Well this is a drag. I’ve run out of storage on word press and can’t load photos so I’m not going to be able to upload FlySkyHigh data.
****Update … the storage has been doubled.
It was a pretty short flight. The wind was counter to all the available runways so I had to launch from the field. The weeds are better than a month ago but still not good. Joe and a new guy were on the other side of the ditch so I relocated and set up while they flew off to the beach.
My set-up was a little different in that the wing itself was in a low spot where the prop wash didn’t affect it. It was a clean launch and it made me remember the majority of my flights have been from the grass. It was nice.
It was pretty trashy up to 350. I let the wing fly and fooled with the trimmers. It’s not easy but much better than the original trim cams. I didn’t notice a huge difference with trims out. Nexts flights I’ll learn more. The A assists were too short again and the “nite eyes” were no easier to release than the “sky cruisers. The landing was smooth.
Stats… I climbed to 1750 and max RPM 2900. Flew for 20 minutes
Minor Drama …. When the left side A’assist had been adjusted too short. The launch was clean but I immediately realized that the A’assists were way too tight. It was a beautiful day and the air was smooth. There wasn’t much danger of the wing going frontal but it needed to be fixed. I was able to release the right side easily but the left side would not budge. After tying several things I realized that without some kind of prying tool , there was no way to unlock the cam and there was no quick release in any of the knots. The problem was resolved when I twisted the cam, breaking the zip tie that attached it to the A’assist. The mallion snapped into position and it was all good.
The whole time I was futzing with the A’assist I had the throttle at 80% thrust and I just let the wing fly while I sorted out the problem. When I was done I looked around and was amazed to be at 2700 ft and about a mile downstream from the LZ. The wind was considerably stronger and when I turned back my ground speed was a 1.7. I’m not sure if that was forward or reverse. At 2700 it had been at least 30 and it looked like it would continue to increase.
The lakes below me were smooth as glass so I descended to 350 ft. There wasn’t a big transition in air speed or temperature. At 350 I was able to make my way back at a respectable 17 mph . I’d only been up for a 25 minutes but between the hassle with the A’s and the high winds aloft I decided to cut it short. I circled the area a couple of times to check out some RV’s camped on one of the lots. The landing was clean.
Cheated Death Again!Nice sunriseA’assist too tightTop speed Forward or Reverse?Snap turn
Good flight after the crazy last one. Launch/landing was clean. Need to check if A assist ratchets are slipping and clean up left keeper where the lower was bent. Used WTS by leaving toggles attached and directly pulling the line. Next time use a little more brake pressure while launching to feel and control the wing.
Well…. That was interesting. This morning… the first day of 2022, I had two aborted launches with a tip over.
The whole thing was so smooth and gentle, that, the second it was over, I knew …. It was OK. Nothing was bent, crushed or broken. Man or machine. The only visible evidence was a scrape on the outer ring and the original keeper was bent flush to the cage. A perfectly acceptable crumple zone, that soft metal V just folded in and absorbed a lot of energy. And…. cage is still round.
The tip-over was the end result of the nose wheel catching an edge just at take off speed. I was drifting toward the boundary of the blacktop and dirt and had started to steer back to center, when (I think), the front wheel barely lifted and immediately touched back down. The sharp edge of the nose wheel appears to catch the edge of the blacktop causing the Falcon to pivot off it’s nose and spin 280 degrees to the left. Then, with it’s energy spent, the Falcon gently tipped over.
Video credit Jacob Niely
Could this accident been avoided? Yes, I can think of a couple of scenarios that would have saved the launch. If I just followed my course and run off into the weeds, it would have been fine. If I’d have popped a little brake before I caught an edge, I’m confident the Falcon would have flown but I like to build as much speed as I can so that the trike leaps into the air.
However if I pulled brake after catching an edge, it would have been a disaster. I’d have spun under the wing and without the friction of the wheels on the surface, it would have probably turned a lot more than 270 degrees. And….When I came back down , who knows what direction I’d be pointed. One things for sure, I’d still be at takeoff speed and probably would have rolled violently. Round tires would , have helped and that’s something not related to reactions or muscle memory. But I like the way the flat wheel steers and it’s small diameter helps to direct the prop wash above the wing before launch. So… I’m going to think a little more, before changing back to the conventional round nose wheel.
Flat bottom tire and line keeper (crumple zone)
After quick check of the rig and lines, I reset and tried again. And… failed again! This time the A-assist ratchet slipped and the wing headed off to the right where I followed it off the field. It was an embarrassing non-event. So… I gathered up the wing and determined to fly, reset for the third time. By now, the wind had picked up to 5 knots and was coming from 90 degrees off the earlier heading. This time the launch was quick, clean and very lofty. No issues with the lines at all.
I’m still not happy with the A assists and I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to not having my hands on the A’s during inflation. Today, the wing was a little slow to come overhead. I’d like to dial it in so I can try Robert’s Throggle.
