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Paragliding Entertainment
Pilot
Profiles: Past | Current
Our sport is about
having fun, seeing the world from a unique perspective and
enjoying amazing freedom. Part of the enjoyment is sharing our experience
with others. To that end, this section features member stories
and pilot profiles for the simple fun of it. |
It's Still Winter
Mar 15,
2008
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While much of the U.S. begins
thawing from its frigid hibernation, our Canadian friends make the best of
their continued winter. Frozen lakes are still thick enough to make great,
wide launch sites as long as can stand up on them.
This flight was March 14th at Gondola Point, NB Canada.
Mark Dean shared his observation of fellow flyer, "The Brew
Meister” (James McLeod). who "flies because he has to, he just can’t help
it."
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by Mark Dean
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PPG in Dubai, UAE
Jan
05,
2008
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| Paramotor pilot Johan is a world away from
most of us. But he's not far from the the world wide web and shared this
view of an increasingly famous man-made development. It's another examples
of how, given the chance, humans everywhere want to enjoy the simple, pure
pleasure of PPG.
He writes:
"Although far away in Dubai in the UAE, I am reading the
USPPA website regularly and recommending it to any flying enthusiasts here.
There is about 10 – 15 of us flying paramotor, including some local sheiks!
Just wanted to share this aerial picture of one of the
“Palm” islands they are building here in the sea. Incredible what mankind
can do if there is a will…and money!"
Johan Vercruyssen |
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Children's
PPG Cheer
Dec
12,
2006
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| You
never know who your flying will make an impression on. Rest assured,
though, that it's making some kind a mark in your children's mind.
Gary Brown, a Chicago area pilot, recently sent us some
refrigerator art done by his kids that he found quite encouraging. It
included commentary. Nice work. We'll look forward to seeing their future
efforts in syndication.
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Kids
will color the darndest things!
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Balloonists Weclome PPG
Nov
25,
2006
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| Another
example of how to be welcome is the work of Ed Poccia and Derick DeGennaro,
USPPA members from New Mexico. They have worked with organizers of the
2006 Socorro
Balloon Rally to get paramotor pilots invited to participate. The
Albuquerque based Route 66 Flyers PPG Club will have 5 to 7 members flying
and generally representing the sport. A full article
appeared in the El Defensor Chieftain newspaper.
Ed reports: Perfect conditions greeted PPGers from New
Mexico's Route 66 Flyers participating in
the Socorro Balloon & PPG Rally. The people of this
central New Mexico town know how to throw a party. Pilots enjoyed the free
motel rooms and food as well as a generous "goodies" bag. Seven
PPG pilots launched into calm winds and clear, cool skies to join more
than thirty hot air balloons to provide spectacle to the opening of the
town's holiday season.
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One
of 7 PPG pilots is shown here amidst the many varied balloons. Photo by
Ed Poccia
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Recognition
Nov
11,
2006
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| Much
of the time we're just tolerated. Sometimes it's a "don't ask, don't
tell" policy with landowners looking the other way in hopes that
having never given permission lessons their perceived liability.
So it was a nice change of pace that Texas City took the
acknowledgement of fun to a new level. Thanks to Andy McAvin and others
who helped pull it off and to the folks of the Texas City Dike who welcome
paramotor pilots and their incredible craft.
Photo submitted by Beery Miller.
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Power Soaring
Oct
17,
2006
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| We
fly Paragliders–—designed originally for gliding. Soaring, that
is, without a motor. But the motor grants airtime when otherwise there
might be none as shown by member Phil Russman on a well-known soaring
ridge in Mexico. The site requires either a half-mile hike up a 700 foot
ridge, enduring an hour-long bumpy drive around the back, or a 4 minute
flight up in the paramotor. Tough choice.
Of course these mountain-type harnesses carry
significantly more risk due to the lack of back protection, but they can
fit in most motor harnesses carrying pouches or be worn while motoring.
