AIR - BAND TEXT PHONE ??

[Phil Perry]

On the evening of Saturday 6th July,

 

I received the following text message :

 

" HI - I'M FLYING A PARAMOTOR AT 2,000 FEET FIVE MILES NORTH OF YOUR AIRFIELD , NO AIRBAND RADIO. . . . . . CAN I HAVE PERMISSION TO LAND ? "

 

NEXT MESSAGE -

 

"HI, I'M THE PARAMOTOR CIRCLING JUST WEST OF YOUR AIRFIELD - - - - - CAN I LAND PLEASE ?? "

 

Regrettably, I'd left my phone in the car, so didn't get the message until I got home ! !!

 

MEANWHILE. . . WE WATCHED THIS POOR BLOKE CIRCLING FOR ABOUT TEN MINUTES, THEN HE DISAPPEARED OOP NORTH.

 

Got to admit, it's a novel idea, I wonder how he managed to text whilst hanging on to his lanyards ??

 

Phil

 

 

[M61A1]

[paulh]

On the evening of Saturday 6th July,

I received the following text message :

 

" HI - I'M FLYING A PARAMOTOR AT 2,000 FEET FIVE MILES NORTH OF YOUR AIRFIELD , NO AIRBAND RADIO. . . . . . CAN I HAVE PERMISSION TO LAND ? "

 

NEXT MESSAGE -

 

"HI, I'M THE PARAMOTOR CIRCLING JUST WEST OF YOUR AIRFIELD - - - - - CAN I LAND PLEASE ?? "

 

Regrettably, I'd left my phone in the car, so didn't get the message until I got home ! !!

 

MEANWHILE. . . WE WATCHED THIS POOR BLOKE CIRCLING FOR ABOUT TEN MINUTES, THEN HE DISAPPEARED OOP NORTH.

 

Got to admit, it's a novel idea, I wonder how he managed to text whilst hanging on to his lanyards ??

 

Phil

Yeah those paramotors really tear up the runway, need to pay their share of the landing fees, I bet he could have landed in the car park, nipped into the club house for a pee or coffee whatever he needed then taken off again, no one would have noticed just thought that someone was using the edge trimmer.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Yeah those paramotors really tear up the runway, need to pay their share of the landing fees, I bet he could have landed in the car park, nipped into the club house for a pee or coffee whatever he needed then taken off again, no one would have noticed just thought that someone was using the edge trimmer.

Well,. . . . .AKCHUALLY. . . .

 

Our club banned paramotors for a year following a serious accident where a chap came to our field early in the morning ( before any of us had arrived ) set up his PM, and took off.

 

Problem was, he'd bought it the day before, and had NO TRAINING WHATSOEVER in flying it. Oh, sure, he'd watched the accompanying DVD on how to set it up, but the flying bit isn't really much good unless, A) you are superman or B) a REALLY LUCKY person.

 

He flew it around for a while, not leaving the airfield overhead, but when he tried to land, he did this downwind, . . . and kept blasting the throttle at the wrong moment, causing a rapidly developing "Swing" manouvre which culminated in him dropping onto the deck on his back and sustaining multiple injuries ( air ambulance jobbie )

 

The new management have now rescinded the Paramotor ban with certain caveats attached,. . . ., but until Saturday, we hadn't had any competitors flying in. . . since the airfield is strictly PPR, ( Prior permission required ) he did the right thing and did not attempt a landing. I've since spoken to the guy, and he will be flying in this coming weekend, for the standard bacon sarnie. ( Unles he's a Muslim. . .didn't sound like it on the phone, but we DO have veggieburgers too, [ some of them actually fly aeroplanes. . . .] He's got about 250 hours on type, so He shouldn't really have a problem sliding in between our Foxbats, CTSWs, Vans RV4s and MW6s.

 

 

[paulh]

Landing down wind with legs for an undercarriage does sound bad. Love the idea of paragliding, silent flight, thermaling etc but seems to me to require a fair degree of athleticism, adding a motor opens up more choices but the seems to introduce extra risks and potential noise problems with small high revving engines.

 

The only time I've seen para motoring up close was at a fly-in were this guy was zooming about at low level, I suppose he might have been showing off but seemed risky to me, steep turns low to the ground, taking off wasn't easy either with a lot of manoeuvring on the ground to get the wing settled overhead etc.

 

 

[Keenaviator]

Landing down wind with legs for an undercarriage does sound bad. Love the idea of paragliding, silent flight, thermaling etc but seems to me to require a fair degree of athleticism, adding a motor opens up more choices but the seems to introduce extra risks and potential noise problems with small high revving engines.The only time I've seen para motoring up close was at a fly-in were this guy was zooming about at low level, I suppose he might have been showing off but seemed risky to me, steep turns low to the ground, taking off wasn't easy either with a lot of manoeuvring on the ground to get the wing settled overhead etc.

I would agree that using a foot launched powered paraglider would require a certain amount of athleticism. I have several paragliding (not powered) mates in their 60's and not especially athletic but having developed and maintained the required skills, they are continuing to safely enjoy their flying.

 

Regards, Laurie

 

 

[paulh]

I would agree that using a foot launched powered paraglider would require a certain amount of athleticism. I have several paragliding (not powered) mates in their 60's and not especially athletic but having developed and maintained the required skills, they are continuing to safely enjoy their flying.Regards, Laurie

Hi Laurie,

A few questions if you don't mind, do the older guys need to keep flying their para gliders quite regularly to ensure the skill level is maintained for safety? Is a minimum no of hours per year recommended?

 

Proximity to suitable sites I assume makes a big difference to frequency of paragliding ie if you have to drive for a few hours to get to a site would make a difference with the amount of time available in our busy lives. Would be a pain to drive for hours and the wind direction and speed is no good. ( lack of use being one of the reasons I recently sold my sail board)

 

Do the paramotors on trike or quad buggies enable thermal flying or does the extra weight and larger wing make this not a normal thing and the flying is more like a powered parachute?

 

Paul

 

Sorry Phil thread drift, but I did like the text message request for landing permission!!

 

 

[Keenaviator]

The beauty of the paraglider is that a lot of the important skills can by maintained by 'ground handling'. As with any flying I think it's important to regularly maintain your skills (that's what I tell my wife anyway!!). Not many paramotor pilots bother trying to thermal. I've heard of much older people continuing to fly paragliders but sticking mainly to nice laminar coastal air. PM me Phil if you are interested in having a phone yack in relation to this subject before we get growled at for thread drift!

 

Laurie

 

 

[paulh]

The beauty of the paraglider is that a lot of the important skills can by maintained by 'ground handling'. As with any flying I think it's important to regularly maintain your skills (that's what I tell my wife anyway!!). Not many paramotor pilots bother trying to thermal. I've heard of much older people continuing to fly paragliders but sticking mainly to nice laminar coastal air. PM me Phil if you are interested in having a phone yack in relation to this subject before we get growled at for thread drift!Laurie

Thanks Laurie, I think I've decided that paragliders/paramotors aren't for me but paragliders sure look fun on a good day - oops now I've done it drifted way off