Events – Page 2 – Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight

Day 6 Sunday #387 thru #394

The wind started picking up right after sunrise.

I spent the time having breakfast, packing up my gear and policing the campground. When the wind finally abated I was on the field practicing take offs while was John was tooling around on his LZ buggy.

John Fetz

Today was much better, there were no incidents and I was feeling good about things. With the wing laid out in a chevron, I was able to bring it up clean and taxi the trike keeping the throttle just above idle. I didn’t stray too far …just launch take a few laps …land… and do it again. Eric came out to the field and complimented me on the improvement. He spoke well of the Falcon which meant a lot coming from a Green Eagle Dealer, one of the finest pilots in the world and a gentleman.

After my 7th flight Mo Sheldon asked if I would be willing to test fly new tandem rig they had just assembled. I was a little hesitant and worried that I wouldn’t be fast enough but it went very well. The only hitch was that my 120 pound frame was lighter than Mo had hang tested for so after we launched, I was hanging two feet higher than Mo and it was blocking his vision. At first he handed me the brakes because he couldn’t see to fly but he quickly sorted it out and took back the toggles. When my hands were free again, I pushed down on the stretcher bar which redistributed the weight and we rode almost level. The takeoff run was longer than I thought it would be but the landing was smooth as silk.

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Dinner was at the Mexican place… Jeff Goin, Jeff Hammon, Phil Russman and Mark MacWhirter. We reviewed recent videos,…. the conversation revolved around the twists of Aerial Videography …new technical innovations and the latest cameras and players. All topics beyond my experience. I’m amazed… hours of video to get a couple of minutes of good footage. For me it’s hard enough to Fly… to be a master photographer, editor and pilot all at the same time. Well…

If it was easy everybody would do it!

After dinner we gassed up and I followed Jeff Hammon’s Hummer / Camper under a full moon all the way to Glamis. Jeff graciously allowed me to crash on the floor of his RV so I would not have the hassle of setting up a tent in the dark. Thanks Jeff!

"The Gathering at Monument Valley 2009

Fly the Holy Grail Of PPG

October 9-10-11 2009

Pictures of Second Annual

Thanks to:

Faith Wesstrom

http://s835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/Musegrrl25/?start=all

Beery Miller

http://www.uswingnuts.com/Texas/PPG/Pictures0069/myalbum_frame.htm

Chad Bastian

http://www.trikebuggy.com/images/mv_aug08/index.htm

Pictures from the first Annual…Thanks to:
Texas Wingnuts
&
Pikes Peak Poweredparagliding Club
http://www.uswingnuts.com/Texas/PPG/Pictures0064/myalbum_frame.htm
http://www.poweredparaglidingcolorado.com/gallery.php?year=2008
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For More Information

Go to:

http://flyingtheholygrail.blogspot.com/

#290 & 291 Last day of Paramotor City Fly-In

Lots of flights

The first flight was with the Eden III and it was absolutely the longest take off I’ve ever had. I rolled almost the whole length of the field at what should have been a sufficient take off speed, eventually pulling some brake when it looked like I might run out of field. The climb was slow but “It’s All Good”.

Second flight I used the Power Play and the take off was faster. I concentrated on keeping a little more brake pressure and sure enough the turns were much better and I felt much more in command of the wing. I remember Eric Dufore telling me once. The wing does not fly you…YOU FLY THE WING. I’ve decided to keep it because the problem wasn’t with the Power Play…just the way I was flying it.

Keven Kelsey and I flew side by side for awhile but I was considerably faster so it didn’t last long. This flight I made it a point to fly the Rio and stay low enough to take in the detail. It’s dry right now but you could see that when its running, it goes fast and is chewing away at the sides. There were huge land falls where thousands of tons of earth had fallen this spring.

The air was so still that the only place you would notice a bump was near the LZ and that was from other pilots stirring up the air.

