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[Article
No.20]
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 Flying
over the 'Siberia' of Scotland -
by Steve Wright
Reading
Geoff Hall's last article got me in mind of a flight I'd made three
days earlier (Jan 6th). The sky was bright blue and cloudless, and we'd
had Wrapped up & ready! The
thermometer read -6ºC at 10.30 am, and my wind indicator
(an old 16' telescopic fishing pole with some fine ribbon dangling off
the end) showed hardly a breath of wind coming from the West. Well,
I'd been perusing the map the previous evening, more than anything to
calculate how far I might be able to chance going out and back in more
or less a straight line, and I'd decided to go for a look at the old
derelict hunting lodges of Blackwater and Glenfiddich. One thing was
sure, I needed to be wrapped up warm! Being out doors a lot when not
flying anyway, I decided to put on my old ski pants on top of the obligatory
Lifa thermals, and an extra fleece under the top, windproof one I normally
fly in. I wear a thickish balaclava under my helmet also, which really
keeps one warm, but you have to remember to put your ear-plugs in first,
and the sun - or sky- glasses last of all to avoid being totally misted
up before take-off! Thinsulate-lined boots & gloves completed my
garb.
I
spotted a few packs of red grouse, one of which had a peregrine falcon
and a buzzard in attendance close by, looking for any weak bird in the
pack to harry and eventually pick off. Both the raptors were a little
non-plussed at the arrival on the scene of this big red soaring bird
though, and sloped off to hillsides new! A
cold Glenfiddich scene. It certainly was funny to look back a few paces in the field once I'd landed, to see three or four long boot strides just appearing in the snow from nowhere - I wonder what the "trackers" would make of that?! Considering the changes in direction I'd made, and moving from sunshine to hill shadow, the whole trip had been made in what seemed to me to be completely calm conditions - either that or I was so engrossed with wildlife spotting that I didn't notice any rough air! I think the PowerPlay wing is superbly stable too though, which certainly helps.
Ah well, it's been blowing a gale here the last few days (tiles-coming-off-the-roof-type-gales!), and my prop is now ready for varnishing (thanks PMUK for the useful prop repair & balancing articles!!). I wonder what the weekend will bring for weather? Heading for the high pass and home!
Happy flying! MOTOR:
Vortex with Cors Air Motor |
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If you
have your own story to tell, maybe that first flight, training escapades,
or anything paramotoring/paramotors related then we would love to hear
about them.
Email to: geoff@paramotorsuk.co.uk
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certainly
the sharpest frost of the year (till Monday evening, when it went down
to the minus teens!). My take-off field is a few hundred yards from
my house, so having studied the wind, and noted an almost total lack
of same, I grabbed my kit, put all aboard my quad for the short journey
up to the take-off field, and got my woollies on!.
At
cruising speed the Cors Air motor makes surprisingly little noise,
and with 3" of snow covering the ground spotting the deer and wildlife
was going to be easy today! Shortly after traversing the first hill
range I came on over a parcel of about 20-25 red deer (photo
right), with a one-antlered stag among them. They were very
calm, so I dropped the motor revs down to almost idle and went in for
a closer look. only once I got to be right above them did they start
to bunch up and wander off. Zig-zagging back over the hill I came upon
another five or six families of roe deer, all out on the snow covered
heather hills. A little farther on the way and I flew over a group of
around 6-8 blackgame, cousins of the red grouse (as seen on the telly),
which have a distinctively slower wing-beat than their more "Famous"
cousin. Shortly after that I spotted a Hen harrier quatering the hillside
in search of prey far below me. Being a fairly uncommon species (though
they are seen on the Cabrach almost every day), I tried to get a pic.
of it in my camcorder, but as is too often the case, it shows up in
my film as a small dark speck floating across the hillside. Still, nice
to have seen it!
A
little farther on and I crossed over the lower part of the land below
me, the upper reaches of our local river, the Deveron. From above one
really gets an impression of how it meanders through the valley floor.
I
was soon climbing again to gain a safe height over the next range of
hills, which took me into view of Blackwater Lodge (photo
right). It's pretty inaccessible from the ground, but by
air was a different matter! Last used as a hunting lodge in the late
sixties, it is still in surprisingly good order and looked to be wind
and watertight from above at any rate, which is not any more the case
with Glenfiddich Lodge, the roof of which is showing signs of falling
in. 
Returning home I was concentrating on my most direct route and altitude
(to get over the last hill range) and back to my flying field; however,
I have come to realise afterwards that putting down somewhere else would
not have been such a big deal anyway. In the interim, I've been compiling
a note of all the various petrol stations dotted around 
On arriving back and checking things over (about 1litre of fuel left,
it transpired, the slightest air was from behind me on the return leg),
I noticed a bit of a slight "tatter" to the tips of my prop,
one noticeably larger than the other; I was mystified as to what could
have happened, until I went to pack up my canopy, and found that the
magnetic popper stud on my right hand control line was gone! On take-offs,
I normally hang on to the brake handles just until I'm airborne and
then let them go to free my hands for getting into my seat; the handle
must have got sucked toward the prop at full-climb, and the popper stud
took the hit. Note to self: Control the post-take-off ascent speed,
don't just go for max. power after getting off the ground!