I've always wanted to fly. As far back as I remember I've dreamed of owning a plane or microlight and soaring over the landscape keeping the birds company. Unfortunately the cost has always put me off, as has the hassle of getting and then keeping a Private Pilots License.

A self-build plane seemed a possibility, since they can be self-maintained, but it was still a hell of a lot of money and I was unsure I'd have the patience to build it. Living in a small terraced house meant renting space somewhere to build the thing, and then needing somewhere to store it once built too.

Having tried s.c.a.d. diving (A bit like bungee jumping but without a bungee) I thought perhaps free-fall parachuting might be fun so I started to look into that. Unfortunately, being a little heavier than Kylie Minogue (not as cute either) it appeared I was over the weight limit to do an accelerated free-fall course so that idea went out of the window too.

I resigned myself to staying on the ground after that so I went back to one of my old loves. I've been riding bikes on and off for most of my life, but never got round to getting a full license. These things never seem that important as a teenager, but I've left youth behind now and decided a license and some insurance were a good idea. I've been back on the road on two wheels for about three years now and it's great, but the wish to get in the air didn't go away.

Then a couple of months ago, I followed a link in the uk.rec.motorcycles newsgroup and ended up on this website purely by accident. After 10 minutes looking around it finally dawned on me that I'd come across a form of relatively cheap, unlicensed flying. A few hours of intense web browsing convinced me that I could get a wing to suit my weight, strap an engine on my back and finally get up there.
I rang Geoff at Paramotorsuk to get a few ideas on what I should be buying. He gave me some pointers and invited me to the Paramotorsuk base near Alconbury to take a look.

After a thoroughly pleasant Saturday looking at some of the equipment, talking to some of the people there and watching them fly I was hooked. I was finally going to do it. Now all I needed was to buy the gear. Simple right? - Nope.

There's a surprising amount of stuff out there when you start looking, both new and secondhand. I'd pretty much decided to go with Geoff’s recommendation of an XL Trekking Parawing as it was said to be very stable, reasonably fast, and designed with powered paragliding in mind, but I was much less certain about what motor to buy. It obviously wasn't going to be a Top 80 or any of the other small capacity engines out there if I wanted to get off the ground. The Bailey JPX looked gorgeous, rather like a mini-BMW bike engine with its horizontally opposed cylinders but it wasn't cheap and I was on a budget so I started looking at both Fly Products and Fly Castelluccio paramotors.
I finally decided on the G24 engined Fly Products Gold 130, which has a claimed static thrust of 80 Kg. - more than enough for even my immense bulk. I arranged a bank transfer direct to the factory as this was the cheapest way to purchase the motor, although more long-winded than buying from a uk distributor. For a private purchaser, tax is paid in Italy and being part of the E.U. there is then no import duty to the UK.

A good looker as well as a good performer.

This is where I stand at the moment. The Trekking Parawing is sitting in the lounge, still to be unwrapped and the motor is being delivered very soon, so weather and Geoff’s training schedule permitting, I'm nearly ready to go!

See you in the skies soon!

Stuart Barnes

PARAMOTOR: Fly Products Gold 130
WING: Trekking Parawing (XL)

Paramotor manufacturers Website: http://www.flyproducts.com
Wing manufacturers Website: http://www.trekking.fr/