The air was trashy up to 300 feet, where it settled down but the breeze had increased to 18 knots. Jacob had launched earlier and was well on his way to the beach. I called him and we swapped position reports. He was over the causeway about to descend to the beach. The wind looked like it was going to continue to build so I stayed over the patch.
I landed clean by the truck and waited for Jacob. After waiting awhile for his return I called him again. He was having a slow time penetrating and it took him awhile to make the last mile. Unable to penetrate he eventually he had to descend into the turbulent layer below 300 ft to gain ground on the LZ. His landing was spot on, despite the strong breeze and bumpy air.
It wasn’t a good day but it wasn’t a disaster either. It’s been more than a decade since I crashed on takeoff at Bubba’s. These things happen… and… after all… I did get to fly.
*****UPDATE****
A few days after this was uploaded, Tucker Gott, PPG’s YouTube phenom, put the video on a Blooper Reel. I thought! “Cool, at least there is a good write up “, maybe he’ll make a learning moment out of it.” But then, he called the rig “Rickety and Janky”, what’s Janky anyway? Maybe it’s Janky but Terry doesn’t build anything that’s Rickety. Geez!
This was a crazy day. The jetport had 3 or 4 Small jets arriving and instead of coming in from the South West and landing , they were flying over us at less than 1000 ft turning onto final and landing from the North East. There wasn’t any weather, I don’t know what their reason was. If anything you would expect they wouldn’t want to land with the setting sun in their eyes.
The fatal midair last week was on my mind so as soon as I saw the first jet, I descended to 300 feet and made my ceiling 500 ft. It was much smoother at altitude but …. Better to live with a few bumps.
I launched from the grass using the A-assists. It felt weird not having the risers at hand and I noticed the left brake line trying to get tangled but it worked. Once up I saw that I had misjudged the length of the A-assist lines and pulled one in to what I think is going to be correct. I was surprised at how much I was able to shorten the line. I hope it doesn’t put too much pull on the A’s. I’ll have to watch carefully because it might cause a frontal.
The landing was fine. After touchdown there was still plenty of brake left to drop the wing safely behind.
There were two other guys launching 1000 feet to the north. Turned out to be a couple of the Colorado Flock. Instructor Daniel West and his ex student Ryan Cook. Thanks for the nice photo Ryan!
This was my 5th flight with the Colorado. I had planned to fly tomorrow morning. But…Deep down, I wasn’t looking forward to it. The forecast was for 57 degrees F with 1knot of wind. The thought of crawling out of a warm bed in a cold house just wasn’t calling me. I’d spent the morning at the brokerage stewing over the results of a transmission fluid inspection and watching the Christmas tourists milling around the Village. There wasn’t anything going on at home… the winds were light…. Change of Plans.
Todays flight was delightfully ordinary. For the first time in awhile there was no Drama. I launched from the field into a light breeze toward the Boca Grande. There was enough wind to kite a little bit which made layout a snap. The unsheathed lines are much easier to keep snag free when I can pressurize the wing. The lines tend to lay down in nice straight lines lines with the stubble keeping them in place. When I was hooking up to the rig I took care to line them up in the keepers in the order of their departure.
It worked like a charm. With my right hand in position. I started the engine, then, after it was running i quickly took the right brake and A-riser to hand. I could feel the wing tugging but there was no threat of it pulling me backward. When I added power it came up straight and clean. There was a slight hesitation before there was enough thrust to get the trike rolling but it felt familiar. The roll-out was noticeably slower than on pavement. It was easier to monitor all the “moving parts”, and I could feel the trike getting lighter which isn’t something you get on asphalt. Rotation was smooth and the climb began after a very short pause to gain airspeed.
I spent the next 8 minutes flying toward the gulf and climbing to 2000 feet. It was chilly and the breeze had dropped significantly. The Jetport to the north was quiet. All the hangers were closed and the few vehicles in their lot could only have been for a security guard or two. Gaspirilla Sound and Placida Harbor were beautifully calm with a single boat running full throttle toward the gulf. After a few turns I headed back toward Safe Cove. Decending to one thousand feet I enjoyed the warmer temperature.
The Colorado was rock steady, handling the convergence very benignly. It felt like something was dampening the bumps. The new risers are an improvement, to be sure. The modified trim cams are much easier to use. I didn’t try to adjust both at the same time but did let the right side out a bit to trim for drift and torque. It’s hard to see the trim tabs unless I turn the buckle toward me. It will probably be more a feel thing than setting the cam visually.
I landed after 25 minutes when the fields were in the shadows. My dark sunglasses made it a little difficult to gauge height but the wheels touched very lightly and there was still plenty of flare authority in the wing. I buried the brakes and the wing dropped nicely behind the rig with only the brake lines not falling into the keepers.