Fly to the top, see if it's soarable by idling the
motor, then if it is, land and strap on the free-flight harness. When
you've had your fill, strap on the motor and go home. Elegant.
Click the image for a full size version.
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Lazy
but Informed
Aug
06,
2006
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| Marty
of the Florida Flyers found a way to prevent tired arms while flying and
staying informed at the same time. Next we hope to see a flat panel
display with rearward looking cameras to keep a vigilant watch on fast
movers from behind.
The pilot would launch with this clipped harmlessly
somewhere on his body. Then, when safely at altitude, it is clipped to the
brake toggles where it is used for steering using the hand grips.
This prototype will not be put into production but does
look nice!
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PPG
Showing
July
20,
2006
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| Dan
Kriseler and James Coblents from the Dukes of Windsoar and a few pilots
from the Velocity Flyers will be putting on a PPG demonstration at the Martinsburg,
WV Balloon Fiesta. They have worked out details with airshow officials
and, according to James, will be flying in the same space as some Air
Force hardware.
Airshows typically have temporary flight restrictions
around and require special permission to fly in. They are planning various
stunts such as having one pilot trailing a long ribbon while the other
pilot catches it.
The event runs August 4, 5 & 6 and PPG
demonstrations will be flown each day.
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Heavy
Iron Meets Nylon
June
17,
2006
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 Details
were sketchy on this, but it would seem that a group of lightweights (PPG
and PPC's) were allowed to fly from an airport not long after a pair of
727 charter flights arrived.
Lance Marczak of Kankakee, IL pondered how much runway
it would take if he were pushing this aircraft with his motor. Our guess
is that it would be just enough to get the door closed!
The 40 year old 727s, which are no longer used by U.S.
Airlines, still ply the planet in charter service and for airlines
elsewhere where noise is less of a concern. It's nice to have something
making more volume then us, just don't get in their way.
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Robert & Boyd's Excellent Adventure
June
17,
2006
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Taking
your flying craft with you affords this type of travel. Robert Kittilä
tells little snippets about the trip with his friend, Boyd. One place they
stayed for 3 days was the 1800-ft sand dunes pictured below. He says
"Great Hostel very expensive. $4.75/night. Breakfast (huge) $1.85
Lunch, dinner $2.75. Loved it, great flying as you can see!
Picture of us with the hostel staff. After a day we were family. Guy 3rd
from the right is their happy chef Aldo. He kept us fed and with a good
supply of libations. Great food, people and town. Loved it!"
  
  
1. Aircraft Carrier.
2. Sand. Lots of sand in such beautiful shapes.
3. Oasis of life and the reason it can exist -- water..
4. More bizarre formations made of, yup, sand!
5 & 6 Making friends everywhere we went. Marco (Boyd is on the left,
Marco on the right), the coolest and funniest pilot in Lima--he had
us in stitches the whole time! Marco was giving us launch pointers for
flying downtown Lima, amazing.
  
The whole trip we tried to eat Ginnypig. Everywhere we
went they just laughed at us. Apparently tourists don't ever eat or even
know about it. We finally found this little restaurant in Paracas
run by this amazing lady named Isabella and her two sons, Jorge and
Manuel. She promised to fix us Cui the next night. Here is the famous
"Cui" dinner. Ginnypig fried with garlic and spices. Tastes
really good. Go Ginny!
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The Nasca Lines shot from a Cessna. It's
nearly impossible to fly a PPG there. Planes fly essentially from dusk
until dawn and there are huge fines for unauthorized flying. One
Japanese PPG pilot that landed on a line is fighting a $2M dollar lawsuit.
 
1. Boyd handing out
glow-sticks to the kids in Paracas.
2. he controversial Ica Stones. We had a private showing by Dr. Cabrera's
secretary for 50 years. Amazing!
