Kit or Tution first?

[Lloyd]

I would appreciate advice as what to do with regards to buying kit first or getting the tution done first? Iv noticed some schools do courses with kit included and some dont. Can anyone shed any light as to which route would be best to take?

[Guest]

This is a very diificult question to answer. I think that if you absolutely definitely want to paramotor then get your kit and train on that kit. The problem with this may be that you get sold kit that the trainer is a dealet for rather than the kit that best suits you. You need to be clear aboout what sort of paramotoring you want to do. There are two sorts of paramotorist (at least) and require differnt things from their kit.

If you want to use the motor as a lift engine to get up and switch off and thermal you want lightweight gear probably not much power and a weight shift harness; you will want a good thermalling wing, not very fast with a good sink rate and be in the middle of the weight range.

If you want to cruise as a powered aircraft you will want to have a good climb rate and a wing that can use more power flying faster and with good stability to fly through the rougher air. You will want to be towards the top of the weight range of the wing. your motor will likely be heavier and weight shift will be a bit less important to you.

Others will say learn on the school's kit and then buy your own. That is good advice if you are not sure what you want to end up doing or you are not confident that the kit you are being sold is right for your flying.

It is very hard to find one set of kit that does it all! whatever you choose is a compromise between styles.

[Lloyd]

Hmmm thanks, thats got me thinking, for now just getting off the ground and gaining some decent altitude will make me happy! Unfortunately you guys must get these sort of questions all the time from us newbies. I spose you have to choose one or the other, im very tempted to buy the gear first as i know for sure im going to enjoy the sport and carry on with it, if i train with Flight Culture it states on there website that you use your own gear and again this is the reason why i would like to get in touch with more flyers as they have their different experiences and opinions? So its a bit of a gamble if you buy your kit first as i spose you dont know what you want till youre up there?!

[Dragonphotographic]

Lloyd, good to see another newbie asking similar questions to my own

One thing I have observed in the few weeks I have been planning my return to aviation via paramotoring is that this kit REALLY holds it's value. Occasionally, you can get a real steal. I've recently seen a 2 week old Paramania Revolution wing with zero time going for £1400 because the first owner's priorities changed dramaticaly as soon as it arrived! Believe me, I'm kicking myself for not having the cash available that time!

If you buy carefully from the used market while you train and develop skills, you will effectively get almost free kit.

Let's say you buy a proven used setup for learning. Approx £3000-£4000

Less than 75 hours should tell you what you need to know RE where you want to go with the sport. Assuming you have taken good care of the kit you should get about £3000-£4000 for it once you decide to sell and upgrade with the benefit of experience

[norman]

I am not that far ahead of you guys and have found that having your own wing early saves you a lot of time and perhaps even money. You can kite away to your hearts content at any time that suits you on your home ground. Kiting/ground handling skills are critical as flying the wing is more than half of this game.

This does mean that you need to make an intelligent assessment of the wing your require and impartial, learned advice will make sure you get the wing that will best suit your needs.

Motors are different again but the principles apply. Quality, matching it to your size and weight and needs will set you up for happiness, engineering support has to be a consideration as there is nothing worse than waiting for bits when its flyable.

The rest of the kit you seem to acquire on the way at the appropriate time. Good luck, you will find loads of knowledgeable people here that will be glad to advise and suggest via these pages or PM.

[moonwrasse]

I have bought all my kit and just starting to learn.

I knew that i wanted to be in the air again, and i would rather learn on my kit instead learning on school kit and then having to adapt to my own kit once the training was over

Having paraglided in the past i know what it feels like to be airborn so buying the gear was a much smaller risk than if you have never been in the air before.

Do most schools ask you to have your own equiptment to get airborne with ?

moon

[Farmer_Dave]

Ask plenty of questions before using or buying kit. The answers are out there and it's cheaper to get it right rather than trial and error. The first thing my BMAA instructor told me was that more accidents are propeller injuries so try to use or buy a unit with a strong cage and webbing which wont let your body parts anywhere near the prop. Sadly, most units lack this at the moment but you will see this change for the better. You break less props with a stronger cage too so save money. Props are £100 to £350 a go...! Fingers are priceless...!!!

