In
at the Deep End -
by
Clive Eagles
A
Novice eye view of the Foot Launch National Championships 2003.
I visited
the 2002 Nationals at Alconbury, as a non-flyer looking to get intothis
exciting sport, and was hooked. I bought a Fresh Breeze Monster and
2 months later I had got my BMAA rating. As a novice pilot it was a
definite date in my diary to see the 2003 event, again as a spectator,
I had no intention of entering.
I had been studying the Paramotorsuk
website to check up on camping, insurance requirements and time available
for free flying between events. I contacted John Kemp, the event organiser
whose enthusiasm was infectious as he tried to persuade me to enter.
This was just over a week before the event.
John
succeeded in his persuasion and on Friday 23rd May, the day before the
competition, I registered my entry, organised 3rd party insurance (by
joining the BHPA), borrowed an altimeter / vario from a friend (mine
had died the day before, the chip that senses “extreme need”
had kicked in and burnt out). Bought the O/S Landranger map 152 and
hired a caravan to tow to the event.
The weather forecast for the first 2 days was terrible and I wanted
to insure that my precious flying machine had somewhere dry to stay.
Some ground handling before 'Going in at the Deep End'
I
arrived at the site at midnight on Friday, and was pleased to see lots
of tents and caravans on site as the weather was forecast to be so bad.
All was quiet except for one group, The Russians were still eating and
drinking. We introduced ourselves and they gave me a glass of the smoothest
vodka I have ever tasted.
Arial shot of the 2003 Nats taken by Clive
The next
morning was dull and windy (no surprises there then). The tents and
caravans started to deposit there bleary eyed occupants onto the field
and we all proceeded to the control point for the 8am initial briefing
from Richard Meredith Hardy. He then gave us the first task, Pure Navigation,
(the full details of this and all the other tasks are on www.flymicro.com/footnat03/index.cfm.
Unfortunately this was instantly put on hold due to the bad weather,
it was now pouring with rain and the wind was increasing. The rest of
the day was spent working out the best route for the task, if the weather
would let up, dodging the showers, polishing my trusty machine, dodging
the showers chatting to the other competitors & dodging the showers.
Task
1 - Pure Navigation.
Eventually the weather seemed to be drying up and calming down and at
17:45 I was airborne and heading out on my first ever competition task.
Not wishing to over do it on the first go, and as the weather was still
looking decidedly dodgy in the distance, I opted for a short trip only
visiting 3 of the possible 12 turn points. I had planned my final route
at the last minute, which worked out well as the wind changed direction
by about 90 degrees in the half hour before I took off. As I headed
out for the first time over unknown territory I had a feeling of real
propose. I had spent many fun hours flying locally from my home site
and completed a few short cross country flights but this was the first
time I had taken off over unknown territory, and with a mission. We
had to estimate the distance we were going to cover flying to the planned
turn points and hand it in before departure. I noted the colour of an
ornamental archway, the number if skylights in a roof and the number
of tennis courts at a school and headed back to base. It certainly adds
a new dimension to a flight when you are given a predetermined task
to complete.
That was the only task for that day as we were running out of daylight,
but as the weather improved further I, and many of the other competitors
took off for a free flight. I climbed to around 1500ft and took some
photos. Back on the ground, it was time for the serious business of
beer and BBQ. I was invited round to the Bailey
Aviation / Paramotorsuk
camp and was made to feel most welcome by their warm hospitality. This
was not your ordinary camp in a field, this was camping in style with
gas powered BBQs gas patio heater, full on sound system with a video
and DVD projector putting a crystal clear 5ft x 5ft picture onto the
awning wall. The Russians bought round a video of how not to paraglide,
it was enough to put anyone off flying!
Some late evening flying after the days events
Task
2 - Timed Speed Triangle &return with limited fuel.
The following day was an almost exact copy of the day before, but the
weather cleared a little earlier, and I was up and away at 16:49 on
task 2. A timed Speed Triangle plus out and return with limited fuel
(6 Litres). We had to get a declaration sheet sighed by a member of
the public to prove how far we had flown from the deck. As I headed
off towards the first turn point it soon became apparent that this was
not going to be a smooth flight. There were a few breaks in the cloud
and the sun had a chance to create a fair bit of thermal activity. I
am a bit of a wimp when it comes to bumpy air but I decided it was not
too bad and was now distracted and pleased that my Silex wing was rapidly
catching up to the competitor who had taken off in front of me. I had
the trim tabs set to middle position for maximum stability rather than
maximum speed as the air was a little lively. I passed him with a very
smug look on my face, but my smug look turned to surprise as he obviously
adjusted is wing to maximum speed and accelerated away from me. I was
even more surprised when one of the Action wings sailed passed us both
as if we were standing still. I was happy to leave my trim tabs where
they were and bimble on at my own pace. I successfully negotiated the
2 turn points and headed in for my first ever go at kicking a stick.