While loading the rig I noticed that the pin holding the wheel onto the right strut had come out and was in danger of throwing the wheel. So… there was a little Drama. Cheated Death Again.
Notes… wing was laid out a little ragged to prevent the prop wash from prematurely inflating the wing. I rolled a few feet and dragged the wing for maybe 5 feet before it started to lift. Next time lay it out more uniformly but roll back the center nose section. The new line keepers worked brilliantly.
I noticed that the Colorado flies farther back that the APCO or any other wing I’ve owned. It presses against the hangpoint loop at 5 o’clock instead of 3 o’clock. Its touching at the right spot, on the riser and I do not expect to see wear at the rub point. There is too much friction with the WST. Later, back at the house I couldn’t see a better routing , I’ll have to take another look in flight.
There was a strong onshore breeze above 100 feet but a very light countervailing wind at the surface. The convergence did not cause noticeable turbulence. I landed in the opposite direction to take off because even at 100 feet I was moving 40kts downwind. When I reversed and encountered the light tailwind it wasn’t dramatic and touchdown was feather light.
During the flight I played with the trimmers. They let out much better and I was able to trim in but with difficulty. I hope they will smooth out with time. The 2D steering is starting to make sense. I tried the horizontal arm pull and was making slow flat turns. The straight down pull that activates the wing tip first and is more responsive. I liked the the non-linear response to brake input. WTS was clunky but convenient. It didn’t require much pull but I didn’t try to see how far I could pull the WST toggle. The friction wasn’t enough to prevent full retraction of the line.
Dispite the 100 % humidity. I was flying level cruise trim 2900 RPM. Climb was great and decent was about 300 ft/min. Density of Altitude was a factor.
While packing up I noticed that a county sheriff was chatting with an RC pilot a couple of blocks away. I didn’t want to join the conversation so I “booked it”quickly.
The tangled lines issue seems to be resolved, so now, I will work on a better way to position my hands while starting the motor. maybe it’s time to try The A-assists. Then Robert’s Throggle.
Flight was aborted. The pull rod on the choke disconnected causing loss of power. The good news is that the wing repairs and modifications worked perfectly. So while this was a very short flight it was without mishap.
I floated about 10 feet above the surface for 200 yards and tried to coax some power out of the motor. When it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen. I set it down as light as a feather.
It’s not a flaw with the wing but I’m taking it out of service until I can resolve an issue with the unsheathed lines that are getting tangled with the keepers. This situation wouldn’t be a problem for a foot launch pilot or even one on a smaller two stroke trike. But… This is a big rig and probably not a configuration the designer considered when putting this wing together.
… pinch/stretch to zoom
This video is an aborted launch caused by the brake and 2D lines tangling with the line keepers on the outer ring of the cage. The unsheathed lines have no “stiffness” to withstand the turbulence and “suck” from the prop.
Part of the problem is that there are two line keepers. Why Terry Lutke did this, I’m not sure but he encourages using both. Also… I noticed that prior to starting the engine I pulled several inches of 2D and brake line to allow me to reach the ignition key. Even if I’m not pulling the brake far enough to reach the ignition , just grabbing the risers and preparing to start, brings the junction of the sheathed and unsheathed lines right up to the keeper where the tangles occur. The “Y formed by the A1 line is at risk for getting hooked on a keeper. Also… The unsheathed lines have little or no tension as it runs back to the wing.. I fear that eventually, that incredibly limber line is going to get whipped into the prop.
There are some things I can do that will help. An electric start button on the throttle would help, allowing me to have most of the slack out of the lines because I would not have to pull line creating slack while reaching for the starter. Also…. The line keepers must be modified to eliminate the possibility of lines snagging at the bottom of the V.
I think, with this large paramotor trike, there is an inherent danger with a thin unsheathed line this close the the propeller, especially during the take-off sequence, when line position and tension can be so dynamic.
I want to note that I did not use the A assist. The A line on the Colorado riser is shorter than other wings I’ve flown. The assist line would have only been about 6 inches long. I wasn’t confident that the A assist would be effective and was uncomfortable with a short A assist tugging on the wing while in flight. Also…., I wanted to feel the new wing during inflation.
One way I’ve thought to fix this issue is by adding 1 meter (maybe more) of sheathed line to the brake and A1 lines where they leave the risers. This will of course, require shortening the unsheathed lines and lengthening the 2DmBR the 2D steering line and the A1 line. This will put stiffer lines around the keepers and move their connection point, with the unsheathed lines, away from the rig where they have been getting tangled. I don’t think this change will have a material effect on the wing’s behavior…
But…. I look forward to Mr. Recek’s thoughts. If changing out a few lines is going to be the best solution. Then, I’m all for it. It’s just a matter of calculating the correct measurements and ordering the line. If he has a better solution…. I’m all ears.
Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight 
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