Gerryatric newbie saying hi

[Aquanaut]

Hi folks,

Just a quick introduction. I'm looking at getting into this as it appears I may not be able to dive anymore due to medical reasons (nothing that would bar me from aviation though!)

I have had some parachute experience along with an entire year of paracending (weekends) but that was over 20yrs ago. All I've done since is the odd 1500ft static line jump.

So, where do I start? I gather that ground handling is a big thing so I'm looking at a wing/harness to get me started. I'm guessing a fairly cheap eBay special will be suffice? What sort of money should I be looking at spending for each? If it helps, I'm about 15st and 5'8".

Ok, I hope that's enough to start with.

Aquanaut.

[weesplat]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

DONT BUY ANYTHING YET

Your first move is to find an instructor and get some training then think about buying kit. Your instructor will advise you on the wing motor combination that will suit you. Also the type of flying you want to do will have a bearing on the kit you choose again your instrutor would advise you .

As the sport is unregulated there are no medical requirements but if your problem is to do with pressure it may be a concern.

Have a read of the training blogs on the forum they should give you some idea of what to expect etc....

Hope thats been some help.

Cheers Col.....

[dede2008]

I'll add a comment: don't be tempted to approach this as a self teaching activity. As said many times, it can and will bite you badly if underestimated by its apparent simplicity, plus you will develop habits that will take time to correct.

By the way, you will be able to practice on your own all you want after initial guide from an instructor.

cheers

dave

[rob999]

Welcome from another old git !!

I went out and bought a ground handling wing as a cheapie from E'Bay......Don't do it.

Through ignorance I bought an old competition wing which is lovely, but very difficult for a newbie to fly. I should have sought advice and bought something much more tame. On the up side, I do now have the forearms of Popeye and the reactions of a fighter pilot.... ha ha ha....

[Neilzy]

Welcome to the sport im nudging 51 and weigh in at around 105kg and i taught myself to fly and have been flying now since 2006 it is the most fun ya will ever have, meet as many pilots as you can look for flyins get to as many as you can ask questions as many as ya can think of most of us will talk forever on the subject

.

[dede2008]

mmm too bad there isnt such a thing as 6 months flying ban each time someone publicly claims to be a self taught pilot risking an potential number of newbies to follow (especially without a DON'T-do-it-warning).

If you must be the DIY type at all cost, try fly fishing instead. Flying, although a great source of fun, is no game

[Neilzy]

mmm too bad there isnt such a thing as 6 months flying ban each time someone publicly claims to be a self taught pilot risking an potential number of newbies to follow (especially without a DON'T-do-it-warning).

If you must be the DIY type at all cost, try fly fishing instead. Flying, although a great source of fun, is no game

Your comment is noted, although i fly with a lot of self taught extremely talented pilots all of which would disagree with you, and not wanting to enter into a slanging match with you i will leave it at that..........

Although i understand Italians are known for the size of there dicks obviously ends there as there balls must be non exsistant!!!!!!

[Fly_mow]

Hi. I'm self taught in as much as I've had no formal training. I fly with a group of people who, as above, are very skilled responsible pilots. I would never reccomended people just get the kit and have a go. But with the help and guidance of a group of people who have been flying for years and resources such as this site and the rest of the net it is possible to do. The reason I chose this route is due to meeting people in my area through this site who were willing to help me no end, and the fact that I had a very deffinate pot of money and this meant I could spend more on newer better kit.

I would have gone down the training route if things had panned out differently but would have been a lot more expensive and would have taken a lot longer.

All said and done, I think both are acceptable and perfectly safe and this is what makes this sport so accessible to every day normal working class people.

As always this is my opinion and does not stand for anything. Just the way I done it and it worked for me. Had first flights and a few more with no problems and a good understanding of why I'm up there and why I don't fall back down!!!

What ever way you go just enjoy the freest most affordable way of flying there is.

IT'S WORTH IT!!!!!

[Neilzy]

Well said Fly Mow!!!!!!!

[alan_k]

PLEASE just make sure you know your airmanship and rules of the air, they are there for everyone's safety, not just professionally trained pilots.

