"Starting Out in the sport of paramotoring can be a daunting one, here's a newcomers experiences."

I purchased my first Paramotor in August last year 2001, I saw it advertised in Skywings, it just said it was damaged in need of repair, I initially took an interest in the Ad; because a friend of mine was looking for a Solo engine that he could use in a project he was thinking of doing, I told him about it and he phoned the chap who was selling and got all the details, he then phoned me back and said that he had decided not to bother with the project and why didn't I buy it, as he said it could be a reasonably cheap entry into Paramotoring as the chap was asking a very reasonable price for it, unfortunately I have to do everything on a very tight budget so I had to think for about 5 seconds before I decided to have a go, especially as I had only managed to get fifty hours of hill flying over a five year period and had started to become very disheartened with all the traveling and expense involved with hill flying in this country and abroad, where in the latter I had only managed to get 1 hour and twenty minutes flying in, I thought it might be the right way to go, to be able to take off from a local field seemed a good idea.
I immediately phoned the chap who was selling and discovered that he lived only about 20 miles down the road, I arranged to drive down and have a look, when I arrived the chap pulled it out of his garage to show me, it was a sorry looking sight, the cage was bent, twisted, and broken, all the netting was cut to shreds, and only a small portion of the props; were left on the hub, and the batteries were damaged and dead, it had been layed up in the garage for quite some time apart from that, the engine looked as new and you could see that it had not done many hours, plus the main H frame chassis was as new and undamaged, I asked if it would start and the chap said it wasn't a good idea to start it without props; as it could damage the engine, but just to please me he put some petrol in the carb; and connected his jump leads to the starter from his car and pulled the starter cord, it fired straight away and spun a couple of revolutions before he pressed the kill button to stop it, that was good enough for me, so we haggled a bit and he done me a very good deal and also offered to help with any probs; I may encounter in the rebuilding of it, I loaded it gently into the boot of my car feeling quite excited at the prospect of rebuilding it, when I got it home I immediately set about finding out about where to get a new cage from, I emailed the original manufacturers and they quoted me X amount of pounds for new cage and props; which I thought wasn't too bad, as it was still going to be a lot cheaper than buying a completely new, or even second hand machine.

The next Sunday morning I decided to take it all apart in readiness for when the new cage arrived, once I had stripped everything off I was left with just a twisted broken alloy frame which came apart in 3 sections, just out of curiosity I started to try and straighten it out just by using brute force and a rubber mallet, well before I knew it I had straightened it out pretty good, and was very happy with myself, and confident that all I had to do now was get some alloy tube, bend it to shape and get it welded up and then just respray it, it all seemed so simple, the first obstacle was sourcing the tube after visiting umpteen fabricators locally who all said that tube was hard to come by and that it would be a special order only, after making endless phone calls I ended up driving an 80 mile round trip to a supplier of tube who would only sell me a minimum 4 metre length, I just had to have it, on arriving back home I started on measuring up and cutting to length all the tube that needed replacing, there were five pieces in total all of which had to have a bend in them, I tried unsuccessfully to bend them over my knee and ruined several pieces of tube before I decided to give a plumber mate a ring, he said he would pop in later, when he arrived he soon bent all the pipe I needed in about five minuets on his pipe bender, plus a couple of extras just in case of future accidents, I gave him a drink for his trouble and we were both happy,(I was now glad I had purchased a 4 metre length) I then proceeded to offer the tube up to the frame, I cut some smaller tube inserts to reinforce the joints and was able to temporarily fix them in place ready to be welded, the next obstacle was to find someone who done alloy welding, after umpteen phone calls and visits to different welders I was beginning to give up, one guy wanted as much to do the ten welds that it would cost for a new cage, I was eventually pointed in the right direction by a biker friend who worked in my local electrical store where I was trying to source new batteries, they were a small local firm of steel fabricators who done the job for fifty quid, and what a good job it was, when I got the frame back I rubbed it down and re-sprayed it, two cans of black plasti-coat paint later it looked like a new cage.
I then I had to re-string the cage, trying to source the nylon string used was very difficult, I first purchased some from the local tennis/sports shop and it cost a fortune for only a few metre's, It was when I was in my local electrical store again that I saw replacement strimmer nylon, they had all different sizes and colours and in fifty plus metre lengths, for a fraction of the price I had paid in the tennis shop, trying to re-string that frame was an absolute nightmare, it drove me crazy, trying to follow the plan in the manual provided by the Italian Manufacturer was a joke, after umpteen tries and a lot of swearing, I decided to sit down calmly and try and work out the sequence in the manual by drawing lines from one hole to another and at the same time numbering them as I went, if it didn't work I would just rub it out and start again, after several frustrating hours I finally hit the jackpot, and started to do it for real, that proved easier said than done, as I also had to source some small alloy eyelets that had to be inserted into the frame holes before the nylon went through, after a lot of searching I found that the sleeves of pop rivets was the answer so I had to buy loads of the same size and take each sleeve off the rivet , I was then left with a pile of useless rivets.
I eventually finished stringing the frame and proceeded to put the engine back in, that went in easy, then I had to sort the wiring which was a mess, fortunately the guy I brought it from offered to help, that done, I then had to source fuel line and an inline tap, the fuel line I found in my local motorist discount store, the tap proved more difficult to source, after many trips to motorcycle, motorist discounts stores, garden centre's. Diy store's etc; etc; I eventually purchased one from a local lawn mower repair shop, I also needed an inline primer pump, which also proved to be a nightmare to source, I finally tracked one down at a marine store where they only had a genuine Yamaha part that would fit.

Next up was the battery replacement as the originals were totally kaput, they consisted of nine 2.v CYCLON cells encased in hard plastic, it seemed no one had ever seen, nor heard of them before let alone knew where to purchase them from, I gave up on trying to source them and purchased a smallish 12v 3.2Ah battery from my local modellers shop, I connected it up and made a makeshift holder for it out of a bum bag that I had lying around, it done the job a treat and looked neat and tidy, although the 12v battery turned out to be useless, it whizzed the engine over a couple of times then died, I purchased a bigger Ampage 12v one, still no good, then I wired then together in parallel so I had even more ampage but still only 12v, still no good, I have since realised that the original CYCLON Batt;s were wired in series to make 18volts, I thought about doing this with the other Batts; but my mechanic mate said I could burn out the starter motor, as it was only 12v, so I never did it, I have recently emailed the manufacturer of the paramotor about this and they have said it's OK to use 18 v but only in short 5 second bursts, otherwise it will damage the starter,

Then I needed the props; after trying to source them in this country and being sold some that did not fit and having the expense of sending them back, I emailed the original manufacturer in Italy and asked them to send a set to me ASAP, I said I would pay by credit card online or by phone so as to speed things up a bit, but oh no! They didn't work like that, they said I would have to wire the money to them by bank transfer before they could send them, so after a trip to the bank, filling out all the necessary forms and parting with another largish amount of cash (twenty of which went to the bank for there bit,) I then had to pray they arrive quickly and undamaged, true to there word they arrived one week later in good shape, once fitted I then had to make sure they were set up properly, I found using a piece of plaster board sitting on the bottom of the frame so the blades made a mark as it passed over to be the best method, as I just tightened up the bolts until all the four blades cut though the same mark, that done I was now ready to fire up, which meant a trip to the motorist discount to purchase petrol can and special siphon filter.

I then proceeded across the road to my local garage, "five litres of 4 star love," "that'll be £4 please sir " "What!?" "Since when has petrol been four quid a gallon I asked, "a long time" I was told, course I never usually buy it by the single gallon for the car so I have never really taken much notice as to just how damn expensive it's become, Back home in my back garden I measure out the appropriate measure of oil to petrol and give it a good mix around, before I pour it into the tank through my new funnel filter, next I prime the carb; with the primer pump until petrol drips from the filter, plug cap on, safety switch on, hand on frame with throttle in hand, live switch on, other hand reaches down for pull cord, body braced against frame, pulls cord until props' turn just past top dead centre, and pull hard, engine fire's then stops, I open the throttle a tad more and pull again, this time she fire's up and keeps running , gradually I warm her up and then I brace myself even harder against the frame and gradually I wind her up until the throttle is wide open and and she's purring over beautifully, sounds like a real airplane, plants are waving about frantically as they feel the force of the turbulence from the props; the wife with her hair thrashing about in the turbulence frantically rushes to shut the patio doors, as the stink of fuel is blown into the house, I brace myself even harder against the frame as the thrust is trying to push me over and the gyroscopic affect is making the unit try and take off, I gradually ease of the throttle and bring her back down to tick over, I hit the kill switch, and then silence, "Brilliant " it actually works. I'm happy; all that hassle has been worth it.

Two weeks later after negotiating the use of a couple of fields from a local farmer for a bottle of his favourite Whiskey, plus some very good tuition from a fellow pilot who has been paramotoring for several years, I had my first powered flight, 50 mins; of pure exhilaration, Brilliant,! Flying at over a 1000ft above all that traffic on the A34 just outside Oxford and seeing things around Oxford that I never knew existed, was a really freaky experience and completely different to what I had been used too ridge soaring, I landed with a big smile.

The next day I managed to crash it on T/O and damaged the props' and cage again, more importantly I escaped unhurt, the reason for the crash being I was very tired from the previous days training and was not 100%committed to the take off, half throttle and jumping into the seat to soon is not the way to do it, (running around with Approx; 30 Kg; on your back soon knocks the stuffing out of you, especially on a hot day, so lesson No; one "don't fly when overly tired"
Fortunately I was able to have it all back together in two days, (minus the props;) WHY? Because I had been down that road before so I knew exactly what I had to do, and where to source the parts etc; had I purchased the unit new not knowing about where to source the parts etc; I think I would have been really gutted, but as it was I was quite calm about it, (Although there was mention of packing it all in)

The only daunting thing about the accident was the prospect of having to go through all the hassle and the cost! Of sourcing the props; from abroad again, It was that very thought that made me think about sourcing an alternative way out, I remembered that Whilst on a straining day with a local school I had noticed that one of the paramotors they were using, also with a Solo engine had some very strange looking props fitted, they looked like they were nylon or something, and was told that they are also fitted to Hovercraft.
I had fortunately asked where they had been fitted, so I contacted The Eagle Flight factory and spoke to Eddy Gezy about the prospects of fitting these Props; to my unit, he was very accommodating and made me an offer I couldn't refuse, (as he usually does) he said they would like to try fitting some of these new type of props, which! If they worked would be a lot cheaper to replace in any future mishap, and which could also benefit many other paramotor pilots having the same hassle of sourcing new props; he said if they didn't work it wouldn't cost me a penny, the team at Eagle flight were excellent, and actually picked up the unit from me at the Popham Fly in, then delivered it back to me at the Nats; at Alconbury. (Both excellent venues).

Back from Eagle Flight I am very pleased with the new centre hub and Polypropylene/nylon Props; they have fitted, not only does it look impressive but they seem to have more thrust than the original 4 bladed wooden props; probably because the new props; are pitch adjustable so you can get the Max; thrust set up, the whole assembly including parts/Materials, etc; came to a lot less than what the original props would have cost, and without all the hassle of sourcing them from a foreign country, also they are much stronger,

I have now sourced and fitted new original Cyclon batteries in 18v configuration, and WOW! What a difference, the engine started first go from cold on the electric start, and they seemed to have loads of power in reserve, plus they weigh less than 1.5Kg; compared to the other batts; at 4Kg. And also fit much neater into the unit, I have also recently fitted a 12v Solar panel charger to keep the battery trickle charged all the time, (sourced from my local motorist discount store.)
Because I am forced to do everything on a very tight budget it's been a long, slow, and sometimes frustrating project, but at the same time very rewarding as I have managed to become quite knowledgeable about my machine in the process, which I think is a good thing, because now I am familiar with all the parts and workings of it, I feel safer, confident, and more respectful, of my flying machine, also it's true that self achievement brings happiness, I have also managed to build up quite a few contacts for parts sourcing etc;

I say to anyone thinking of DIYing it to have a go, as it is a good way to learn all about the machine you will be flying, and to find out where to source all the different bits and bobs when things do go wrong.
I would like to say many thanks to Mike-Campbell-Jones, Eddy Gezy, and the engineers at Eagle flight Factory, who did a wonderful job on the Props' and saved me a lot of money and hassle, Also many thanks to Simon Lidbetter a fellow pilot, and the chap whom I purchased the paramotor from, who patiently helped me to sort out several problems, Plus all the other dealers and suppliers whom I have spoken to and whom have given much time, Information, and help on the many technical and parts sourcing problems I've had

John Wheeler
Oxford.
Mem No: 4713