Kevin’s 1st Flight! and more...

Big milestone for Kevin Monday night, he made his first flight! We’ve been working up to this for quite some time. He began training last year as a foot launch student but we switched to wheels after a while to make things easier. The transition was simple for him. He quickly mastered wing handling from the trike, which is actually more challenging than foot launch.
The conditions were ideal about an hour before sunset, no wind to speak of and smooth skies. As soon as I gave him the go ahead he brought the wing up smoothly, taxied for a bit then squeezed the throttle and climbed into the warm sky. He made a few controlled laps around the field and set the trike down softly in the center of the runway. Way to go Kevin!!
​Preston drove over from the Milwaukee area to join us for the fun. He made a couple flights as well. He made significant improvements in his landings that night. Nice work Preston!
Josh C stopped out and took the Top80 for a flight. Unfortunately the throttle cable busted about 10 minutes into his flight and he had to end it sooner than planned. No worries though, he easily brought it back to the runway and landed just the same as every other flight. He then grabbed the ATV to run the disabled paramotor back to the hanger for repair. He jumped on it and gave the throttle a hardy twist breaking the throttle cable on the ATV too! Yep, he busted two throttle cables in less than five minutes. Someone on Facebook accused him of having a “gorilla grip”. I chased replacement cables in the morning and soon had them both ready to battle again.
Reon was out to take up his new rig for the first time, a matte black Moster 185+ Miniplane and sweet new Macpara Charger. He let me have the honor of taking it for a test flight before he took it up for his initial flight. Oh, the hardships I suffer for my students ;) Thanks Reon!
Tuesday I met Mike at the field for more training. He is really improving and getting much more comfortable flying. Tonight was the bumpiest conditions he’s flown in so far but he handled it well. Nice job Mike!
Preston was back again for the second night in a row. He added four more flights to his log book and has mastered his landings, easily standing up every one right in the center of the field. Keep it up Preston!