After a nights frost the day was beautiful, clear blue sky with a light westerly wind, lovely flyable day, because the wife had made other arrangements and no other pilots I knew had shown an interest I decided reluctantly to go fly alone, not something I normally do, and something I’m told not to do, Trouble is! I find it very difficult to locate any fellow pilots locally to fly with, as I only know a couple of pilots in the Oxford area, one is still training, one lives in America most of the time, and the others I know live miles away and either don’t seem to share my enthusiasm or have work commitments, and fly only rarely, so if I stick rigidly to that rule I will probably not fly very much, if at all, anyway on this occasion I decided to take the chance.

I arrived just before lunch to see three other Paramotors flying over my site at about 2000 feet, (don’t know who they were or where they came from,) this got me excited and started my heart pumping with anticipation, I must get up there with them, I hurriedly unpacked my kit at the far corner of my field, because of the wind direction I was going to have to T/O towards some Pylons approximately three big fields away but which looked a lot closer, I had never taken off in this direction before? But with the wind as it was I should be up and away before I got even close? (“He bravely tells himself” “I should have went to my other field” an element of doubt had already started to creep in) I hurriedly went through a pre-flight of the canopy and motor unit, but because my Paramotor had been working perfectly on my previous flights two weeks earlier, plus my eagerness to get up with those other guys, I did not check it as closely as I should have.

Anyway I primed the engine and pulled the cord, nothing, pulled again, and again, nothing, “Oh! No, Not again please! What is the matter now”? Primed a bit more and pulled again, it started, and I began the warm up process, after a few mins; it stopped, so I pulled the cord a few more times, still wouldn't start, I primed it again, this time giving it a real good pumping until the petrol was running out of the filter. I then pulled a few more times and it started, ran for a few more mins and stopped, out came the tool kit, again! It seemed like fuel starvation so I decided to check the filter in the carb; that was clear, so I screwed the plate back on, I checked around quickly, the spark plug cap was fitted OK, kill switch was on, wiring looked OK, petrol was getting through when I primed it, what could be wrong? So Again, I primed and pulled, it started, great I’ve cured it, although I didn’t know how, I kept it running for a few mins; then stopped it so I could prepare myself for Take off, helmet on, gloves on. Vario on, canopy laid out OK, risers left over right and one full turn to the right ready to clip in, Right! Pulled the cord, no start, pulled the cord again, no start, primed again, started after a few more pulls, I bent down and wriggled into the harness, I leant forward to get up and the engine stopped. So I unstrap and go through the procedure several more times until the sweat is pouring down my face, I’m beginning to feel totally peed off, I go and stand next to my car to calm down, I look up and can see the other Paramotors way off in the distance and they look like they are landing, I notice a lot of cloud coming in from the west, just as the forecasters said it would, Mmmm? maybe they landed because it was getting to rough up there,Mmmm? Maybe time to head home?

With noone to consult with I was starting to have my doubts, the wind was coming through a bit gusty at times blowing the canopy about tangling all the lines, I walked back over to my Paramotor and calmly proceeded to have another go at at least getting it to run right, I went though all the procedures again, but as soon as I bent over to get up the engine would stop, Hold on! I had this problem once before, so I went though the procedure of trying to adjust the main jet and the tick over adjustments until the engine ran perfectly, trouble was that when I leaned it forwards the revs; would drop and would be only just ticking over and would have stopped had I not up-righted it quickly, I just couldn’t understand why anything should be wrong, because it had been working perfectly OK two weeks Previously and no one had touched my unit whilst it had been sat in my conservatory since then.

It was now three hours later and the sky was getting cloudier and the wind stronger, the conditions seemed daunting and those Pylons three fields away looked ever closer, was it worth it? It was then I remembered the words “IF IN DOUBT? DON’T” I lent against my car with my head in my hands feeling sorry for myself and wondering why this shit keeps happening to me every time I get to my T/O field, maybe the field were jinxed or something, or maybe this was gods way of saying “you gotta problem son,” ya ain’t gonna make those Pylons boy?” I don’t know? But whatever it was it was certainly making me question my enthusiasm for taking off, the sky by now was looking really iffy and in the end the worry and the frustration got the better of me and I decided to call it a day.

I had no sooner started packing the kit away, when the mobile rang, it was a fellow pilot who live thirty miles away, asking me how It was, (“do you really want to know?”) I told him anyway, it was while I stood their Blubbin, that as I glanced down at the base of my Paramotor, I noticed! the cause of the problem, There! Behind the harness which was now pulled up ready for loading into the car, and now exposing the rear of the fuel tank, was a kinked and twisted fuel pipe, but it was kinked in such a way that unless you were looking at it from a certain angle with the harness out of the way you would not have noticed it, even though the fuel line was only a few months old, the tubing had become very hard and brittle (PVC tube goes hard and becomes brittle when exposed to Unleaded petrol for a period of time even the clear re-inforced type), and where my harness had been pushed against it, it had been twisted and kinked and had set rigid in that position and was thus restricting the natural flow of fuel to the carb.

Would you believe it? A simple thing like that could cause three hours of anger/ frustration, and lost flying time, it was my own fault though, as I had been told several times by other pilots about what happens to this type of cheap fuel line, and that I should get proper dedicated fuel line of the Polyurethane type that doesn’t go stiff or brittle, in actual fact, I myself had previously recommended to other pilots a company called Tygon that manufacture this type of tube, but because the company would only sell it to me in twenty five metre rolls, and the fact that I have to do this sport on a very tight budget all the time, I thought I was clever when I found I could buy this other type of clear tubing from my local lawn mower shop for just a few pence a metre, because it was so cheap I thought that even if it doesn’t last long it would be just so easy and cheap to replace it as and when necessary, unfortunately, life isn’t that simple, and SODS LAW would once again teach me a lesson, what I didn’t realise was just how quickly some plastics can degrade when they come into contact with petrol, and other elements, I should have taken more notice of the advice given by my fellow more experienced pilots.

On reflection, I would say “NEVER”, skimp on things that your life may depend on, especially on flying machines, the more I get into Paramotoring the more I’m beginning to realise that you can’t get a Rolls Royce for Morris Minor money.

IF IN DOUBT? DON’T ! FLY if you feel apprehensive or worried about anything.

If you have a problem with any of your kit, Try to stay calm, take a rest, then re-approach the problem in a positive, methodical manner, try to look at everything very closely and slowly, never rush things just to try and get up there quickly. (Like I was doing)

I have now found a local source of this special tubing and will be replacing all of my fuel tube with it ASAP.

MOTTO:- 'Act like a pheasant. Keep ya head down'

J.W. Oxford. BHPA Mem: No. 4713. Email: Av8er@lineone.net

Tygon Tubing (Does not harden or degrade with unleaded petrol):
5mm & 6mm I.D sold per metre. Call for prices.
Tel: Andy 07885 068084 Email: andy@paramotorsuk.co.uk