Cheers, Alan

[Fly_mow]

Without doubt. It goes with out saying you need to know air law to fly safe. As well as an understanding of the rest of the theory that goes with flying. Just the best thing about the sport is its accessible to average Joe. And for me, the cost of training pushed it out of my budget at the time. If money was no Object I would have had full professional training. But is was so this is the route I took and it worked for me.

Either way ya just gotta fly!!!

[ganers]

I think some people need to remember that everything first started with self teaching!

People should be judged on how they perform and their approach to the sport with regards to ability and consideration to the law. You can be self taught by seeking advice and informal tuition from experienced peers and be more capable than someone with a printed certificate and a badge.

Either way as long as you take it steady seek advice and remember that leaving the ground means coming back to it hard or gently is compulsory its a good place to start from.

Fair play to anyone who has mastered the sport self taught or otherwise!!!

[dede2008]

mmm too bad there isnt such a thing as 6 months flying ban each time someone publicly claims to be a self taught pilot risking an potential number of newbies to follow (especially without a DON'T-do-it-warning).

If you must be the DIY type at all cost, try fly fishing instead. Flying, although a great source of fun, is no game

Your comment is noted, although i fly with a lot of self taught extremely talented pilots all of which would disagree with you, and not wanting to enter into a slanging match with you i will leave it at that..........

Although i understand Italians are known for the size of there dicks obviously ends there as there balls must be non exsistant!!!!!!

Italians are also known to be good at teaching a lesson or two in person that would wipe away any racist attitude and the smile on the face for a long time. You are welcome to come to italy to experience the "italian way" of dealing with this sort of behaviour

That said, I was only offering my advice, would you people rather go under surgery on a self taught doctor or one who had hundreds of proper training hours and was judged by competent people? There might be very good self taught surgeons out there, but I know my answer. Your choice.

[Guest]

Believe it or not, even the BHPA had it's founder members.

Who taught them?

Or indeed the organisation they took over...

Someone took the leap and wrote down there experiences, that kept happening. We now live in an age where this information is available to all in the form of Video, Audio, and Hard Copy Media.

Anyone who says flying a paramotor is technical (chooses to make it that way) its a simple sport to master and requires no elected gods or special 'brand' of training.

When you rode your first motorbike who taught you??? For me it was a 15 yr old mate who sussed it out a few days before in the middle of Dartmoor. I went on to drag race ( and ride on the road ) a 320 bhp motorcycle :-)

The reality is, it IS simple to learn, It IS unregulated, people WILL want to enjoy that fact and avoid 'self' regulation even at the minor level that is the BHPA and its rules. Its not legally required, nor is 3rd party insurance 'not worth the paper its written on in most cases',

If / When it becomes a legal requirement to have insurance the market will be saturated with offers from lots of companies.

Enjoy the freedom, or dont, but make your decision and be happy with it either way you get to fly which is what this sport is SUPPOSED to be about

SW

[dede2008]

Mmm all right then, apparently along with big dicks we also have recognized paramotor schools, trained instructors, exams and licenses, and insurance, something you don't have up there I gather?

So basically anyone there can wake up start his own paramotor school and teach?

Doesn't sound promising.

I don't know why a self-taught guy called Murray Hay with his rather controversial theories on paragliding and aerodynamics come to my mind as an example, if anyone knows who I am talking about.

We all have been lads and enjoyed self learning things, like riding a bike or what not. And every sport started as self-teaching attempts at the very beginnings. But that was the beginnings, do we all have to pass through these phases? It did come with a price, shall we count the number of deaths of these early attempts in say mountain climbing, or motorized flying just to stay on familiar ground?

An instructor and a proper school here gives you the basics and you can be assured that a certain standard of teaching is guaranteed from a recognized paramotor school.

Now, my personal interpretation of self-teaching is someone who's buying the gear online, search the forum for info or watch a video or two and off he goes to the field.

A different thing *MIGHT* be sticking around with experienced pilots, especially given the unregulated situation there in UK.

But i would still prefer a proper training from an instructor who got training on instructing and how to teach, as long as everything else. A great or experienced pilot might not be a great paramotor instructor, thats why only few become one down here.

[Guest]

I think the main difference here is we don't have regulation or recognised schools

I also dont see Paramotoring as any harder to learn than riding a motorcycle safely.

the theory can be learned by reading a few books as well as from an instructor, and the practical is not hard to understand.