X-Country & Luau

Wild Horse Canyon Cross Country

#289

Virga on three sides

Up early to a beautiful but scary sky. There was virga popping out on three sides. The local guys were advising to launch but be ready to turn back or set down if it started to get rowdy. I launched and went high quickly. There were two groups of three below and I would overshoot them circled around and stay on their 6. I can hardly wait till I’ve a little more time on the Thumper because I missed the boat as far as scenery goes. From 200 feet it was spectacular but from 2000 feet It’s not that impressive. I could tell Bubba’s group was in the weeds from the way they were turning around every feature. I was a little concerned that I would not have enough gas and flew the plan which was get high and if I ran out I would be able to glide to a place where I could be easily picked up. As it turned out I didn’t burn as much as I thought but when I looked at the tank it was damn low. My mistake was not realizing that since the buggy was at an angle the gas tank was tilted to the back making it look lower than it was.

When I got back to the field I was still way up there

Lava Canyon

John Black surprised me by taking his girl friend for a mid afternoon tandem ride. After his speech at the Salton Sea I thought he would mellow out. Oh Well He is the pilot in command and a very talented one at that. Good Luck to you John.

The afternoon was Debbie’s famous Amazing Competitions. We had a water balloon fight and the highlight was the Spam toss. I got pegged by a balloon right in the camera pouch which ended the great life of my little Cannon…oh well?

That evening was the big Luau dinner, Michelle and CC went all out. There was a traditional pork dish, potatoes, shrimp, and a chocolate & fruit fountain. The band played and Michelle gave a short but emotional speech that had an underlying message that I’m not sure that I caught. I hope there are no major changes in the air for Paramotor City! It was a great evening These people are family and I’m proud to be “one of the cousins”.

#287 & #288

Good long Flight. I climbed 2000 feet and had a great time carving with the Eden. The 4 stroke is doing well and as long as I’m patient it will get me as high as I care to go. The climb rate with the Eden is just a tad better than the Power Play and I can feel a difference being 1000 feet lower than when I fly at Springs East.

The second flight was sweet, I stayed up until it started to get active and really noticed it on landing.

The afternoon was spent getting a shower at the Casino Truck Stop and hanging around the Pavilion catching up with Jim King…Jim Doyle…Ike and the gang. Jim D. helped me out with my two meter and ended up lending me a FRS and headset for the X-Country tomorrow. It was blowing hard all afternoon so I chilled in the tent reading and watching the windsock.

We had a great Pizza Dinner and listened to the Route 66 band …I would have stayed longer because they were playing all my favorites from the “bad ol days” …songs like Mustang Sally but I need to get some sleep if I was going to be able to wake up for the X-Country.

Paramotor City Fly-In #286

Kevin on the edge of the Rio Puerco

I was out of the house by 4:30am and heading south with gloomy skies and a similar mindset. Massive losses and fraud have certainly proved that you cannot count on the future being as expected. BUT…As I cleared Raton Pass the clouds lifted and so did my spirits. I made great and was at Paramotor City by early afternoon. Keven Kelsey has staked me out a great tent site between two box trailers right on the flight line. Thanks Man ! First thing I did was give a big hug to Michelle who took my Eden and replaced the frayed “C” line. She told me to kite it and check that everything was alright. Good advice because the “C” was crossed under one of the “D’s” and had to be restrung.

After walking the field and checking out the “Rio” Kevin and I hooked up with ?Doug? and went to the casino for an early dinner at Johnny Rockets. Doug is a aircraft accident investigator with many decades of experience and Keven has been around aviation most of his life so they had lots in common and plenty of good stories. I was more than happy to sit and soak it up.

The winds were strong but came down nicely about 30 minutes before sunset. I launched without trouble and did a nice 45 minute exploratory flight. Amazing that I had flown here two years ago with the Simonini Buggy and didn’t get the lay of the land. The Rio Puerco twists North to South through the basin on either side of Paramotor City. There is a great RC airport North West which is off limits and a housing development to stay clear of but other than that it’s pretty much free air. The light was great so I took a few pictures and landed.

After packing up I discovered that the Route 66 guys had put together a pot luck with Pizza and various goodies. I regretted the earlier burger because they were certainly eating better than we did.

Flying Circus Wrap Up

The drive home was good. I had a massive cold front following off my left shoulder all the way from Albuquerque. At one point the shadow from the leading edge was playing tag with the truck and we were doing 80 mph! Fortunately it stalled at Raton and I never had to deal with icy roads.
The Arizona Flying Circus was great….frustrating but great. Lots of vendors including ParaToys who would never have been welcome or inclined to attend under Bob’s ownership. Nirvana and Paradrenaline were there and their “factory Pilots” put on a great demonstration of flying in ratty air and high winds.
I spent most of my time dealing with equipment issues. The first morning was the most heart breaking because I walked off the field when the battery died. It was two days later that I realized that all I had to do was use the pull start. Doh !
The new cage arrived on Friday afternoon and I spent the afternoon working with Bob Pelloquin to get it assembled and mounted on the frame. As fate would have it there was a crowd of luminaries standing around when it was time to fire it up. Sure Nuff there was a prop strike and one of the tips was damaged. That evening after dinner with Jim King and a couple of other pilots I sat in the hotel room and replaced the blade with one that Johnny Fetz had repaired while at the Salton Sea.
The IVO Prop is an amazing design that enables you to adjust the pitch of all three blades simultaneously by turning a bolt in the hub. Counterclockwise to increase pitch and clockwise to reduce pitch. I had to take it apart and assemble it twice before I got it right but that seems par for the course for me at this fly-in.
The next morning I attempted a launch but the wind picked up and I didn’t react fast enough when the wing pulled me backwards. The buggy rolled to the left and I was forced to kill the engine and abort. Jeff Goin was filming so he was able to brief me on what the wing did. I’m going to have to increase the tension on the steering bungees so that it rolls straight. While I was out there a pilot asked me to start the machine so that he could hear it. Right away it was obvious that the prop was badly out of balance.
The rest of the day I spent working on the machine. Bob and I did some creative bending to increase the clearance and Kent helped me out with shortening the blades by 2 inches. I was wary of making the cut but Kent dug in and they are looking good and well balanced now.
Saturday afternoon was the Bowling Ball Cannon and later the Banquet. It’s all Good.

#259 and Carnage at the Sea

hLast flight of the Simo

It was a normal launch in every way…Until… I looked up to check the lines and sure enough there was a great big twig twisted into the A lines. It was deforming the leading edge near the center of the wing and I decided right then to get down so I flew over the field and the scrub that borders the north edge and set down in the first sandy patch available. Up to this point it was a non event, I had plenty of clear space ahead and the surface was soft but not too soft… so I set up for another launch. The wing inflated and the taxi was going fine until the sand got allot softer and the buggy sunk in to the mixture of sand and shells. Instead of killing the engine and aborting I added power and a split second later heard a loud crack.

Some lines were cut, the prop was broken, both of the top pieces of the cage were bent and the frame broke at the top motor mount. It’s hard to believe that a line in the hub could do so much damage.

I was hugely bummed to say the least. Grounded and there was still 6 days of flying ahead!

251 252 253 254 255 256 Salton Sea

Big Day lots of firsts…

Most Flights in one day. It should probably be 256.5 because I did a touch and go that was so long I taxied the full lenght of the field.

First time to fly a performance wing Spice 24 (or there abouts)
First time to fly a 4 stroke. I took up Bens machine with the eden 28.

The thumper flight was marred when I rigged the brake line thru the hangpoint rings and had a friction lock. Landed dead stick at the rocky end of the field. I had to take a wrap on the Brake line above the ring.

Tonight there was a prop burning and outdoor movies.

I had dinner with Ben at the Mexican Resturant…Huge Special plate.

#246 #247 #248 #249 #250

Lots of airtimeSalton Sea! I started at 9am. 5 good launches and 5 good landings. Lots of the low and slow. Flying with the birds. Great day of flying!