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PPG
as Watersport
June
11,
2006
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Thanks to Marty for sharing
their weekend. A group of Florida flyers set out for some fun and this is
a glimpse of what it looked like.
1) We drove up to Daytona (Ponce
Inlet) for an evening session on Disappearing Island. This is a very large
Island at low tide but there's no Island at high tide. None.
2) The boaters that surrounded the island enjoyed our flying there, as
long as we didn't linger to close.
3) Earlier in the day it becomes hard to find an open space to park your
boat. Pilot's here should be aware that 1.5 miles just to the west is a
small airstrip with a tower. We had no trouble with the Harbor Patrol but
did get a lot of stares with our three paramotors strapped on the bow.
  
  
4) Pausing for a moment before
launch.
5) The local hanglider trike group dropped in for a visit to watch our
takeoffs at The St. Johns.
6) All agreed, it's a Super spot to fly.
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1. Kevin at take
off.
2. Rob Catto at Black Bear Res.
3. Rob Catto (left) and Jack Kimble make it look like
they're going for the cone. No cones, however, were hurt in the production
of this picture.
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More Gator Gotchas
May
22,
2006 May
22, 2006
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  Marty
Hathaway shared some memorable flights with us in Florida. But be very,
very careful where you fly: some of these sites would be most unpleasant
with a recalcitrant motor.
The site was on the St. Johns
River along the Eastern coast. Above left: These
locals were over ten feet long, thus no foot dragging only touch and goes!
Photo 5/14/06 by Mike Britt.
Above right: Mike attempts to
balance on Nelsons motor?
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1.
Mike
at sunset 5/13/06 by Mike's daughter.
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Over-Reacting in Austin, TX?
April 26,
2006
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Paramotor pilot Jim King sent
us an amusing account of how he became the focus of a false alarm
involving two police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck Easter Sunday
afternoon after he fell down while trying to launch his craft and
someone called 911.
"A gust of wind pulled me on my back and dragged me a short distance
into a shallow ditch, but it must have looked a lot worse to some Good
Samaritan," said King, 63, who was not hurt. He has been a PPG pilot
for nearly three years.
"I was setting up to try again when I heard all these sirens,"
he said. "Then I saw a fire truck stop right by my pickup. A fire
department lieutenant got out and approached me, and at the same time an
ambulance came screaming across the grass from the opposite direction.
Next two squad cars arrived with sirens and flashing lights."
At that point the fire lieutenant, seeing that there was no emergency,
began waving off other rescue officials. King apologized for the false
alarm, but the officers did not appear upset. The fireman told King
someone with a cell
phone had called 911 saying "an ultralight airplane had crashed"
in this vacant field in far northwest Austin.
The ambulance left but four firemen and two policemen stayed, questioning
King about PPG, and one policeman asked if it was legal.
"I told him it was, that we're covered by specific federal rules,
that I was familiar with them and the FAA sectional maps, that I was
flying in Class E airspace at that location and I was allowed to fly as
high as 700 feet above
ground," King said.
Satisfied that no crimes were being committed, the six officials remained
to watch another attempt. This time King pulled a reverse inflation
without falling down and took off into winds that were definitely getting
stronger. He made a couple of passes, taking pains to remain precisely
above the 10-acre field, while his would-be rescuers watched from below.
After they all left, King landed in increasingly turbulent air and fell
down again. But this time he jumped up very quickly, moving around to show
anyone watching he was all right.
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The Other Side Of the World
April 26,
2006
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After the mutiny, the
absconded vessel's crew landed on this island and began a new life. While
that is a fascinating story on it's own right, what's interesting to us is
that the island's first ultralighter is USPPA member, Route 66 Flyers
member (Albuquerque, NM) and paramotor pilot, Derick DeGennaro.
He is doing video taping for
a planned documentary on the island and has gone through enormous efforts
to arrive at the island with his PPG and has recently become the first
civilian to fly himself over the island. The trip will be covered in the
June Ultraflight magazine. It is a fascinating adventure with some
victories, some defeats and at least one close call. We'll look
forward to getting the rest of the story.
