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slim

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What a fantastic day.

I got up to the field at about 3 to find Togsie getting ready for his first flight. Simon was getting a brew on (how come he's always doing that?).

I've had a couple of litres of fuel sitting in my tank for a couple of months now and I wanted to burn it off before putting some fresh stuff in so after lunch I went for as much altitude as I could get before it ran out. I managed to get out the top of the inversion at about 2100 feet and then another 200 feet above that. Fabulous. The air below the inversion was so murky that I had trouble seeing Simon, Togsie and Col.

After about 15 minutes Simon came on the radio suggesting that the fuel was probably getting low. I'd started to turn back a couple of minutes previously...

Not soon enough as it turns out. I was just doing the down wind leg when my fuel finally ran out so I made a sharp turn up wind and prepared to land. I'm really, really sorry Pegasus1. I landed 50 feet short in your newly prepared field. Not the best landing on the planet, I tripped and ended up on my face in the mud. Nothing disastrous and no damage done.

DanTheMan had turned up and was getting unpacked. Togsie got his first takeoff - well done mate, I'll upload pictures later.

So, now with 5 litres of fresh fuel, Dan in the air, the sun setting and the temperature and wind dropping rapidly I set up for a forward launch... and nailed it. This time I went for more distance and some photos. Click here for my pics

Once the sun sets it gets dark quickly and I was so busy taking photos that I wasn't exactly sure where the field was. I knew which direction it was so I headed for the ridgeway and followed it to the B4000 then turned left. It is so much fun watching the cars slowing down to look at you as you fly over them :lol:

Coming in for a landing I decided things weren't right so I went around for another try, this time everything was fine - except for a little too much break a little too early - and I managed to land on my feet in almost nill wind. The last man down to end a fantastic day.

10 minutes later I started to shiver. Half an hour later in the car with the heating on I could feel my toes again. I was seriously cold. At least I can feel my fingers enough to type now!

Night all.

Now to plan that 17 mile XC on Saturday morning.

Stuart

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Simon was getting a brew on (how come he's always doing that?).

Stuart

Army training.....they never forget it!

I can feel your exuberence bubbling out of the post!!

Well done Stuart, and great pics.

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I can feel your exuberance bubbling out of the post!!

Well done Stuart, and great pics.

What can I say, I've always wanted to fly and now I can! I've got a training course in High Wycombe over the weekend and I'm sooooooooooo tempted to fly there instead of blagging a lift with someone - 17 miles north of home, forecast for a 9mph wind from the south. Conference centre is surrounded by fields. I reckon getting there is no problem. Getting home again might be tricky and I've no idea where to stash a change of clothes! Maybe just stuff them down the middle of the wing ;-)

I've got a disabled friend who would love to get off the ground. Maybe I'll have to learn to fly a tandem next!

Stuart

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  • 2 weeks later...

I flew a couple of shorts hops just over a week ago and I've been trying to get my harness adjusted just right. I keep having trouble getting the seat to come down after takeoff. The answer is that I'm too tall for it so I popped over to Martin's place (RAD Paramotors) this afternoon to try on a new one. Thanks Martin, keep me posted on progress.

So, having failed to read Simon's post a couple of days ago saying his mobile number had changed I finally gave up trying to call him today and headed over to the field any way. I arrived at about 18:00 to find nobody there but a gentle breeze from the North West. Being very much in the mood for a fly I decided that was what was going to happen so I got everything out and prepared myself.

By 18:15 the wind had dropped to almost nothing so it looked like my least favourite takeoff conditions. No matter. After carefully laying out my wing and warming up the engine I decided to try a reverse anyway. It took a little more effort but, as Simon always says, commitment is everything and on the first attempt I had a wing above my head. I turned and started running. Easing on the power rather than grabbing the throttle certainly seems to work better and after about a dozen steps I was airborne. OK, so it wasn't a dozen steps in a straight line but it was full of commitment and determination and it worked really well. No pendulum from side to side and no heading back down to the ground. I know, nobody there to witness it so no kudos ;-)

With 5 litres of fuel I'd decided that a reasonably long flight was in order so I turned towards the Membury tower and let the trimmers out. Climbing all the way I flew over the tower at about 1700 feet and then turned back towards the field heading for the wind farm on the other side of the Ridgeway. This was into the wind which at altitude was more like 10 to 15 mph so I wasn't making massive headway. My GPS showed speed over the ground at about 17 to 25mph.

For the first time I came across other aircraft. There were a couple of microlights and a small fixed wing who was so busy watching me he almost didn't see them! 3000 feet is an interesting place! Then another small fixed wing flew right under me. I wasn't fast enough with the camera. He was about 1000 below. What fun. I tried experimenting with weight shift to counteract the torque steering and I think I got it about right. Of course anybody watching from the ground would have seen me wiggle and wander across the sky like a drunken gnat but I was learning all the way and not just wriggling 'cos I needed a wee.

Using fuel like there was no tomorrow I decided to see if I could get to cloud base. A personal altitude record of 4672 feet! A couple of bad pictures of the wind farm later it was time to turn East and head for the white horse. Better pictures this time (yes I'll upload to the album but that'll be tomorrow now). I noticed people camping in the fields below the horse so I dropped down the other side of the Ridgeway where it was much warmer and waved to lots of excited children. Turning the engine off for a while made for an interesting experiment. Then it got even more interesting but it did re-start when I wanted it to.

I flew past the white horse at the same height as it but about 100 yards away. There was so little wind that there was no noticeable lift from the ridge then I turned to go up over the hill fort. The people walking around it didn't think I was going to make it but I'm getting used to my rate of climb now and it was fine.

Following the Ridgeway but now only a couple of hundred feet up I watch birds flying through the trees and waved at the dog walkers. Finally I decided that I could no longer see fuel in the tank so I'd better head back and landed with 250ml of petrol left. I did my traditional two pass landing (that at least makes it sound like I know what I'm doing) but I still managed to land rather hard and ended up on my face. I was further over the field than I wanted to be and so heading down the slope with no real head wind so I was coming in faster than I have before. No damage to equipment or myself and no witnesses so no damage to pride either ;-)

After a quick bit of refreshment whilst packing up I drove home.

That was my longest flight so far, just over 23 miles. It took about an hour and five minutes of air time as well as a personal altitude record. All in all not too bad for my first completely solo flight.

I'm sure I made lots of mistakes and the more experienced among you will be tutting but for the moment I don't care.

Sleep well all.

Stuart

Stuart

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No I only just picked it up the other day. I am currently in a hotel room in Washington DC wading through the manual. It's a very, very impressive piece of kit. My main interest in it is the phenomenally accurate fuel monitoring system, the ability to provide trend monitoring via a PC and for engine diagnostics. I am also after getting an airspeed sensor for it so it can compute the data from this along with the GPS inputs to provide an actual wind direction and strength arrow on the nav display.

Unfortunately Active Flight Systems whomake the Quest had their website hacked a few months ago which has caused them to stop trading however I heard that they are hoping to set up again soon. I know a guy who has one that is still in the box if you want one though.

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