May, 2013 | Powered Paragliding Ontario

May 7/13 – Pat, Paul and Bob PPG course – day 4 – am – Bob lost shoe in flight!

May 7, 2013/in Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

Incredible and calm morning. Pat managed 4 more flights and is now setting up, taking off and landing on his own. Bob did 3 flights and on the last one his shoe came off mid air. These guys are really trying to entertain. I am just waiting for someone’s pants to fly off… We did more triking practice with Paul – he is getting better. Once finished we went to Peaks to balance the Walkerjet trike for Paul. He may solo soon.

Paul setting up

Bob landing – this is flight number two. I know because he has both shoes on!

The lost shoe…

Students at the end of the session

May 6/13 – Pat, Paul and Bob PPG course – day 3 – pm – Bob kicked the prop!

May 7, 2013/in Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

Nice evening. Pretty much ideal conditions. Pat put up his super tall wind sock and it looked like it was very windy. So we waited. Then I realized that there is hardly any wind on the ground and we started to fly. Pat quickly dispatched 3 flights. He is taking off and landing on his own. Bob on the other hand had very nice first flight and on his second take off run managed to kick his foot back and up and into the cage in such a way that his heal has touched the prop. He must be triple jointed! I have never seen anything like this in 15 years of PPG. Bob’s heel was fine, just bruised up a bit but the prop was cracked – write off. I normally have spare in trailer but not this time so that was it for Bob.

Paul was working on his trike inflations and taxing, this time using the electric start Walkerjet. It is goind slow I must say.

Soo so far we had engine out. 50 % collapse and kick in the prop. I do not know what is going to happen next. Paul did not do anything yet, is it his turn? We will see tomorrow…

This is Pat’s flight pattern

Pat in Walkerjet start

May 6/13 – Pat, Paul and Bob PPG course – day 3 – am – Pat run out of fuel!

May 6, 2013/in Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

Started at 7 am. Good conditions. Pat and Bob both got into the air very quickly meanwhile I was working with Paul who was learning how to trike. It was a morning of technical issues. First, one of the radio helmets stopped working, then the paramotor Paul had on trike started to act up. I had to pull the start cord so many times that my right shoulder is out to lunch now. Bob and Pat were having great time and pretty long flights. Till Pat radioed in that he landed on the very south end of the runway. I was wondering what happened but he simply run out of fuel. Not a big deal in PPG – he made nice and soft landing and I picked him up with my car. Bobs flights were nice and uneventful.

Congrats Bob anf Pat on two more flights.

We got our gear everywhere…

I do not see any fuel…

Paul with trike

Pat after forced lending

At the end of today’s am session

May 5/13 – Pat, Paul and Bob PPG course – day 2 – pm – Bob first solo flight!

May 6, 2013/in Training/by Andre Zeman

We were supposed to get together at 4 pm but the forecast was for gusty winds till 7 pm. So we changed the plan and got together at 6 pm. It was still too gusty too fly but OK to ground handle. Bob got it down, Paul is almost there. Pat does not need to round handle, he is 100 % on kiting.

We had few visitors that came to the field to check this out. Eric and Harry + his 2 friends. I went for quick flight to show them but it was very gusty, I had to come down on big ears and I almost landed on my ass. That does not happen often.

We waited till the sun set then Bob flew for the first time. Very nicely done! got off the ground on first try, flew for about 15 min and he landed very well too. Pat also took off, but we are having hard time communicating so not much guidance from me during his flight. He is using his helmet and radios and this may be the problem. We will try my helmet set up tomorrow. Both guys landed when it was almost dark.

Congrats Bob on your first paramotor flight!

May 5/13 – Pat, Paul and Bob course – day 2 – am – Pat flight number 2

May 5, 2013/in Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

This morning wind was light and variable. Paul was forward inflating Cima K 2 M and Bob Fides 2 size XS. Pat tried to forward inflate his glider but I could tell it was very difficult nearly impossible. I gave him my Cima L and now it was piece of cake. Pat got another flight in but forgot to trim glider to safe position and in active air near ground got 50 % asymmetrical at about 50 ft off the ground. The Cima K 2 re-inflated instantly and Pat made uneventful landing. Bob will fly soon. Paul hes got a way to go…

I did not take any pics so here is video from my yesterday’s kiting demo.

Andre – kiting demo

May 4/13 – Bob, Paul and Pat start their PPG course – Pat first solo flight!

May 4, 2013/in Training, Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

Ground school completed by 2 pm. Then off to the field. Gusty conditions but ground handles regardless. Pat purchased his own glider while back and practiced kiting on his own so he was pretty much ready to fly. Bob and Paul progressed at normal speed. At 7 pm wind came down. I flew for “air check” and shortly after, Pat took off for his first solo flight. Good take off, good flight and decent landing. Congrats Pat on your first solo flight!

From left to right: Paul, Pat and Bob

Pat in simulator

Bob in simulator

Pat and his new Kangook with Moster engine.

Practice powered runs…

Students getting ready to practice powered runs.

Pat flight number 1

Pat flight number 1 – landing

May 3/13 – This is way too cool…

May 3, 2013/in Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

May 1/13 – Andre needs some time off too…

May 1, 2013/in Uncategorized/by Andre Zeman

I have added this page:

http://www.poweredparaglidingontario.ca/when-i-am-not-available/

I will post days when I will not be available for PPG training. I need some time off once in a while so I can re-energize…

May 1/13 – Mark 2 flights, Darren 4 flights

May 1, 2013/in Training/by Andre Zeman

Started at 4:30 pm. Winds bit gusty. Ground handled for a while. Darren has ground handling down pat. Mark needs some minor tweaking. At 5:30 I jump in for quick flight to make sure air is not too turbulent. It feels OK so Darren gets ready and quickly dispatches 4 flights. He always need to leave at 7 pm so it cuts our window of training opportunity short. Mark is ready too. We try, and on third inflation attempt he is in the air. Unfortunately he does not manage to get into the seat so he just hangs in the harness upright – very uncomfortable – so we kand quickly. After short break he goes up again. This time, we get his lag straps extra tight. Again nice take off, no problem getting into the seat and then he cruises for good 25 min. Both landings were OK. First one, Mark pretty much landed on his knees – it was extremely soft landing so it did not matter – and on the second he ended up on one knee. Well done, Mark, CONGRATS on you first two solo flights!