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Fast & Small
Mar 4,
2006
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| Shon
from Paradrenalin near Phoenix may be a lightweight but, at 198 pounds
with paramotor, he was still way overweight on a kiting-only Paratoys
training wing. It was a short flight but sure covered a lot of distance.
If you look carefully at the picture you can see that something just
doesn't look right! It was a short flight for another reason, this is
incredibly dangerous! Photo by Gavin Harrison. |
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Tinkering
Mar 3,
2006
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One
of our members, Ryan Trujillo from Rio Rancho, N.M. has been busy in his
garage. The finishing touches of his tinkering has resulted in the craft
seen in these pictures. It is a nice-looking 4-wheel PPG cart.
Lord willing we'll get to see
it at a fly-in sometime. As he says, it's "all heavy duty, many
bells." No word on whistles.
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Ice Hockey
Feb 2 3,
2006
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A group of Canadian flyers
show their robustness by braving the snow, ice and cold for a winter romp
in the Great White North. Frank Savignac tells us "who needs beaches,
warm weather, We do! We'll see ya in Florida Polk City!"
Pilots flying this New
Brunswick, Canada site were Roger Harris, Mark Dean and Frank. Thanks for
sharing and we'll all look forward to the March Florida warm-up.
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Wind Suck
Feb 2 3,
2006
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Joe took off and wondered why
everyone on the field was waving so wildly at him. Then he looked at his
wing and saw way: he'd snagged the windsock from Arizona's Phoenix Fly-In
on launch and it was still following him around. He landing uneventfully
soon after the discovery.
After Joe was safely on the
ground, we all had a good laugh about it, but there was quite the sense of
urgency until after he landed. Interestingly, Joe says he didn't even
notice it while flying. Photo courtesy of Joe Lakato
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Dress For Success
Feb 22,
2006
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| Even
in the south, cold air dips. Isaac Smith captured himself just before
enjoying the wind chill on the shores of Lake Lanier, just north of
Atlanta, Georgia. |
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Gator Gotcha
Dec 29, 2005
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Free flyers don't always have
the option of choosing their landing site and must be constantly aware of
their options. Motor pilots get lazy and don't think about when they
should be but, eventually it will quit. One intrepid artist offered
up this reminder of how important that consideration can be. There would
be lots of regret from forgetting to always keep good landing options
available in this situation!.
Thanks to TL Hoke of
Farmington, MN.
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 Pilot
Profile for Mark Dean | Past
Profiles
Jan 14, 2007
from a recently discovered lost archive.
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Mark was born in December,
1955 and took his first solo paramotor flight on May 20, 2001. Here are
his humorous responses to our pilot profile questions.
Weight?
210.
Longest
duration flight? 1hr 37min.@ Parastars 2002 with 73 others.
Longest
distance flight? 12miles.
Family
status (married, kids, dogs, etc.)? married with two chillo's and a
dog that may never fly.
What does
your significant other think of your flying? not much, kind of makes
her sick.
Where did
you first see PPG? Wild bill's web pages - 2get1
What was
your FIRST thought when you heard about or saw PPG? Where do I get
$10,000. dollarettes for my machine?
How did you
find out about it? George of the airways (dubbed "Skynut McFly"),
a fellow flyer and chronic pilot, introduced me via PPC videos.
Who had the
most influence on your flying and how? Eric Dufour made it seem sooo
easy and safe when the beginner rules are followed. During my 8 days of
training in Quebec, he told stories of mishaps and accidents that are
easily avoided, the ones that re-occur if you get complaicent or hyper.
Describe
your first flight including where and when: first flight tandem ride
on May 19, 2001 at St.Jean Chrisostome skydivers airstrip (Quebec,Canada)
I took the control lines and noticed a time lag between pilot input and
glider response - soft steering sort of but that familiar sensation of
moving through the air, only now in 3D instead of HD.
