Author: JoeO

Powered Paraglider pilot since 2005

Flight #1248. Keystone Heights Airpark

Demo of the MacPara Colorado 2, This wing is 27m which is 6 meters smaller than my current Colo (1st gen)27.

My first impression was how light this wing is. Partly due to the six less meters of fabric also the sailcloth seems lighter. The un-sheathed lines have been replaced with sheathed and the cascades have been simplified. Accordingly the risers are simpler and the webbing they are made from is a lighter spec. They still sport 2-d steering and two finger wing tip toggles but lack the bungees on the WTS to increase resistance.

It’s the same basic design style but without the expensive refinements that made the Colorado special. Sky-tec has been replaced with rip stop. Complex risers have been replaced with simpler ones that limit the pilots ability to tweak the steering configuration. High tech wind cheating un-sheathed lines are now thick Kevlar. The brake magnets were acceptable but weaker than the mod. 1, at least they are still on both sides of the toggle, which is stiffer that the previous wing.. The price was still a hefty $4600 but that can attributed to inflation and profit seeking because this wing is clearly less expensive to produce.

The wing came up a little crooked but responded to input and stabilized quickly. I chose not to use A-assists which was probably a mistake because I released a bit early. Fortunately the wing didn’t fall back.

Initial climb out was excellent but there was a noticeable pull to the left that had to be adjusted using trimmers. Cruise RPM WAS 3100. I was at the top of the placard for this wing and it showed with increased speed and stiff brakes.

The flare authority was poor but that could also be attributed to the pilot and unfortunately there was only one flight so no comparisons are possible.

The tip steering was fine but I wasn’t impressed with the 2-d steering. Again, more flights would have been helpful.

The temperature at launch was 40* F with nil wind. I would have liked to gone up to 2000+ ft but the cold air was keeping me low. No hard yanking and banking today.

Overall, it’s a nice wing that would be a lot of fun with a lighter rig but it’s not the wing for me.

It was a long drive but it was worth the time and money to know for sure that the Colorado 2 was not for me. It’s going to make a lot more sense to have new line sets on the APCO. and Colorado that add this wing to the inventory for considerably more money.

Flight #1239

It’s been a month but it feels much longer.

The dew point was concerning. Several launches in September and October were wet hot messes. With me dragging a soaking wet wing into the sky. The videos are not pretty.

This morning the field was mostly dry. The wing got into the prop wash before I was ready but it seemed stable, when I applied thrust, it came up clean. I rolled a few feet turned down the runway and committed. It was just what I needed.

Note…. Frank Moss came out while I was setting up. He prefers that I launch on his property at the south end to keep the runway clear. That’s fine.

Flight #1238 Shell Creek First Since Milton

Perserverance … That’s the takeaway word from today’s flight.

I awoke about 5am and futzed around the house until almost 6:15 when I pulled out of the garage and turned North towards Placida. I was about to turn off Edgewater Ave when I realized that I’d forgotten to put the ramps back into the bed when I was doing the preflight yesterday. …Immediate U turn back to the house. Losing 30 minutes, I diverted to Shell Creek after retrieving the ramps.

There was a smattering of ground fog over the freshly mowed runway. I did my best to lay out the wing without dragging the top surface over the wet grass but when I started the launch it was obviously wet. I rolled about 50 feet with it swinging left and right without fully inflating. Second attempt, I roughly dragged the soaking wet wing into formation and wrestled it into the sky. After 3 swings I could see that it was going to fully inflate so I added a little power and brought her overhead, the climb out was shallow but acceptable.

Following Shell Creek to the East, there was very little visible damage. Either they were built higher than I thought or the residents had already mucked out. There several small open fires that could have been storm debris. I noticed that there was very little breeze at the surface and that it was running counter to the air 100 feet higher.

Climbing in very calm air to 3000 ft. I enjoyed the crystal clear air. The wing dried out relatively quickly.

The landing was smooth but ….

while hauling the rig into the truck I fell backwards onto my tailbone. I’m going to have to find a good way to get some traction on the bed liner or I’m going to get hurt.

All in all it was a pretty standard flight, not the EPIC Gasparilla Post Milton flight ,that I had planned but satisfying. Two sloppy attempts and a time consuming glitch, didn’t cause a …NO FLY DAY.

Flights # 1234, 1235, 1236 & 1237

Four flights in mid Sept.

I cracked off 4 this week. The first was pretty standard. The only thing of note was that I noticed one of the batons in the nose of the wing had gone missing. I also noticed that the right wheel strut was damaged.

After much head scratching trying to find a replacement I remembered the Hobby Shop across the bridge. They had the exact 1/16 nylon dowel.

While I was at it I replaced the strut and re-installed with the original wheels (better bearings) and new tubes and tires.

The second flight was on the 17th. The sky was a bit sketchy but I decided to send it anyway. Bad decision. By the time I got to the end of the runway at 200 feet the visibility was down to 50 ft. with no holes in sight.

I climbed to 400 feet feeling like I was inside of a ping pong ball . Still no holes clean enough to trust. I turned back to the airstrip and landed.

The third flight was total stupidity. The surface was clear but above 250 ft. was zero visibility . I tooled around for 10 minutes trying to get glimpses of the surface and landed glad to be Down.

The fourth flight was great in all respects.