I answer all enquiries related to my site and that is normally about 4-5 per week, whilst the hit rate it nearer 80 per week. This sheet just has my answers to those questions from around the world.
I live in "Anytown, Rest of World", where is my nearest stockist of equipment and school?
This one comes up time and time again. I live in the UK and so can't answer this sort of question for the country you live in. I would however suggest contacting the aviation governing body of your country as a good place to start to find out who runs the sport.
I like the layout of your *.htm page, can I translate it for my country?
Yes, as long as you acknowledge who wrote it all and give my full URL in your page
I intend to do invest in flying kit
once I have qualified at CP level. I know that at the school where I intend
doing my CP course they will recommend a particular wing to me. I am sure that
it will be good advice. However, I'd like to get a second opinion (and a third
and a fourth), it seems the very least I ought to do if I'm about to shell out
three thousand quid or so.
Which school are you learning at?
They will want to sell you a brand new wing and will give you all sorts of incentives
to buy it. Don't buy a new one unless it's a MAC.
New ones depreciate faster than used toilet paper. Read Skywings and look at
all the adverts. Buy privately but try and get a competent pilot to look at
the wing for you. Difficult at your stage I know, but you will soon find willing
people on the hill. Even they themselves may try and sell you their own wing.
At least you can see them "risking their own life on it", and since
you have approached them, they may try to take advantage of the situation rather
than have to convince someone else that it is a good buy. You will be surprised
how quickly you grow out of a beginners canopy. People often worry about buying
a not too well known canopy, I'll tell you now, that the best makes in the world
are not worth much when the technology has advanced 12 months.
So, if YOU were a newly qualified Club
Pilot, with no real interest in competition but a dream of flying cross country
one day, what combination of wing, harness and reserve would you choose - and
how much would you expect to pay for it ?
Don't pay more than £1000 for
a second hand wing. Get a harness with a rear mounted reserve and one that is
adjustable from full cross bracing to open, something like an Airwave Rap.
As for reserve, there is no contest in my opinion. A Skynet, (advert in Skywings
February 98 page 4). Made and sold by free fall parachutists, in England by
BPA master riggers. A 4 bridal system which is the only one that can be collapsed
after you have landed. You can't collapse the sort that have 1 bridal going
up to the main suspension lines. Phone Mike Townsend, 01242 232532 he will convince
you. He gave the lecture at the Fat Pack II run by the Thames Valley Club. They
cost a lot new but it's an insurance policy and your LAST chance. Many people
spend a fortune on all the rest of the kit and then scrimp on the most important
bit of all.
You could buy the whole lot in one
fell swoop from someone who is quitting. £1500 seems the going rate for
glider harness and reserve. It gets you in the air cheaply and you can upgrade
each bit as you progress.
Larger FAQ No point in rewriting information that's already out there.