weegaz22

No I didnt get round to it and the way this year went didn't help, had also seen one or 2 bad reviews on google later on with regards to cloudbusters taking money for vouchers and then not honouring their promise so haven't really done anything as there isn't really many folk up here doing it tbh.

why are you considering removing the crush washer on the plug? the function of it is to help keep the cylinder head pressures from bypassing the threads as when you tighten it down the flat part of the plug crushes it down to conform to the shape in the outside of the cylinder head (or in your case the plug cooler) also depending on cylinder head/combustion chamber design if you do that the plug will then sit quite a few MM deeper into the combustion chamber possibly increasing chance of piston to plug contact depending on how shallow the CC's dome is....i don't know much about paramotor engines to know what the head or combustion chamber/squish band sizing's are like but i'd probably avoid doing the crush washer removal unless its specified in whatever modifications you have done. Have you done some full throttle pulls to see what the plug colour is like? if you've had a big reduction in temps then you've most likely been too lean and you now have it in the area when some smaller adjustments are required

probably more likely to seek out something based in their own language

Just out of interest Rich what does the insurance cover?

Peter at cloudbusters is a BHPA Registered school and he requires me to join the BHPA before any training can be undertaken, this is the reply he sent me "Hi Gary Thanks for your enquiry to Paramotor, I have attached details of the courses Cloudbusters have to offer. We train students to the nationally established syllabus of the BHPA (The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, our governing body) The paraglider is the flying part of the paramotoring kit, and therefore I recommend that if a student has no previous paragliding experience, then they should enrol for an Elementary Pilot course. After this, the decision can be made regarding adding the motor or progressing to Club Pilot. All training in paragliding includes the use of the paraglider, but when it comes to paramotoring, it is suggested that you get your own machine. (we also supply new and second hand equipment to the students.) I train all year round at weekends, so I am sure you would be able to fit in with courses we have running at the moment. Please call me if you need any more information" These are descriptions on the levels he mentions from his brochure ELEMENTARY PILOT RATING ~ : This is the basic pilot rating and includes rules of the air, flight theory, pre flight canopy checks, demonstrate control in the air and landing. There is also a short written examination after which you progress on to Club Pilot CLUB PILOT RATING ~ : This is the second level pilot rating and includes flying at certain height levels, top landings, soaring, and written examination. Students at this level require full membership to the BHPA, and on gaining Club Pilot Rating the pilot is then able to fly unsupervised." So probably looking at doing elementary pilot and then buying my own kit and adding the motor to the training

I could see it saving me money if I had other options, but I don't tbh, if I don't learn up here then it's going to be the extra costs of taking time off work during the week, travelling to somewhere in England, maybe staying a few nights at a hotel on the hope that the weather's going to be good etc, at least if it gets called off here due to weather then I'm only a half hour drive back home.

I'm just getting into paramotoring too but the only thing i would say about your table is that things like thrust and fuel consumption will vary depending on other variables such as what is the prop size, how many blades, total weight of you + gear, what wing are you using, are you out for a leisurely flight or are you entering the icarus X race etc And I think Bailey aviation went out of business so parts for that engine might start to become thin on the ground in future if not already, I would imagine its not like cars where there would have been large batches of parts made, paramotoring is still relatively niche in itself so I would expect the production runs to be fairly small, i could be talking out my &rse though with regards to fuel consumption are you looking to do cross countries/races? or are you simply flying for your own fun? that's one of the main reasons i can see considerations about fuel consumption would become more of a priority, but then you may want to have a motor with a bit more grunt as you might have to "refuel" in less than ideal places where the ability for a shorter take off would be beneficial if your doing XC's I know....i haven't helped at all, but it might give you more food for thought lol, I'm not even looking at gear till I've done some training and gotten a better idea of what i want to do.

might be worth checking a few things in this vid first

you should check out a guy on youtube called robert murray smith, he's a proper mad scientist type of bloke that makes batteries and does all sorts of other fun chemistry type stuff, he built a graphene battery for an electric moped out of a stack of printer paper, dropping the much heavier OEM battery for something that's a fair bit lighter albeit a bit bulkier, gives a little glimpse of what battery tech in the coming years will be like, far lighter, more energy density etc, ideal for use in the air where weight is a premium.

PPG is the goal, but wouldn't doing some PG then transitioning be better? any reasons against transitioning? just thinking if i learn with only having the wing to contend with first then add the motor later on would be less of an information overload. As said i'm a newbie and have limited teaching options up here other than having to take time off work and drive south of the border to somewhere in the north of England to learn.

Hi Guys, been keen on getting into Paramotors for a couple of months, hoping to do some paragliding lessons first as that's kind of the way my local instructor tends to teach the course if you've never flown before, its Cloudbusters up here near Glasgow i will be learning with as i couldn't see/find anyone else up here in Scotland that does it, i plan to do their "elementary pilot" for the paraglide course then look at buying my own kit and do some ppg lessons with them as they prefer you to have your own kit for ppg, i suppose that means they aren't going to be biased towards pushing me toward a certain motor/wing combo they want to sell you like other places. I'm guessing doing some paragliding might learn me more finesse with the wing and takeoff and actively piloting it rather that just getting into paramotor straight away and relying on thrust from the get go? hopefully looking to start around October but realise the weathers gonna be against me and its probably gonna take a while (and trying to fit it around other hobbies) any advice/hints tips would be appreciated Cheers

Yeah i'm not gonna grab a wing till i have a lesson or 2 under my belt.

I would obviously ask land owners for permission if it was a requirement to seek out private land, I had just wondered if there were any regs on prohibiting doing it from public land in the UK, I've seen a few american videos where they seem to have plenty of places to launch from and just wondered if we had anything regulating us, Eg; must be flown from an airfield etc I'm near Glasgow, so will be looking to start off doing some paragliding with Cloudbusters after my holiday Sept weekend, did wonder about grabbing a well worn wing for some ground handling practice and wondered if i'd be able to do it down the local park that's got 14 footy pitches on it and some land off to the side, but might just do the course and practice with Peter at his practice area, his course covers regs and weather subjects so would find out once i start but just thought I'd ask seeing as there was a subject already kinda talking about it.

As a potential newbie to the sport is there any regulations in the UK around where you fly from? ie would you be allowed to do it from a large public park for instance?, i have one near me that has several football pitches that are rarely used for instance, or would i have to seek out private land?

are you meaning help as in getting the motor to stop or figuring out what the issue with the stop button is? If its getting the motor to stop I'd either pinch the fuel line till it cuts out or pull off the plug lead, as for the stop switch you'll need to get a multimeter on it and see if its the contacts inside the switch are working as intended or if the issue is the wiring and where it Leads to, I'm a stranger to paramotors but assume the systems they run for kill switches wouldn't be too different to motorbikes which I am familiar with, so there is a chance my advice might not be correct

I'm in the Beginner/wanting to paramotor category too, but I do realise that with this there is a realistic £££ barrier for entry, its not like motorcycling where i can buy something that's maybe a bit on the cheap side and not in the best shape or on the cutting edge of tech that you can pull over into a lay by and have a look over it if you feel somethings not right, there are no lay bys in the sky as someone once said. In theory proper preflight checks should hopefully catch most if not all issues before they become problems before you get off the ground. In short save up a bit longer, work more hours, get in debt or give up a vice that costs you a decent amount of money each month....I've got to the point that i have no vices but too many hobbies that cost money to have fun