We are LUCKY that we live in a place where our people in power have realised this.

SW

[Fly_mow]

Well said. And I have a lot of respect for a person who is a paramotor instructor, being so level headed. And as for aquanaut, please do what ever you feel comfortable with and apologies for your post being side tracked!! Sure you will love the flying and it will def fill the hole of scuba and then some!!!

[Guest]

Agreed,

All the BS aside.... enjoy the sport for everything it has to offer! It's amazing!

SW

[dede2008]

Well it might be the same as learning to ride a motorcycle, but there is a big difference. You can learn by yourself, but then you have to take the exams to be able to get the license and drive around, and that's where your skills are properly tested both in practice and knowledge. And that's the same as for airplanes and pretty much everything else.

Again, I'd rather go in the air knowing that all my fellow pilots flying in the same place as me have passed a proper exam and attended a proper school, so I KNOW that they know how to behave in a landing circuit, or the rule of precedences, etc instead of leaving to my HOPE that they have read and practice these rules by their own.

There is another problem: what about insurance? I take it you don't have and need one? We have mandatory insurance if we want to fly, as well as school insurance when we train. So what if something happens to one of the trainees while under an unrecognized school there? Whose responsability will it be?

Also if you land by mistake over a bunch of children playing in the park and injure some of them, would you rather be covered with proper insurance or be on your own?

We had a case where one pilot got into the power lines and luckily got out unscathed but had caused a major black out to the nearby city. Had it not been for the insurance he would have faced a cost of more than 500.000 euros for damages. The insurance covered it of course.

As in everything else, insurance is not just for yourself, you might not care at all about yourself, but it is there to protect others from your doings.

Third, but just to push it a bit : why would I even care of flying rules and restrictions, i.e. the Olympics ban, if I am not a recognized flying vehicol? They can't ban me, I don't exist for them

[alan_k]

Ah but it is a recognised flying machine, it's classed as a glider. It's just that it's not registered

Fly safe all,

Cheers, Alan

[pete_b]

We had a case where one pilot got into the power lines and luckily got out unscathed but had caused a major black out to the nearby city.

And this was a "PROPERLY" trained pilot

Where did he train then.

Pete

PS independent instructors and pilots can get insurance.

[dede2008]

We had a case where one pilot got into the power lines and luckily got out unscathed but had caused a major black out to the nearby city.

And this was a "PROPERLY" trained pilot

Where did he train then.

Pete

PS independent instructors and pilots can get insurance.

Yes, he was a properly trained pilot who was unlucky enough to get a wing collapse ending up there. Never judge by the book. I assume by your tone that you think this will never happen to you since you probably consider yourself "an expert". Well I wouldn't be so confident if I were you

The point is another anyway, you *CAN* get insurance is different that you *MUST*.

If I were flying in UK I wished everyone around me had one so in the event some idiot hit me and do some damage at least I am covered.

[spigot]

Is that you Francis?

[pete_b]

We had a case where one pilot got into the power lines and luckily got out unscathed but had caused a major black out to the nearby city.

And this was a "PROPERLY" trained pilot

Where did he train then.

Pete

PS independent instructors and pilots can get insurance.

Yes, he was a properly trained pilot who was unlucky enough to get a wing collapse ending up there. Never judge by the book. I assume by your tone that you think this will never happen to you since you probably consider yourself "an expert". Well I wouldn't be so confident if I were you

The point is another anyway, you *CAN* get insurance is different that you *MUST*.

If I were flying in UK I wished everyone around me had one so in the event some idiot hit me and do some damage at least I am covered.

It could possibly happen to me but as I know how to check the weather correctly and fly in the right weather conditions and fly within my capabilities then it is very very unlikely to happen as wings do not collapse unless some thing causes it.

I am not an expert by all means but stopped counting the hours Ive flown at 600 and that was a few years ago. I have flown in many different countries in varying conditions so I do know what I am talking about.

I am insured and always have been, if you got hit by someone with no insurance then Im sure your phone will melt with the no win no fee lawyers that promise you thousands and thousands of pounds compensation.

And as a famous russion would say "Have nice day"

[Guest]

[quote="pete_b"

And as a famous russion would say "Have nice day"