The weather has been exciting this week. Unfortunately that has meant almost no flying. However, that means it’s time to rock out the ground school.
Reon, Josh, Robert and Peter all spent time in the classroom and/or the simulator this week. Reon prepared for and passed the PPG2 written test. Robert prepared for and aced the PPG1 written test. Now all we need is some nice weather!
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Spring weather sure is dramatic! However, it looks like there should be flyable conditions Saturday afternoon.
The thought now is to pull paraglider pilots with the winch on Fen Road (located a mile south of the field) starting after noon as soon as the weather permits. Paramotor pilots will likely take to the skies later in the day from the airfield on highway 60. Feel free to arrive anytime you’d like and please stage off the runways. I plan to have a fire going most of the day for warmth. If we get as much rain as predicted the property will likely be muddy. So, please use caution when moving around the field to avoid damaging the runways Please feel free to contact Mariyan or myself with any questions. - Paul Monday we were gifted with perfect weather for learning to kite a paraglider wing. This was our first chance to get the wings out and play with them since Robert began his training last week. Spring weather is challenging as I’ve said many times before. We spent about three hours going over reverse and forward launches, turning while kiting, keeping the wing overhead and much more. Eventually our stomachs told us it was time to stop having fun with the wing and eat. Unfortunately, while we were chasing food the winds built to an unmanageable level. We then switched to a bit of indoor training before calling it a day. Next for Robert is a day at the sledding hill!
Great flying weather the last couple days allowed us to get a lot done. Highlights include;
Jeff from Chicago and Brent from Milwaukee both made there first flights Saturday morning at the park by Oconomowoc. It was nicely overcast so we could fly right up to lunchtime. Jeff went on to make two more well executed flights before we quit for the day. Mike S made several practice take off runs through the park in anticipation of flying soon. Ken and Matt W also met us in Oconomowoc and did some flying fortunately. Fortunate because Brent actually borrowed Ken’s gear to make his first flight after nicking a couple lines on a missed earlier launch attempt. After that I met Josh C at the local school field and we worked on his wing handling until sunset. He improved tremendously. Next for him is a trip to the sledding hill! Friday evening Josh K and I took a long cross-country flight from the airport to Lake Kegonsa. Along the way I dropped into the Madison Speedway and made a low lap around the racetrack, probably, one of the slowest laps ever made there. Friday morning at sunrise I met Chuck and Reon for some early flights. Reon busted out 9 flights and truly mastered the landing n. Unfortunately, Chuck had a mechanical issues with the Air Conception. A glazed drive belt caused the propeller to slip at high RPMs meaning he couldn’t get enough push from his machine to take off. Which is too bad because he was doing everything correctly and was only grounded because of the slipping belt. He will be back with a new belt installed soon and will certainly be flying then. Dave, Josh and Josh C spent the windy afternoon assembling new gear. For Josh it was a new Moster 185+ Miniplane. This involved not only putting it together and checking the harness set up with a hang test but also a mandatory two hour break in process that Josh C helped with.
Dave swapped the Large harness for a Medium on his new Moster-Mini. Then we packed his new reserve parachute and rigged it to his machine. By the time all this was finished the wind had mellowed enough to get the wings out. Josh C headed to the field first to work on kiting. I introduced him to the forward launch which he figured out pretty quickly. Next to the field was Dave. Because the sun was setting in just 15 minutes we strapped a strobe light to his rig so he could get a decent flight in. Both Dave and Josh C were out well after sunset playing with the sky. Dave met me just after sunrise again and finished up his training by making his remaining 5 flights. At this point in the training process, all we were working on is improving the accuracy of his landings. He did great, 4 out of 5 landings were within 35’ of the target.
After that 25th graduation flight Dave took a nice long solo flight and explored the area all by himself. He really seemed to enjoy his new freedom. Congratulations Dave!! Hooman and Arosh visited the hanger Sunday morning to learn more about the sport of paramotoring. They tried on motors and took turns hanging out in the simulator and got the answers to a lot of questions. I expect both to be flying by summertime.
Josh C finished up his PPG1 ground school training Sunday and after the wind calmed a bit we began wing handling training. He took to the wing naturally. His past skydiving experience really showed as he quickly grasped the basics of wing control. Mike S joined us late in the day in hopes of making his first flight. Unfortunately the gusty winds lasted until nearly sunset which didn’t leave us enough daylight to get Mike his first flight. Spring weather is challenging. Two new Macpara Chargers arrived Sunday morning for the school. I took the 23 meter out for its initial flight about 1/2 hour before sunset. So much fun, I love those wings! Two new Moster 185+ Miniplanes arrived Monday. One for the school and one for Josh K, who recently graduated. Josh and I plan to assemble and break in these bad boys sometime this week. So much fun! |
Paul CooleyOwner of MadCity Paragliding and Adventure Addict Archives
May 2021
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