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No.35]
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I contacted Geoff Soden and explained my situation as a new pilot and he invited me to fly at Alconbury the following Saturday. I arrived at Alconbury early on Saturday 19th October and received a very warm welcome from Geoff right from the start. I did some ground handling to test my wing out for the first time and to refresh myself in the art, but then the wind picked up and any flying was out of the question. Even though we were not flying, Geoff’s hospitality was extremely good and by late afternoon all the regular pilots started to arrive for the evenings flying. Once things had calmed down and there were other pilots in the air I set-up my equipment and checked it over and over again. I set-up for a forward launch and Geoff stood out in front of me keeping an eye out for any problems. Off I went with a perfect forward launch and had an uneventful flight over the Alconbury site for about 20 minutes, then landed and packed up. It was quite a relief to have got that first flight on my own equipment out of the way without the instructor telling me what to do and when. I’ve not been back to Alconbury since that first flight because of the distance, but I will have to make the effort some time, as they really were a nice bunch of people.
Over the last year I have clocked up 21 flights and just over 11.5 hours of airtime. All these flight have been from my local Microlight site and I have never ventured any more than about 8 miles from takeoff. My longest flight so far is 1 hour 32 minutes, covering just over 30 miles, and my fastest maximum speed so far is 44.7 mph. The highest that I’ve flown so far is 1,420 feet AMSL as I am restricted to 1500 feet in my area, and I usually cruse at about 1,000 feet. I don’t find as much time to fly as I would like due to family commitments, and then there is the weather of course, but all in all Paramotoring is a great hobby and I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. I have been very pleased and impressed with my equipment and feel it is a great privilege every time I fly. Over the next twelve months I’d like to increase my flying hours and also do some XC flying, as well as flying in some different locations. I’d also like to fly a bit higher some time just for the experience.
I’m still learning with every flight and will probably still be learning when I take my last. Pictures were taken using a Canon Ixus 400 digital camera.
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eight-day
training
course for beginners with Paramotoring LTD,
who were based in Winchester (I say were because they seem to have disappeared
now). The weather was perfect on seven
days out of the eight and I progressed through
ground handling, free flight and then motorised flight gradually but
purposefully over the duration
of the course. All in all I was very happy with the course and came
away feeling confident that I could go home and fly on my own.
It
took me about 4-6 weeks to finally decide what equipment I was going
to buy, and chose to purchase the same equipment that I used on the
training course, and from the same company. The equipment was delivered
to my door within a couple of days so I was finally ready to fly.
