Saturday Jake and Matt B came over and we spent the entire afternoon unboxing, assembling and performing the hang tests for their new Power2Fly EVO 8s. Dimitri stopped by and picked up his new Parajet Maverick. He later assembled it on his own in his apartment in about 20 minutes. Some paramotors come quite a bit more assembled than others obviously.
Sunday we all met at the airport and did the ground portion of the break in process on the Vittorazi Moster 185s. It's a rather lengthy process for these engines. 2 hours of on the ground break in followed by about the same in the sky. It was a bit windy and bumpy so I was the only one that ended up leaving the ground this weekend. Next up for these guys is the fun part of the break in process, the flying!
We also had a third Matt show up at the Madcity Paragliding headquarters to try his hand at kiting the wing. I can tell he will catch on quickly and by flying with us some time soon.  

Just got 2 boxes from Power2Fly in Texas. Inside? Matt and Jake's new Power2Fly EVO 8s. Saturday afternoon we will turning the contents of these boxes in to sweet paramotors!

Last night just before sunset (at least according to the clock, we couldn't see it) Jake made his first flight! A nice breeze was blowing from the southwest which allowed him to be airborne in just a couple steps. Three somewhat awkward laps around the airport and he set it back down gently with just two steps. A short break to warm his fingers and put on my electric gloves and he was back up for his second flight. This one was much smoother and controlled. He has now officially earned his PPG1 rating. Congratulations Jake!! 

Saturday's weather was incredible! 40+ degrees and a mild SW breeze, perfect for flying!! After finishing up the last few training flights with Matt B we made a nice long cross country flight with the other Matt south over the thawing  landscape. 

Thursday and Friday I spent earning my Tow Winch Operator Certification. Maryian and I drove up to frozen Lake Pepin to meet with the USHPA official. We spent the time on the lake taking turns flying and operating the payout winch that was mounted in the back of an old 2wd Ford Ranger. Sometimes it was a bit of a challenge getting the two wheel drive truck rolling on the snow-packed ice but with some gentile accelerator application we eventually did. The winch that was designed and made by our instructor worked flawlessly and we easily hauled free-flyers over 2,000' into the sky in  just a few minutes. We made over 40 tow runs in 2 days. I was pretty tired after making 20+ flights by the end of the 2nd day. I also made my first hang glider flight on Friday. Hang gliding is awesome but I think I'll stick with paragliding, especially after watching the hang gliders spend an hour setting up their kites. 

We fired up the heater in the garage last night and assembled Dave's new TrikeBuggy and paired it with his Thor 200 Parajet. It took about 4 hours to turn a box of parts and a foot launch paramotor in to a powered trike. All that's left to do to get it flying ready is perform the hang test to set the static pitch. Next suitable weather window we expect to get this beauty in the air. 

Inside these boxes is Dave's new Trike Buggy Bullet and his Ozone Roadster 2. Tomorrow we will turn the contents of these boxes into an airplane in just a couple hours of hanger time. Build photos to follow...

I took fellow PPG pilot David and future PPG pilot Brian Ice Climbing at Governor Dodge State Park on Saturday. This is a much more physical way to get off the ground, bitter cold but we all worked up a sweat scaling the beautiful ice curtain.