flyingdoc

Hi Alan, Can the cables exit out the bottom, next to the two pin sockets. I can put some sticky velcro on the back and point the main switch up so it is easy to see which way the switch is set. Looks cool, thanks. Maplins stuff is on its way here, will forward it on to you as it arrives. May decide to send the radio too. If I wanted to switch the radio cable later for a different version is that easy to do? Thanks

Thanks Alan, Sorted out the Maplin parts. I have ordered two of each so you can have the spares for the next project. Do you know of anyone in the North West who can help me unlock the radio? Cheers

Hi Alan, I presume the headset is mono, both the mic and the phones jack have just two connectors. The talk answer button is fine on the box. It would be logical to mount the switch box to the left side of the harness on velcro and for the peltor 2 pin cable to plug directly into it. Then I would need 24 inches of cable to the iphone and the radio. Then a switch on the front to select radio/iPhone (Unless auto switching was possible) and a talk/answer button. Presumably when on radio the PTT switches on the headset would still work?? Have sent off for the first of the cables. Thanks

Yep thanks Alan.

Hi Guys, Anyone had any luck connecting their iPhone to a NAC helmet with Peltor NC headset? Headset works great at reducing motor noise, also works well with 2m radio, looking for a connector to work with my iphone which also has a talk/answer button on it. Also preferably a switch box so that I can have the phone and the 2m connected at the same time but switchable?? Any suggestions? Any ideas Alan?

Me for one Pete!!

Hi Pete, Motor currently in Spain, but the good news is they are definitely going to give me a new engine!! Just itching to get it back now and get used to using less petrol....

Hi Matt, Much appreciated, all help gratefully accepted. Current plan is take off roughly 14th August and fly to coast. Probably do North Wales and head off to Cornwall first, finishing with Scotland. Things might change depending on the weather??? I have exactly 23 days to fly as far round as the weather will allow. Baring any mechanical failure or act of God.....

Thanks Paul, much appreciated. Will confirm nearer the time.

OK peeps, Further details now online. http://www.JustGiving.com/JustWingIt Donation site http://www.JustWingIt.co.uk Main Website. Plans are afoot. Now searching for sponsor. All other help and offers of ground crew gratefully accepted. Oh Yeah and my ankle is getting better thanks (France Trip guys will know what I mean.) Cheers.

Hi Maz, Welcome to the forum and the excellent fun of paramotoring. I trained with Andy and he is very good, he will also be able to give you very sound advice about which equipment to buy and when. Don't rush the process, Andy has school wings to play with and a school motor for your first flight. Enjoy! I am sure we will meet up sometime in the future as I often fly from Southport. This is the most fun you can have vertically!!

That sounds like an excellent choice my man. i am sure it will do you many years of good service as mine have done me.

Thanks Alan, Hopefully it will be fixed soon, and a little bit more reliable for the Marathon........ Cheers

Hi Simon, The video says it is private???

No, you can put your own in later for a little less but I do find its simpler to pay the extra and know that they guarantee everything. For what its worth I am currently working on a 6 year old MacBook Pro 17 inch and when the hard drive died unexpectedly 6 months ago they replaced it free of charge. (Fortunately I had a regular back up with Time Capsule...) So even though it was well out of guarantee they accepted that it was their problem and replaced it for me. For FREE!! Service like that is worth an absolute fortune. Just my 2p

Ok, having discussed it at some length on the French trip, the plans have changed a little. Also my recent engine out suggested that being unsupported was a less than great idea. So.... From Monday August 16th 2010 I am going to attempt to fly as far round Britain as I can get in 21 days. It should technically be possible to get the whole way round but that is naturally very weather dependent. I have contacted the Guinness World Records and hope to have them adjudicate the event. I have started to contact sponsors to assist in the planning and the funding of the attempt. As before I will be raising money for The Christie Hospital in Manchester and I have a JustGiving website. http://www.justgiving.com/JustWingIt I have two friends who have volunteered to spend two weeks following me around but I do need plenty of offers of any other help available. I will try to fly between 4 and 6 hours each day but I will naturally be very dependent on the weather. I will plan out a clockwise and an anti-clockwise route and just pick the most appropriate one based on the weather forecast just before we start. Please do offer whatever help you can and also please do visit the JustGiving website to make a donation. I have aimed at £10,000 but if I can get a whole lot more that will be great. I am still finishing off the main website for the event which will be at http://www.justwingit.co.uk but don't look yet as it doesn't work. It will naturally have live tracking and twitter feeds once the event has started. Wish me luck??????

For what its worth Pete, I would get the 13-inch 2.66Ghz MacBook Pro for £1249 and spec it up with as much RAM as you can spare. 8GB Ram version costs £1569. This will give you plenty of speed, plenty of room for HD vids etc and still a very portable size unit. Check out http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTAyNTQzMzk Just my 2p.

