Cornish_Ben Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Hi all, just wondering if anyone has ever flown from Lands end out to the Isles of Scillies with a Paramotor? I have never heard of anyone attempting this. Was hoping to be the first. It's a long way over water... 26miles land to land! Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outkast Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 and some of the worst weather conditions off the uk coast. the ferry crossing is known for being one of the roughest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Yes that's the one. It also has fantastic calm days like the weekend just gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 My Mum and Dad live in Penzance and both now work with the RNLI. I would make sure that you let the RNLI guys know in advance if your planning that flight, they will most likely use you as a training exercise and keep a closer eye. And of course make sure you can float and stay warm for some time. :-) SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) Hmmmmm Edited September 9, 2014 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdEves Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Funnily enough.... I got a call on Saturday from one of the pilots at Skybus asking if I knew who was flying a paramotor to the scillies right through the transit corridor without ATC permisssion... . It's one of the busiest air routes in the country. Can you explain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 I stayed under 500 ft the entire way and went well north of st Mary's and landed on St Martins, so why would this be a problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdEves Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Because the Lands End Transit corridor is from the surface to 4000'. Use the App. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 I read this beforehand : http://www.landsendairport.co.uk/flyscilly.asp Notice point 3 on the lands end corridor section it says it is not controlled airspace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdEves Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Quite - it also says it's SFC to 4000' The purpose of the corridor is to make it very clear that it is a major pain in the arse for the commercial operators and ATC if private aircraft go to the Scillies without telling anyone. Just one phonecall would have saved any bother and prevented another big chunk of the aviation community thinking that paramotorists are tossers. I have been trying to organise a proper trip to the Scillies and tour around the islands but I may have just lost a bunch of support. Jeez you were on the right web page with the Lands End ATC phone number on it..... Use the App. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 I really didn't think it would be a problem if I just went out and blasted across nice and low. I guess I got that wrong then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdEves Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Ben, as discussed on pm it was more of a problem because the scheduled stuff was trying to shoot instrument approaches at the time. Thanks for being honest about your thought process and I've passed the message on to the guys at Skybus as we discussed. Ad Use the App. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goode400 Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Congratulations on making the crossing. I've flown that route and it seemed a long way over the sea even in a microlight! I would have been scared to do the crossing so low. I always cross water as high as possible to give me plenty of time to radio for help if the engine conks out. I've not yet crossed any significant water by paramotor but would certainly like to. I have an immersion suit and locator beacon so I think a ditching would be survivable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Cheers it all went well, the flight over was lovely and smooth, some nice low flying above my mates boat who was only a couple of miles an hour slower. Every now and then i would get too far ahead so would do a circle to let him catch up... quite scary not being able to see land in any direction! i think i lost sight of lands end about 8 miles in. My landing was not very good, the beach i had chosen on St Martins was giving off lots of thermal, when i switched off the engine it picked me up a bit then it felt like i fell out the sky. luckily the sand was soft but i still got wet feet ! I have made a video, if anyones interested enough go on youtube and search for " paramotor scillies" , its the only one on there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer_Dave Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Quite some flight Ben. One I've thought of and talked myself out of a few times. Your wing is fast ! Re. Landing. Sometimes frowned upon, but power landings can often tidy up what would be a scrappy landing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Nice one Ben! I've done that flight in the regular Sikorsky Sea Kings out of Penzance, with all the noise and vibrations. Your way is much better. Do you have some new secret turbo-Reflex on your wing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornish_Ben Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 It's only an ozone spark, I haven't even set up the speedbar on it yet as I have only been flying a year . According to my very hitec GPS I was doing 26-28mph with a very light breeze to the side of me . I speeded up some parts of the footage to make it look a bit more exciting although the landing clip was in real time! It took 50 minutes to get from lands end to st Martins, with another 40 minutes flying around the islands. I had figured the longer we talked about it and the more experienced I got, the less likely I was to give it a go so we just went for it. I quite fancy a blast across the channel next if anyone's keen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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