Several tow
runs the next day then my motorized solo flight (end of day 2) was
surreal, the weather perfect, instruction superb (the combination just
doesn't get any better). Forward launch easy inflation with a long run (no
brakes) nice climb to altitude and then all of a sudden it hit me...the
only two things holding my ass up at 500' were these 1/4" D-rings...I
got over that (right) and flew it out.trying to relax - knowing I had made
poot prints on the shorts of time...power off stand up landing, begin new
era.
Describe
your most embarassing moment: Either the fuel out on my 39th flight -
I neglected to consider that when checking for remaining fuel, one
must be level if you're calculating 1" of fuel across the tank to be
a litre...or...attempting launch in an unexpected gust front - fortunately
my fellow flyers noticed this and broke through the logic barrier and my
craving for launch after three failed attempts (very stupid), but
certainly not the full-power face plant in the morning dew of a foot high
hay field.
What do
your friends think of your PPG activities? The new ones think it's
great.
Describe
your most memorable flight? Either flying over 3 bald eagles...or...
not knowing if I could turn downwind because it was really
windy for a pilot of my skill level (25/kph-yeah I know ha ha). The wing
tuck
was up there too.
Your first
motor and wing? SD 48" with a solo 210 modified for power (ARGH)
Adventure wing Elle 34M² in hot pink (would have preferred black at the
time).
Your
current motor and wing (if different): 30 hours (young).
What is
your favorite aspect of paramotoring? Wind in the face with very
little traffic.
Where do
you usually fly? The Maritimes where we make Moosehead and Alpine.
How often
you fly? Not often enough - 45 flights in 20 months, a beginner
forever.
What do you
do for a real job? Property appraiser/land man for the highway effort.
How many
motors and wings have you purchased to date and why? One and one
because I can't get away with another one just yet.
If able,
what would you change about the sport? A local flight park would be
nice but I'll probably settle for an easier way than Stephans to launch
from a snow-covered frozen lake. Then there's the wind-tunnell idea for
training timid newcomers by tethering them to the ground with 6' ropes or
perhaps in-flight fueling, a salmon spear and James Bond attachments like
the JATO on my paramotor but alas, I'm sure someone has already thought of
those things and it humbles me to fly just as it is. |
Comments
on how you acquired your gear: After
considerable shopping for the product, I found an experienced instructor
and took his advice from A to Z, in spite of my wants for electric start,
clutch drive, etc. I bought new equipment because I wanted to thoroughly
wear it out myself and quiet gear because noise irritates me, and the
rest, well, I just lucked out big time. I knew nothing about the sport and
trusted the guy who did. I also thank the Dukes for their PPG problem
solving flow chart, which I found was a good reference before purchase
(just my opinion :-).
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Now
it's your turn!
We would love to hear from our members and feature your
story here. If you have any pictures of yourself, whether flying or not, please
include them! They may be at work, at home, with the kids, whatever.
Especially interesting are pictures during your childhood.
Copy and paste the questions below, add your text then Send
it to us, along with the pictures. Our readers will enjoy hearing another
delight in flight.
Name, Age, Weight: Your text
Started flying when? Your text
Family status (married, kids, dogs, etc.)? Your text
Where did you first see PPG? Your text
How you found out about it? Your text
Who had the most influence on your flying and how? Your text
Describe your first flight including where and when. Your text
Your first motor and wing? Your text
Your current motor and wing (if different): Your text
Where you usually fly? Your text
How often you fly? Your text
What do you do for a real job? Your text
What you like about ppg? Your text
Most memorable flying moment? Your text
Comments on how you acquired your gear. Your text
What type of work pays for your PPG habit? Your text
If able, what would you change about the sport? Your text
If you have an interesting story or pilot profile,
please send it, with pictures, to
theUSPPA@gMail.com |
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