Chuck made his graduation flight tonight, one year to the day from his first lesson! It’s not that he needed extra time or training to learn the needed skills, it’s just that sometimes life gets in the way of fun and so was the case with Chuck.
We finally got the perfect weather we’ve been waiting for tonight, a nice light breeze down the runway. He pulled off 12 perfect take offs and landings to complete his needed 25 flights. We even turned on the strobe light to get us a few extra minutes of flying time so we could complete his goal.
Congratulations Chuck!!

Busy days...Mike from Duluth finished up his training and is now free to fly on his own (just waiting on his Ozone Roadster 3 to arrive). Mike C is ready for his first flight. Dane and Kaden spent a day kite training, next for these two us a trip to the sledding hill. Finally, right before departing for Colorado Mariyan and I met Madcity Paragliding alumni, Captain Scott, and took his new wife Nicolette on a tandem flight so she could experience her husband’s activity first hand. Seeing her smile and hearing her talk about the flight afterwards it was obvious that she now understands her husband’s obsession.

Adam drove up from Illinois to meet me at the hanger and do some flying. The forecast was for a blanket of clouds for the day which means we can fly all day. Normally we are limited to the first and last 3 hours of the day because of thermals. No such problems on a grey day.
Adam made the most of the conditions. 5 flights before lunch and another in the afternoon. Way to go Adam’

Dane and Andriew met me the hanger this morning for a hands on introduction to the awesome sport of powered paragliding. Dane was soon convinced PPG was for him and decided to sign up right then and there. We spent the rest of the day training.
Andriew and his better half needed to crunch numbers before committing to training. Apparently the numbers worked out because I received a message from him later saying he was in.
Awesome!! You guys are going to love this!!

Shortly before sunrise I met Steve and Todd at the hanger excited for them to fly their new machines. A few final prep items and it was off to the runway. Steve already had his required number of flights in but Todd was 7 short of the 25 minimum for a PPG2 rating. So Todd and I spent some time bringing his flight count up. As soon as he reached 24 we all put on our paramotors and jumped in the sky for a little cross country to Oregon and back. The only thing left for these two is to pass the PPG2 written test, then they will be free to fly on there own.
Next up was an evening with Adam with plans to get him airborne for the first time. He did not disappoint, in fact he made 5 flights, each more controlled than the last. Way to go Adam!!

Christmas came early for Todd and Steve. We spent Tuesday evening assembling and breaking in their new Miniplanes with the duel start Minari 180s with the help of Nick. Weather permitting we will be flying these bad boys Thursday morning.
Adam drove up from just across the Illinois border to perfect his wing handling skills before we send him into the sky.

Sunday morning Mariyan and I met Leif at his runway by Portage to give him a tandem demonstration. He was impressed and agreed to let us use the runway whenever we wanted. While flying the short distance from the launch field to the Wisconsin River we came across this crazy tree maze.
Then it was back to Sauk City to tow free flying pilots. We made several successful tows but unfortunately before to long a small rain cloud parked overhead ending the day prematurely.
Then it was back to the hanger to meet up with Rick for some trike practice. He did great and I’m sure will be flying soon.

Friday evening Ben made his first flight. He successfully launched on his first attempt and even stuck the landing! Congratulations Ben!!
Cole made his 25th flight. Just a little more ground school and the PPG2 written test and he will be free to fly on his own.
Saturday morning Nick unpacked his custom Ozone Roadster 2 and tookit for it’s maiden flight. It was a bit bumpy but he managed nicely.
Then it was off to Sauk City to tow paragliders. On hand was Dmitri, Mariyan, Nia, Lisa, Derryl, David, Jeff, Mark and Kaden.

Dennis met me shortly after sunrise today for a ride to the hanger. There we met Mike and introduced him to the joys of morning flying. Specifically the wet grass that makes wings heavy and landings slippery. Then it was time to rewind the winch spool in preparation for an afternoon of towing which included a special birthday tandem ride.

So much has happened in the last week: went to the Corn Alps in Minnesota, towed a bunch of paragliders, lost all 6,000’ of my line in the Corn, found it, Mike C made his first flight, Adam started, Ben started, Brian graduated, Mark tried his new wing that he won from Cross Country Magazine, Mike P is getting closer to flying, Cole is up to 18 flights now, went to the EAA mass arrival which got fogged out...and so much more!