Dave

ps. I just realised that this should be on the safety thread but as long as it gets read. If you want my opinion on which is the safest and strongest unit, send me an email with your address and I will tell you. I'm not here to sell motors though

[Phil_P]

I bought my kit a couple of months ago, and I've not had a sniff of getting to use it. Thankfully someone has given me a little ground handling tuition, so at least I feel confident enough to go and ground handle (boy, does it make you sweat).

Only down side is that the motor is sitting in the hallway, smiling quietly at me, and begging me to take it into the air. I can resist almost anything except temptation!

[Lloyd]

Thanks everyone i really appreciate your opinions and advice, after a bit of thinking i think im gonna go for the buying kit option first as from previous experiences theres nothing worse than doing the training and NOT having the kit especially on a nice summer weekend! The next important thing as some of you wise ones have said is to buy the right kit because aobviously there are going to be the wrong and right brands to buy? When it comes to motors luckly i have some technical experience behind me with small high revving engines, as i deal with outboard engines for a living, so i know sort of what quality's to look for. I know paromotors are different but im sure they work on very similar principals and but a bit of technical experience will help with maintainance and etc?

But again not having experience with the sport which motors do i look out for that are of good quality and reliability? I have a vague idea on which to look out for gliders ?!

Anyway for now il keep my eye out!!

[Guest]

hang on a minute, I bought an outboard from a dealer in Dorset a couple of years ago! I think they were called Extreme Marine... is that you? Tohatsu outboard by the way which is very, very good. Give us some idea of what weight you are and let us know what you are looking at before committing yourself.

Regards

Ian

[Lloyd]

Ha ha no thats not me, i work for quite a large reputable outboard manufacturer as the service rep for the UK and Ireland, not going to mention names as not really keen on mixing work with pleasure

I weigh 80kg's or about 12 stone? Just looking for something of decent workmanship and that doesnt struggle to get me off the ground.

[dantheman]

im very tempted to buy the gear first as i know for sure im going to enjoy the sport and carry on with it, if i train with Flight Culture it states on there website that you use your own gear

Lloyd I'd have a word with Flight Culture to iron out any pre requisites before blowing many thousands on kit, you never know they may have a stash of old wings for ground handling.

I was so tempted to buy an "ebay bargain" but I decided on a training course that had kit for students to use, that way I could learn as much as possible about the right kit while training to enable me to save thousands picking up bargains along the way and having my instructors give it the once over to ensure my dosh was not wasted.

Good luck - DON'T rush into it.

[donegalwing]

LLoyd

I am also a newbie, but rather than buy new kit straight away( which I was SO close to doing) I went off and bought an old wing or groundhandling, thing is if you get a lesson on groundhandling, take an old wing and everytime the weather suits give it a go, you are saving the £100 training charge for groundhandling, this in my eyes has a number of advantages;

1 You can train when the weather suits even if only for an hour

2 If you can learn to control an old wing, when you finally purchase a fresh wing it can only be easier with a good wing

3 This method should let you get really good at the groundhandling, as you can practice lots, whereas if you are paying for groundhandling lessons you may not have the budget to put in as many hours as is required to make you really good, therefore if you keep at the groundhandling and get really used to the wing and how it behaves with every different wind condition you will have a better understanding of what is going on above you when you eventually are flying,( try it out in all different types of wind its not a new wing which you dont want to get dirty or damaged if it gets dragged along the ground)

4 The most important one in my eyes....lots of groundhandling can only lead to SAFER flying when you do get in the air

Have a look at the video I posted, the wind was strong and I should have been reverse launching ( which I was advised to do) but I wanted to see if I could forward and find out how the wing would behave.....I certainly found out...but in saying that there was a lesson for me here too as I couldnt collapse the wing when the pressure came on me something I am a lot more aware of now.

One final point, if you can get a paramotor pilot to look over you an odd time so you are sure you are doing things correct and not picking up bad habits, I am very lucky in that respect to have a guy living fairly close to me and willing to share his experience.

Above all else have fun!!

Regards

Dean

[Lloyd]

Thanks i certainly see the point youre making! I think im going to wait till John gets back and il have a chat with him! But i really appreciate all your advice thanks!!