I was very nervous as I came in low over the tents and caravans, aiming
into wind at the first stick.
Before I had taken off, another competitor had tried to kick a second
bonus stick but misjudged it and landed heavily, breaking his prop and
damaging his cage. A perfect kick first time to stop the clock at 17:37,
a total miss of the second stick so no points but still airborne, a
check of the available fuel with a borrowed mirror showed about 3 litres,
so off for the out and return. I did not want to push too far and run
out of fuel, so after I had passed 3 other pilots on the ground within
a couple of miles of the deck I looked for somewhere to land near some
kind of civilisation. After a large expanse of crop fields I spotted
a farm with a small paddock and set-up my final approach to just clear
the boundary hedge. As I landed I could see a bemused looking farmer
near one of the out buildings. He was very friendly, and only too pleased
to sign my declaration sheet as I explained to him why there was a sudden
plague of parachutes with engines buzzing around this bank holiday weekend.
I thanked him and waved as I took off and headed back to the deck. I
had underestimated the amount of fuel I had and was surprised that I
had only used a little over half of the 6 litres we were allowed.
Task
3 - Fast / Slow
Speed run.
The next task for the day was a Fast / Slow Speed run. I have never
tried to see how fast or slow I can fly so this was going to be interesting,
especially with the added problem of staying below 2 meters in not perfect
conditions. The hardest part of this task turned out to be waiting to
start, circling in a stacking formation with 10 other aircraft and looking
out for your start number on the ground took a lot of concentration.
The task itself was quite straightforward and I used all of the 2 meters
allowed sometimes almost brushing the grass and then over reacting with
the throttle and lurching skyward.
Task
4 - Navigation, Precision and Speed.
RMH gave us the next days task that evening. Task 4 Navigation, Precision
and Speed. I spent most of the evening working out my route before joining
the group for a nightcap.
The next
day dawned with clear blue skies and no wind. Fantastic! I had planned
a slightly more ambitious route taking in 7 of the possible 11 turn
points. 2 of these were higher scoring land out sites. The takeoff window
opened at 07:30 and I wanted to be airborne as soon as possible so that
I would be back before the thermals got too severe. I was up and away
first time for 150 bonus points at 07:47. I climbed to 1500ft in the
smoothest, clearest air you could wish for, what a fantastic adventure
I thought, as I crossed the M1 motorway north of Newport Pagnell. The
first turn point was a land out at a microlight airstrip. It was close
to a river I was now following and as I got close to where I thought
it should be it was still not in view. I was beginning to wonder if
I had got something wrong but then I saw a large friendly looking windsock.
A gentle breeze had now picked up and it was almost straight down the
grass strip that was cut into the field. I set up my final approach
to land on the strip, as the surrounding grass was very long. I knew
that I was the first one to land here as the few other aircraft that
took off before me had gone in the opposite direction. All was quiet
and tranquil as I punched my card, refolded my map for the next leg
of the journey and laid my wing out for a forward launch. Climbing out
I could see 2 other aircraft in the distance heading this way. I crossed
back over the M1 and spotted the next turn point and then headed north
west for the next landing site. This was easy to find as there was a
gaggle of paramotors buzzing around it, landing / taking off and 2 on
the ground. I landed close to the marker and punched my card. I was
laying out my wing when Paul Bailey landed, we said hello but had no
time for a chat. I forward launched up a slight hill closely followed
by Paul.
The next turn point was only a mile or so away and we were both heading
for it. We picked up the clue and I headed west for the next turn point
but was surprised to see that Paul was heading south towards home. I
saw him take off only a few minutes before me, so my first thought was
that it was a bit early to be heading home. I checked the time and was
shocked to see that I had less than 45 minutes to get back to base before
I loose 50% of my points because of the time penalty. I had been enjoying
the last 1hour 45 minutes so much I had not noticed the time. The problem
was that I had refolded my map for the next turn point and not home.
