This one I’ll be kicking myself for a long time. The flight was nothing dramatic. No Balloons … No Bird strikes … just a nice AM flight.
BUT… After I landed and bagged the wing I was driving the trike back to the truck and saw Ian was at his hanger so I thought to go over there and shoot the breeze with him.
Well, as I was along side the truck I tossed the wing off to the side and as soon as I did it I heard that horrible sound of a wing getting parablended. Apparently it took a bad bounce and I didn’t toss it hard enough because the prop sliced right through the wing bag and took out two top panels plus a rip on the bottom.
Another technical note:
The belt has been squealing more the last few flights so I took Terry Lutke’s advice and removed the belt, washed it with soapy water and applied conditioner. Well, now it’s not making any noise but I noticed that there was rubber on the pulleys. Maybe it was the conditioner. Maybe it’s too tight. I’m going to fly one more flight and evaluate it then.
Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight 