Uncategorized – Page 32 – Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight

#136 & #137 Simms LZ

The broken ground wire is repaired and the spade connectors are protected with a blob of high temp silicone. The silicone will act as a damper to keep the vibrations down and prevent the spades from breaking again.

Paul Dillon and Marek were at the field when I arrived. Very light winds…I blew the first launch like a rookie. It came up crooked and because I was going by feel instead of looking at the wing it was dragging the left side by the time I aborted. The second attempt was even more stupid. The buggy was slowed down by the terrain and the wing got locked into the prop wash turning me into a big “Push me-Pull you”. On the third attempt I got up with a little brake and immediately went into a climbing spiral. It felt great! 30% of bank and 40/m / minute of climb.

Second flight took two attempts because I aborted after spotting a bunch of vegetation in the lines. Too bad because I recovered once after a 40% collapse and pumping out the subsiquent cravat.

The wing was flying at 30 mph in calm air with trimmers out. Fast wing!

Paul got in a couple of flight and Marek stayed on the ground to help Paul.

93

Broke the top left joint by the motor mount. Probably flew with it that way because the take off and landing were very smooth. I seem to remember that the motor was moving a little more on its mounts during the pre-flight.

91 92 Simms

Chip Marek and I …. Beautiful! Spoke with Bear Creek Ranger…no problems.
Problems with GPS. Great pictures of the guys with the moon.

86 & 87 Chatfield

Two quick flights Moderately bouncy air. Forgot seat belt. The only thing to note was that I had sink on final and then at the last lift. I floated for a long time before setting down

#77

Very light winds. I took some pictures of the Marina and generally flew all over Chatfield. My landing was hard and I’ve got to learn to come in with power.

#33 Second Annual Birthday Flight

And…Boy was it a tough one !

I tried three reverses a forward and another reverse before I finally got off. During the reverses I wasn’t releasing the A’s soon enough and then I would turn before the wing was stabilized. AND the forward wasn’t any better…it seemed like no matter what I did the wing would come up to the side or I wasn’t able to get moving fast enough etc.

After half a dozen failed attempts Monte and John landed and Monte said, “Come On you’ve got to get up on your birthday. So with Monte’s encouragement I tried one more time and and made a successful reverse launch.

I’d let my leg straps be as loose as ever and had a heck of a time getting into the seat. The wire on the north end of the field was coming up so I turned to the west and as soon as I cold let go of the brakes and used both hands. The landing was not pretty…I flared too soon and did a partial face plant…. no injury to body or machine.

Happy Birthday to Me !