Syvrud airfield is cleared and ready to use after considerable effort. The last few storms dumped quite a bit of snow and essentially shut down the airport for all but foot launch flying. Now all the guys with wheels can get out and fly too!

While the storm raged on outside, Steve and I sat with Todd in his shop fantasizing about the nicer flying weather to come. Steve’s paramotor is nearly 100 percent back together and ready to fly. The motor has been freshly rebuilt at the Minari factory and a new coat of paint was applied to the frame at a friend ‘s body shop. Just one last part coming from California and this beautiful machine will be flying again.
Todd’s shop also happens to contain a motorhead’s dream, about 20 classic cars! I could have spent all day admiring the relics but I had some projects waiting for me in the hanger. So, back into the storm and back to the airport where I installed a new pilot seat on the tandem. The tests revealed that the pilot would end up leaning against the passenger during flight. This new backrest will remedy this issue.
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Saturday I was supposed to take a group of adventures ice climbing with my friend Phil. Unfortunately the warm weather has kept the ice from forming this year, instead it remains a beautiful waterfall. Lovely to look at but it won’t work for climbing.
Fortunatly Phil is the adventure coordinator at a nearby camp and has access to a zipline and ropes course. That was plenty of thrill to satisfy the group. Just for fun we also set up a rappel route to be sure everyone got enough adrenaline for the day.
Everone left feeling proud of their accomplishments, success!

Del had they day off Thursday so we decided to get together and have some fun. He and I spent about an hour flying around the area exploring. I enjoyed several nice long footdrags on some of the many ponds in the area. The black ice was fast and smooth. That will probably change with the snow coming Friday.
I also took advantage of the calm conditions today by taking the tandem up for its first test flight. Nice throttle response, reliable idle, relatively quiet, and it starts predictably. All in all, great! Just a few small modifications to enhance passenger comfort and it’ll be ready for regular training use.
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Mike S made great progress at the Elver Park sledding hill Sunday. He made several short flights down the slope gaining confidence and skill with each pass. Soon he will be flying his own machine.
Also did some net repair to the Moster 185+ Miniplane. Seems the ATLs (Anti-Torque Lamels) were destroying the threads. Oh well, they don’t seem to be needed on the Miniplane as it’s pretty well setup from the beginning to cancel the torque produced by the powerful 185cc engine. The ATLs are a nice idea but a probably better suited for a more robust net than the lightweight net on the Miniplane.

Mariyan and I tried out a new airfield today. This is Joel’s private field just west of Sauk City. Joel has a really nice setup there with two runways separated by a lovely little creek. The creek can be crossed by zipline if you are brave enough to risk a plung in the icy water below.
Joel and his friend Joe met us at the field for a little paramotor demonstration flying. Joe is already an airplane pilot and he flew his bush plane to the field to meet us instead of driving, must be nice. Joe is really interested in taking up paragliding although he’s not decided if powered or unpowered will be his thing. Either way you can’t go wrong, both are awesome!!

South Milwaukee’s Bender Park was in prime form Sunday. Strong winds blowing in smoothly off of Lake Michigan made for incredible soaring. Winds from the east doesn’t happen very often and the rare conditions brought out paragliders from all over. Besides the Madison group they were guys from Milwaukee and Chicago and everywhere in between.Jaro and Kuri from Chicago Paragliding brought a contingency of guys. We all flew as much as we possibly could. I myself got about three hours in the sky before succumbing to the cold.
Saturday I met Brent in Oconomowoc for an orientation. The winds were a bit strong but we still had a chance to play with the wing and the motor. He really seem to enjoy it and I think he’s hooked.
Saturday afternoon I met a couple guys in Sauk City for some towing. Matt actually brought out his speed wing for some high speed towing. This little wing climbs about as fast as a regular wing but it comes down insanely fast!

Lenin completed his training today and officially earned his USHPA P2 rating! He had just 4 flights left so we took our time and had fun with them. Conditions were wonderful, relatively warm and sunny. Hopefully we can get some more flying in before he returns to his home in Ecuador in a couple weeks. Congratulations Lenin!

Mike and Ken discovered a new place to fly in Delivan. They put on quite a show. They even had the local law enforcement officers show up to observe. Both officers thought it was awesome!
The tandem trike is now at the hanger and nearly ready to go. Still waiting on a couple parts to arrive. The motor is running great after a few minor repairs.
My new license plate arrive from the DMV. My attempt at subliminal advertising, hoping that everyone who sees it will suddenly want to fly.

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