time, money and family commitments together to finish the training and do enough flying! Faced with the prospect of all my exams expiring for the second time, I'm looking for something a bit cheaper and less time consuming to get my flying fix. I did some paragliding years ago as a young 'un and really enjoyed it. These days I live in semi-rural East Yorkshire surrounded by lots of big flat fields and hopefully a friendly farmer or two. So... here I am looking at paramotoring with a few questions I hope people can answer ? I'm pretty familiar with the role of the BMAA in microlighting and how that's all regulated. I think I understand that paramotoring isn't regulated (right?). So what I'm not sure about is the role the various organisations (e.g. PMC, BHPA) play... is it mostly an insurance thing? Also, what's the story with tandem flight? As an unregulated sport, is it a case of "do it if you want"? Not for money obviously. I notice the BHPA say their qualifications are for solo flight only, but does that only matter if you're flying under the auspices of the BHPA? Which gets back to my first question I guess. Finally, anyone got any recommendations for schools in the East Yorks/North Lincs area? I guess ideally I'd like to do a trial flight if such a thing is possible and take it from there.