I spotted a road and railway that seemed to be heading in the direction
I wanted, so I followed them while I attempted to remove and refold
my map. This proved to be a very interesting exercise in increasingly
bumpy air. I managed to wrestle the map back in to its transparent pocket,
it now showed home but not were I was now. I was totally lost, a check
of the compass showed I was heading north, It must be wrong, my sense
of direction is normally very good, I could not be heading 180 degrees
in the wrong direction, no the compass is defiantly faulty. I scanned
the horizon looking for landmarks, and at about the same time I noticed
that the sun was in the wrong place, I saw a distinctive building in
Milton Keynes that I had seen before. It was now incredibly small but
proved finally that I was wrong and my compass was right. Note to self,
get sense of direction re-calibrated. I was now heading in generally
the right direction but was still off the map and lost. I followed a
road guessing that it was the A508. It was no good, I have to land to
get my exact position. I spotted a field near some houses and a junction
to the road and came in for a landing. I was about 50 ft from the ground
when I saw a road sign for the junction, which confirmed that this was
the right road. Full power on, back up to 1000ft cruise altitude, relaxed
and enjoy the rest of the flight back, I could still even make the 2hour
30 minute cut off time.
When I arrived back at the field there was a queue of aircraft waiting
to land for the final part of this task, the spot landing. This was
going to make me late landing but I could not push in so I waited my
turn. As the pilot in front cleared the landing target I switched my
engine off at about 600 ft and aimed at the bull’s-eye. As I came
in for my final approach I was on target for a reasonable score. I was
a little high but then hit sink, excellent I thought, but it was a pity
I didn’t think, “break” as I hit the ground still
moving forward very fast. I slipped unceremoniously onto my backside
and stopped in a heap in front of a guy with a video camera. That was
by far the worse landing I have ever done, which was a pity as it was
the first one I have ever been jugged on, and in full view of a crowd
and on video. I didn’t mind too much as no damage was done, and
it had been a fantastic flight, the longest I have ever done, 35 miles
covered in just over 2.5 hours with 2 land outs. I found out later that
at least one of the other aircraft that I had to wait for when landing
was not competing. He was just practicing so RMH let me off the time
penalty as I was so close, what a nice man!
Task
5 - Pure Economy
W ith 2 litres of fuel. I was fairly confident that I could do well
at this one, as my Fresh Breeze Monster is pretty fuel-efficient. The
task window opened at 13:45 and most of the competitors took off within
an hour of this to make use of the now very thermic conditions. It was
amazing to see some of the competitors, almost out of view at many thousands
of feet being dwarfed under massive clouds. As a fan of ultra smooth
air, I decided to wait until things settled down a bit and rely on my
economic engine. The task window was open till 18:00. My planned takeoff
time got later and later as many competitors came down saying that it
was very bumpy. I eventually took off at 17:05 and looked for smooth
rising air, for me “smooth” being the operative word. It
was not too lively by now and I managed to find small pockets of lift
and stayed aloft for 39 mins.
Task
6 - Economy & Distance With A Short Take Off
I
have never tried to clear and obstacle close to take off before, so
I got the brave ribbon holders to stand were I thought I could clear
the 2 meters in a normal takeoff. RHM in his write-up of the event says
I was lucky to get the shortest takeoff of the whole competition. He
was probably right, but it must also have had something to do with the
310cc monster on my back giving 72kg of thrust! There is no substitute
for “cubes” as the yanks would say! The next part of the
task was the most amazing FUN! It was basically flying low around a
racetrack, completing as many laps as possible with 2 litres of fuel
and landing in a 50m square box. What an incredible way to end the competition,
skimming the hedgerows in close proximity to other aircraft, bouncing
around in wake turbulence but with extremely high levels of airmanship
demonstrated by all participants, particularly when slower aircraft
moved wide to let faster ones through.
What a fantastic weekend, why don’t more people
enter? Numbers were about the same as last year but a little lower than
expected. This was probably due to the terrible weather forecast but
yet again RMH managed to organise the impossible, 4 consecutive days
of flying in the UK.
My biggest fear was that I would push myself too far
and feel pressured into flying in conditions that I would not normally
fly. This was never the case and safety was always top of the list when
RMH was setting the tasks and opening the task windows. The hard work
that he puts into organising this event is evident it the ingenuity
of the tasks set, and his unending enthusiasm, even when competitors
are disagreeing with the results, is an inspiration to us all.
What a
great crowd of people, I would just like to say thank you to few people
who made the Nationals such a fantastic and memorable weekend for me.
(In no particular order)
Andy Dunlop, Paul Bailey, Geoff Soden, John Kemp, Rob & Jansy
Kelly, Kevin Taylor, Karl Hinzer & David Higgs.
What a friendly group and a credit to the sport, but everyone was incredibly
supportive, you forgot that you are competing against others as they
are always willing to help. It was hard to believe that most of them
were total strangers to me before this event. My flying skills and knowledge
have improved 10 fold over those 4 days and I met some fantastic people.
Every one who flies a paramotor should enter this competition.
Clive
Eagles
