where to start

[dogfood]

hi

im interested in taking up paramotoring, the courses i have been looking at give the impression that you have to be able to para-glide first there are not many hills near me so paragliding would not be much use to me. also i would like to be able to (once im confident) just grab my kit and take to the air on my own (obv they say you should not do things like this on your own but they say that about everything) i like the idea of the freedom it would give me. however some courses seem to only allow you to fly with a club, is that right or have i just got something messed up.

are there any courses ran in or north of leicestershire that would allow me to go from never having flown anything to flying a paramotor on my own and what sort of price should i be looking at

sorry to bombard you with silly questions i really dont have a clue as im sure you can tell

thanks in advance

mike

[alan_k]

Hi Mike,

There are courses that do not need you to paraglide first. The PMC course is one.

Expect to pay about £800.

Avoid the BHPA course if you want to go directly to PPG.

I learnt from nothing straight to paramotoring and have never flown without a motor.

Once you're experienced flying on your own is fine, virtually all my flights are single.

Cheers,

Alan

[phil1975]

Hi Mike,

I'm in the same boat as you & am on the verge of signing up for a course. I'm currently sussing out the local instructors & will go with who I feel most comfortable with.

I thought I would put my (limited) experiences out there in case they are of help to you or anyone else. Most of this is within the forums but sometimes takes a bit of digging to find. Having spoken to a few pilots I'm starting to see a few trends in what they say too & am using their experiences to guide me.

I tried going the Paragliding route first but the weather always seemed to be against me. You can get shortened Paramotoring courses that cater for anyone with previous paragliding experience (& in fact that was the route I had intended to take), but to be honest going directly into the Paramotoring course seems much less hassle. Courses seem to vary in price & you can get good training for £800. Anything more than this seems a little too pricey!

Paramotoring is currently deregulated so you don't even need to get lessons, although having watched a few people flying I think you'd be a muppet if you didn't get training to learn the correct techniques & the rules governing where you can & can't fly. Certainly flying alone is possible, but there does seem to be a good social scene around Paramotoring too so flying alone & as part of a group are both options.

In addition to the training you'd need the kit too. Having spoken to a few people a good s/h motor is £2500 upwards & a wing £1000 upwards & then there are the extras (flying helmet, gloves, boots) & the toys (GPS, cameras etc). I'm personally going to avoid new kit as I can't afford to buy new & most people seem to end up having one or two less than graceful landings which result in something getting bent!

Simon W has just started a scheme too which could be good for new pilots, there are details if you do a search for the PPG 100 club.

Hope this helps a bit

Phil

[tortoise332]

hi mike

some instuctors are in clubs,you do not have to fly with them once you are trained up and passed the course,

though lots of clubs however have designated flying sites where you can socilise and fly from,with advice where and when not to. organised flying

weekends (piss ups really) ho and barby

as you will be new to the sport theres many helpfull guys in the clubs that will asist you if it all goes t-ts up as you will be learning for years after

when you get confident you can find fly on your own from a safe site with the landowners permmision then invite fellow flyers

down your neck of the woods if so wish

cheers gary ps hope info is of help