The Paramotor
I am very fortunate to have a good
friend who, by his own admission, has more money than sense. We both went off
to Skydragons in North Wales in May 1996 to get qualified to fly these things
before the big rush when the CAA finally deregulated them.
We turned up at the school and could not believe
the size of the thing. Since my friend has in the past referred to himself as
a fat b*****d he opted for the big propeller model with 45kg of thrust. All
the engines are the same in the manufacturers line up, its just the diameter
of the prop and the gearing that determines the thrust range. So a large prop
means a larger cage to protect it.
The first part of the training was to convince the
instructor that I could alpine and reverse cross over launch. This latter method
is necessary when there is a gentle breeze blowing. The whole sequence of events
for the takeoff is quite tricky and requires a lot of practice. The basic control
of a paraglider is by way of increasing the drag on one or both sides of the
wing at the trailing edge by means of a control handle in each hand. Which ever
way the glider is launched the pilot will have a control handle and an "A
riser" in each of his/her (lady pilots fly too you know) hand. Once the
wing is fully inflated and has come up over the pilots head all the risers are
let go and just the control handles remain in the hands. The problem when flying
with a motor is that in addition to a control handle and a riser in your hand
you also have a throttle to keep hold of too.
The
general idea for launching with a motor is same as for free flight, but as soon
as the wing has got above the pilots head, the throttle is opened whilst simultaneously
running like the clappers. In nil wind conditions on a flat field the run can
be (from my experience) anything up to 30 yards, and with a 31kg lump on your
back that ain't easy. There is one other consideration that is not apparent
to the onlooker, a huge prop turning to the left creates a torque effect that
tries to turn the pilot to the right. Until you have reasonable air speed and
the wing is taking more of the weight allowing the use of the left control handle
to steer, trying to run in a straight line is very difficult.
Full sequence of take
off method on flat ground.
Flying with the motor
Close up pictures of the
motor
The
general idea for launching with a motor is same as for free flight, but as soon
as the wing has got above the pilots head, the throttle is opened whilst simultaneously
running like the clappers. In nil wind conditions on a flat field the run can
be (from my experience) anything up to 30 yards, and with a 31kg lump on your
back that ain't easy. There is one other consideration that is not apparent
to the onlooker, a huge prop turning to the left creates a torque effect that
tries to turn the pilot to the right. Until you have reasonable air speed and
the wing is taking more of the weight allowing the use of the left control handle
to steer, trying to run in a straight line is very difficult.