OK Folks, Now fully rested, here is my brief review of the France Trip and some unfortunate consequences for me. Started very early on the Thursday morning, up at 3.00am to break camp and fill the minibus and the van. Picking up two stragglers on the way we caught the Ferry at Dover for Calais. In flight briefing on board showed a very ambitious proposed flying route but we were all excited and raring to go. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and after a long first day trip to Airvault we started the following morning with some spitting rain and wind that left us without opportunity for any air time. We were reminded of our dependance on good weather for the next few days as we drove down to Dune De Pyla for some spectacular scenes on an enormous 40 to 60ft sand dune. It was good to see some paragliders attempting to ground handle practice wings. Lots of good videos and pics. Further minibus trips took us to St Andre des Alpes and the first decent opportunity for some good flying. The first flights of the morning were very much nil wind and down slope with some slight variable cross wind just for good measure. Simon was the first into the air to show us all how it is done. Whitters took to the skies with his usual aplomb and Alan managed to give us a spectacular take off between the trees. (Other videos are available) Unfortunately my first attempt at a nil wind forwards launch at 3000ft was utter rubbish and I managed to catch two lines into the prop which p***ed me off. By the time I had replaced the lines for another go the wind had picked up nicely and I though at reverse was in order. A few practice launches with just the wing went pretty good and I was starting to feel a little more confident. Everything now warmed up and connected the wing came up nice and smooth (after some technique suggestions from Simon) I turned and took off pretty well I thought. I noticed that we weren't climbing very well (due to the height and thus lack of thrust???) but everything was going swimmingly. A gentle circle back over the take off zone to gain more height before disappearing off seemed like a good idea. (This proved fortuitous...) At roughly 80 to 100 feet above take off I had an engine out! No time to try to restart it or fiddle about with anything much, just look for somewhere to put it down. Now afterwards it is always easy to decide things that you could have done better. So as soon as the engine stopped there was a field out to the right which with the benefit of hindsight might have been a better choice but I thought I was close enough to the take off field to try to land back there. I turned back towards the field and made my second relatively poor decision. I should have done S turns but I elected to try a 360 to bring me back into wind for the main field. This 360 lost me too much height and when I was back aimed at the take off zone it became very obvious that the power lines running along the edge of the field were now very much IN THE WAY.... Some more power lines ran to my left but these were sloping downhill gently and thus a little lower than the ones in front. I guessed I could make it over these lines and fortunately I guessed right, by about 1 to 2 feet only..... I am now roughly 25 to 30 feet up cross wind approaching a down sloping field of rocks and stubble, but there were no more options. Put it down as gently as possible and see what happens............ I hit the dirt a little fast (Crosswind not into wind) I rolled head over heals twice (Down slope landing too fast), but eventually came to a halt. So I am sitting there counting limbs and fingers and toes when the guys come rushing to my aid. All limbs attached, slight sprain to my right ankle (which still aches a bit) and bruised right calf/shin but otherwise OK. I was able to stand up and walk away from the scene unaided and I did not get a free trip down the mountain in a helicopter. So technically an 'OK' landing. Unfortunately when the guys checked over my motor I had a small but very significant hole in the piston and thus my flying was over for this trip........... Still the next few days the rest of the team did get in some spectacular flying and it was really nice to watch (Barrstards!!!) Just before we set off for home we delivered 15GB of photos and videos to Simon so I am sure some of these will eventually appear on the forum. All in all most of the guys got some unique experience of flying in the French Alps and even I managed a few minutes too. The weather was not our friend but the camp fire chat and the friends we made went a good way to making it a very memorable trip Thanks Simon and Pete and Whitters for the trip.

Congrats Alan, Sounds like a great day. Are you coming on the France trip or at least meeting up with us at some point?

Thanks Simon for the offer, we'll have plenty of time to chat it over in France. Thanks also to Andy and Morgy. The more offers we get the easier it will be to set up the relay. Plenty of things in the plan are coming together now, looking forward to getting plenty of practice in France. Only just over a week to go. Chocks away. Or should that be chocs away! (It is lent)

Looks like a good start. Just sorting out a camera and a helmet cam so there should be plenty of pics to add after the event. Where might the next one be?

Sorry if this is basic, but I understand that the motor prop etc bits would be required to calculate the fuel used etc. I did think that the same wing would have a single most efficient setting regardless of the motor/prop/etc??? Is this not so?

If full fast is not very efficient on the Synthesis, has anyone worked out which trim setting might get the most MPG. I'm not bothered how fast I go so much as how far I can go, esp with the Solo tip to tip in mind.

Hi All, I have been thinking about the solo tip to tip that I announced last year, and taking a lot of advice. I decided it would be better to succeed at something that has been done before than to fail at something no-one has ever done. So rather than attempt it completely unsupported I am looking for some volunteer ground crew. One possible thought would be to have a sort of relay team of crew to meet up with at different stages along the way, or if anyone would be keen to make the whole trip that would be nice too. I may need help getting down to Cornwall or back from John O'Groats also. One possibly mad thought was to fly down and then back up, effectively doing the trip twice! So volunteers and suggestions everyone.

Excellent idea Simon, Especially with the up and coming LE to JOG trip I would love to know which is the most efficient wing in terms of mpg. Very willing to help with the test if at all possible. Would love to have a go on a Nucleon 29 myself.