Old photo

[alan_k]

I found this old photo of the day I took my first flight. The quality isn't terribly good as it was an early digital camera.

The date was 15/09/02 and the shot shows me doing a practice run before the actual first flight.

[poz]

Hi Alan

It's interesting that, relatively speaking, you've been at it for quite a long time, probably longer than most on the site.

Anyone been at it longer?

Do you feel that the equipment you're using today (wing /engine) is that different to the stuff you used back then?

If so, in what way?

Cheers

Dan

[alan]

You took the words right out of my mouth poz i could carry on with the rest of the meatloaf song but time for an interlude, so what wing and motor was you using spill the beans please Alan.

I have a 1991 i think edel wing keeping it just in case it becomes a collectors item lol.

[neilc]

You took the words right out of my mouth poz i could carry on with the rest of the meatloaf song but time for an interlude, so what wing and motor was you using spill the beans please Alan.

I have a 1991 i think edel wing keeping it just in case it becomes a collectors item lol.

1991......Paragliding wings must've been very much in their experimental stage back then?......

[alan]

I have not had it out of its bag for 3 years i will have to check the date as it is on the wing along with its other details, I took it along to my first paragliding lesson and was told to put it back in the bag in so many words as it was to old.

[alan_k]

Ahh, I think the early date is somewhat misleading, as my second true flight did not occur until 5 years later.

The story goes like this:

I bought the kit second hand in April 2001 and started training at Kestrel Paramotor. This was the nearest school to the West Midlands and was based at Kemble airfield. The journey still took 1 hour and 20 minutes so there were occasions when the weather had changed on route making for some frustrating days.

Slow progress ensued due to weekend only training plus the vagaries of the British weather (all groan together now), leading up to the first flight in September 2002.

My instructor now moved to France. I did come over for a couple of days but did not manage to get off the ground again. After France my instructor then moved to the states, great!

The choice then for training in England involved very long journeys from the West Midlands so my training came to a standstill. I had an agreement to use the local rugby club ground providing it wasn’t in use. I practiced ground handling quite often and once was all set up for a launch attempt but other folk arrived to use the ground.

To be frank I was at a stage where I needed a little extra training to be confident and skilled enough to fly on my own. My feet did leave the ground very briefly on a holiday visit to France, when I made a prat of myself in front of 9 microlight pilots. I didn’t control the wing properly and on re-contacting the ground stumbled and ended up face down on the grass with the engine running. Hey ho.

After moving to France permanently I recommenced training with a French instructor leading to my second flight on 28/10/07, and the required license. The rest as they say is history, with 48 1/2 hours of airtime to date.

The original wing was a 1996 paragliding wing that got me to the 30 hour mark, then I bought my present wing, see viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3338&start=0.

I would definitely recommend a modern reflex wing with split A risers, such as the Dudek Synthesis.

The paramotor is the same one, well the motor part of it is anyway. It has only 50 odd hours on it as its previous owner only used it for limited training.

At the time it was the only Fresh Breeze model, based on the long established Solo engine which puts out about 15 horse power.

Various improvements have been made since which I have endeavoured to keep up with. I fitted the High Energy Ignition System in 2003, which made starting it a doddle. They are all fitted with this system now.

When I damaged the original flimsier 2 part cage I replaced it with the Airboss 4 part cage. This is both stronger and more convenient for transport as I can remove the top 2 sections and fit it into the boot section of the Berlingo.

Fresh Breeze improved the cage design further with the Respect 4 part cage, which improves the resistance to prop damage even more due to the better engine support frame. If you’re looking at 2nd hand Fresh Breeze Solo models go for the Respect.

I have just fitted a torque limiter engine-mounting bracket, as fitted to the new models, to limit the cage deflection when one has falling over ‘incidents’.

I was naive about the equipment when I started but it is much easier now with such a wealth of info available on line. Maybe too much choice of kit these days

Cheers,

Alan

Edited February 21, 2010 by Guest

[poz]

Ahh. Thanks for the clarification. Interesting story Alan.

There's no doubt, you need to be pretty tenatious to get the most out of this sport.

I am still interested to know who has been flying paramotors (not paragliders) the longest. Maybe someone with more site tech knowledge could set up a poll starting at 2009 and going back to... whenever PPG got off the ground (or not).

Also interested to know how many hours pilots have accrued.

Any volenteers?

Dan