Bill and Josh’s First Flights! So much more...

Bill has been watching paramotors fly over his farm since I began training at Syvrud airport years ago. His family’s farm boarders the airfield. After repeated conversations with him over the years I was finally able to get him training. Friday was the big day, all ground school completed and good weather set the stage for his first trip back into the sky nearly 20 years after his first paraglider flights in South America. I tailored his launch technique to take advantage of his past paragliding experience, adding throttle a bit later than others. It worked great. He easily brought the wing up, added gas as required and ran down the runway adding enough break at the right time to launch into the sky. Not accustomed to having throttle control while flying, he was a bit erratic with the power input at first but soon settled in to the role of pilot as well as throttle handle manipulation. A few laps around the airport and a couple practice approaches to get a feel for the machine and he was set up for final. He eased out of the seat and quieted the motor in preparation for touch down. He did great! Congratulations Bill!!
Josh began train in September of 2019. Yep, over a year ago. We’ve been battling the impact of the pandemic on his job and some gear issues. Working in the canned food industry his hours have been significantly increased because of the growing demand for home cooking. This left us with one day a week to train if his schedule and the weather allowed. Also, he purchased a Green Eagle paramotor and wing prior to training and we’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get him into the sky with this gear. We got so far as a full speed runs with wing overhead and only managed small front wheel hops.
Not to be deterred, we changed our plan of attack and decided to use my tandem setup in solo form. That proved to be the solution we were searching for because Sunday afternoon Josh made his first flight! The conditions were perfect and the gear was working wonderfully. I went up first to double check everything then turn the craft of to Josh.
The wing came up a little off center but he easily corrected it and was taxiing down the runway gaining speed as he went. As the front wheel began to lift he added additional break pressure and left the ground. Keeping the throttle pinned for the next minute or so, he was now sitting in the trike several hundred feet in the sky. A few passes over the runway and he set it down safely in the middle of the mowed grass. He went on to make a second a few minutes later. Congratulations Josh!
I spent some time with the free flying group towing. Mariyan had arranged a couple tandem flights for a brave couple and I pulled them up with the new winch.
Brad made his 25th flight. Ryan added to his logbook. Andrea and Guy were a at the sledding hill. Mark tried out the Moster 185 he bought from Greg. Lots of new gear arrived for the crew and so much more...