Ken, Nia, Mariyan and I spend last Saturday working our land in Sauk City. For those of you that don’t know, Madcity Paragliding along with our partner, Compass Airsports, is renting 3 acres of land along the Sauk City tow road. It’s just a short distance from the beautiful Wisconsin River and the hills of the driftless area.
This land will be available to all Madcity Paragliding and Compass Airsports pilots all year long ensuring we always have a place to fly from. The lot is surrounded by farm land and can easily be flown with winds in any direction. The property has been leveled and cleared of corn stalks. It is ready for flying now. Grass seed is down and should sprout soon. Happy flying!
Friday we did some towing. Adam, Ken, Mariyan, Curt, David and Greg were all there. We practiced proper Covid precautions and had a great time. Adam had an amazing flight. I towed him to a little over 2,000’ and from there he rode a thermal up to over 5,000’ ! The lift was impressive and easy to catch and hold. He only came down because his fingers got too cold. He worked his way up to where it was snowing. Next time he will be wearing warmer gloves so he can stay up.
​Also this week, Chris came out to test out his new three blade moster miniplane. This thing is going to be a ton of fun.
Alex took the Air Conception for a spin. Not his favorite machine as it turns out but now he knows for sure that he wants a weight shift frame when he gets his own paramotor.
Keep flying everyone and stay safe!

I haven’t flown this much in a long time. Normally my flights are limited to short hops around the airport to demonstrate a specific skill or to test the air conditions before a student takes to the sky. However, with the lockdown in place I’ve got a lot more free time. I’ve been spending much of that time flying with past students, practicing proper social distancing of course. It’s been wonderful!
​Saturday Greg and Nick met me for some flying. Nick can’t get enough of his new rig. Greg is improving his spirals.
​Sunday it was a trip to Reon’s place to fly with Robert, Sean and Reon. Sean tried out his brand new all black 21m Charger. He loved it! It is much faster and more lively than his 25m.
We were up for over an hour. I’d forgotten how much I love long cross country flights. There was a decent wind that night so our downwind run was nice and fast. We spent over an hour gradually working our way up wind but it took us only 10 minutes to get all the way back. We were hitting speeds over 40 mph all the way back! So fun!
While the PPG guys were staying local with me, the PG guys traveled north to Hager City to ridge sore with Mariyan. Adam, Ken and Mariyan all had nice flights. Adam was able to soar his new wing for over 40 minutes in the ridge lift before dropping out.
Also this week, we’ve been given permission to tow paragliders at the Bong Recreation Area south of Milwaukee. There is a nice 2+ mile long runway there that was used my the military long ago. The rangers just asked we post signs whenever we are towing. The new signs arrived yesterday. I’m really looking forward to trying out this new place!

Surprisingly productive week at Madcity Paragliding despite the Covid-19 lockdown.
Chris’ machine arrived by FedEx. A blue dual start MY20 Moster 185+ Miniplane. Normally I get together with the students and help them assemble their new paramotors. Unfortunately, with our social distancing request that just isn’t practical. However because of the shut down of nonessential businesses I’ve got extra time on my hands so I offered to assemble and break in Chris’ machine for him. That way it would be ready to fly the next time the weather allows. He thought that was a great idea and gave me the go ahead. Chris went for the optional 3 blade prop. It looks sweet and I can’t wait to see him fly it.
Nick stopped out to practice some extreme social distancing and take his new rig out for it’s first flight. He’s got a pretty sweet setup now, Atom80 Miniplane paired with a super light Ozone Spyder 3. Robert and I joined Nick in the sky for his flight. We explored the skies for the better part of an hour before succumbing to the cold. I could tell by the size of his smile on landing that Nick loved his new setup.
With the help of several text messages from Steve at SDI Paragliding, the maker of the Airtime Solutions winch, I was able to diagnose and fix the problem with our winch. Seems the clutch control unit failed. After adjusting the settings on the replacement circuit board the winch is back to full strength and ready to tow again!
A box full of props arrived from Eprops. Half of which have already found there way onto someone’s machine. Ken and Chris got a new 3 blade props, Matt picked up a 130cm prop for his moster and I put one on Nick’s Atom80 too.
I’m excited to see that you guys are still out flying despite the lockdown, you can’t get anymore socially distant from people than by yourself several hundred feet in the sky. Please practice proper Coronavirus precautions while traveling around to fly.