I’m brand new to this sport to the point that I’m untrained, don’t own any equipment, and not well enough educated to know what questions I should be asking to begin with. Therefore, I’m not going to bash anyone, but I’m not about to start complimenting them either. I will say this for Kurt Fister...he was the first and so far the ONLY one to reach out to me with regards to training. I have no intention to go out flying without first being proper trained. I take my safety very seriously. Obviously the “FREE TRAINING” caught my attention, buy certainly not enough to keep it there. That’s because I have no problem with the thought of paying for training. In fact, I fully expected to do so. I also want to go through a standardized training course that uses a training syllabus that outlines to the trainer exactly what the students are supposed to away from each of the various parts of their training. I certainly know enough to expect at least that much. Admittedly, my background as a certified Master Training Specialists in the United States Navy as an Electronic Warfare Instructor and Course Manager taught me that. I won’t go out flying unless I know that I’m fully capable of flying safely.
When Kurt reached out, he did push his trike though, but may have done so because I’m a disabled Veteran with a horrendously bad back that’s been fused from the lower ribs on down to the bottom. So a trike certainly doesn’t sound like a bad idea. However, I’ve also been using a personal trainer to get myself back in shape for more than 4 years now, so a foot launched paramotor certainly isn’t out of the question. In fact, I’m leaning towards that route. After watching numerous videos, I just like having more options available for taking off and landing. That and the idea of sitting in what amounts to little more than a boat chair with a lap belt while flying up to several thousand feet in the air really doesn’t sound all that safe, especially when you have as much bad luck as I’ve had. I can’t possibly over emphasize just how bad my luck really is. I had another guy, who I asked about an HVAC compressor warranty during a repair, tell me that I really didn’t need to worry about it, because it was just a fluke that the first one broke. He told me I was just “paranoid” about the bad luck thing. Less than an hour later, my house was struck by lightning. There’s another reason why I would skip on this specific trike...Kurt pointed out that his trike is stronger because of it’s steel tubular frame. I can’t say it is or isn’t. I’m just not knowledgeable enough to know either way. But while that might be strong, it presents another issue I can’t dismiss...RUST. Rust is a very serious issue when you live only three blocks off the ocean. I’m not talking about surface rust on the outside that undoubtedly would start to take place in just a season or two, but rust on the inside of the tubular walls, where it can’t be seen. ANYTHING THAT CAN CORRODE DOES CORRODE HERE. Thus, that’s also going to be a priority issue when I purchase my first paramotor setup as well.
I certainly appreciate any advice I can get going forward that aides in educating me on the sport of Paramotoring. I’m really excited to be getting into this. It’s always been a major desire of mine to be able to go out and fly. I can’t wait!!! BUT I WILL. That’s because I want to do this right. I especially want to be completely safe (if there is such a thing...nothing is EVER 100% completely safe, but I at least know enough to mitigate the dangers to the lowest extent possible). So even before I start getting professionally trained, I’m reading books and researching throughout the Internet. That way I’ll be well enough prepared that once I’m in school and buying my own equipment, I’ll at least know what I should be asking upfront. I used that approach when I get certified for Scuba diving years ago and have never once had any sort of incident of any kind whatsoever. And statistically, scuba diving is considerably MORE dangerous than Paramotoring, or even skydiving for that matter.
