March 9/10     Get new glider - the time is right.

The EUR is at the lowest point I have seen it in last 3 years. This is a great time to upgrade and get your self that Antea or Cima K2 you always wanted. Based on this exchange I can offer a great deal. Please email zemanandre@yahoo.com if interested.

Watch Cima K2 in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgvhTLWRvuM

Watch Antea in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCIcrdUC6NQ

March 7/10     Update from Mike D.

Hi Andre,

Well January and February was a write-off as far as any opportunities to fly, even accepting some cold weather. I did try the last weekend of January. It was minus 6 and I was planning to do a very quick flight. However; my two stroke did not like the cold and wouldn’t start. Some people told me afterward that my engine is smarter than I am.

Anyway, yesterday looked good so I went to my favorite local field. They were calling for 15 km/h winds and they were every bit of that and steady. There were still a few inches of very wet snow on the ground that made it very difficult to get a good footing. It took several tries with all the slipping but I finally managed to get up.

I hope you are doing well and good luck through-out this year.

Regards, Mike

Feb 5/10     Update from Ted.

Took this shot yesterday, prior to having fifteen minutes of racing over snow and ice here at Oliphant. Very exciting! Very fast,... and terrifying on ice patches! Still have to attach restraining bungees for flight, so skis don't angle down. Cheers!   Ted

Jan 25/10     Course dates for 2010 set.

Dec 22/09    

Happy holidays.

Dec 7/09      Update from past student Mike D.

Hi Andre,

I remember exactly one year ago reading your news and seeing how dedicated you were to training by running a course so late in the season. Having been your first student in the spring of this year I am again glad to see you training this late in the year and I too went for a flight on Saturday.

This was my cold weather trial to see if I could be warm enough and enjoy some flying. See the attached picture taken on Saturday flying over a friend’s house. Bundling up and having gloves on was a bit of work but I made it up on my first run. Once in the air it wasn’t too bad. My fingers got a bit cold but otherwise I was quite comfortable and enjoyed the stable air. With the crops done for the season, those “just in case” landing options were plentiful.

As long as it’s not seriously cold and the field is good for running; I will be continuing to fly this winter and will keep you posted.

Take care and all the best this holiday season,

Mike

Dec 6/09      Most likely last training day of 2009 - Dec 5/09.

Martin who started his training on Oct 17 called me up and asked if we could go on with his PPG course this weekend. Forecast for Sat was OK. Temperature hovered around 0 and there was light layer of snow. Yikes. I did not expect this. On top of this we only had 1 - 2 km/h variable winds. Not the best conditions. After some ground practice Martin was ready to go on his first flight. Good inflation, but just like majority of students tried to sit down rather then run till in the air. It was still successful take off but next time I want to see full on run till you are running 50 ft in the air! Good landing in almost no wind. The road from field had softened up and I barely made it out. If it was any warmer, I would get stuck for sure. Congrats Martin on your first flight!

  Martin - flight numero uno.

Nov 26/09      Pictures from Doruk's last training session - Sat Nov 21/09.

Hey Andre

You can find the pictures from last weekend here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dorukb/PPG#

Cheers
Doruk

Nov 22/09      Doruk added 2 more flights to his log book - Sat Nov 21/09.

Tentative plans were made to meet at the field on Sat around 10:30 am weather pending. Winds were low but there also was a heavy dark cloud cover and light drizzle here and there. Not the best day to go flying. Oh well. We started at 11 am with basic forward inflations to refresh Doruk's memory. He actually did not forget anything at all. Soon I was getting ready for quick flight to see if air is calm or not.  There was just enough wind to do a running reverse inflation and in several steps I was airborne. Calm air and after I landed I have noticed that wind has picked up even more. This is good. OK, let's give it a go. We first tried inflation with motor off not planning to fly. It was perfect. We then moved the gear back and soon enough Doruk was up there enjoying smooth but cold air. Great take off and even better landing. He lasted about 20 min which is remarkable given the lack of gloves. We took a short break and tried again. Perfect inflation, great take of run, no tendency to sit down - that is the way I like it! On his second landing Doruk forgot to flare up to C position so there was a bit of a stumble on landing but motor was off so not a big deal. Well done Doruk, when I came to the field it did not look like we will do any flying at all.

Nov 13/09      Great XC flight on Sunday Nov 8.

Short video

Nov 12/09      Great XC flight on Sunday Nov 8 - write up by Mark.

For November the weather was insanely hot. When we arrived at the field it was a scorching 18 degrees! The sun was out and there was a calm breeze blowing from the south. It felt like summer had paid us one last visit before the end of the season. Crazy Ralph was there with his camera crew. Jason and Roy turned up for a flight and Chris Miller also came along for a season finale. Chris had been having some difficulties inflating his wing. It had been hanging back on launch, so Andre had suggested a new set of risers. We spent 20 mins disconnecting the old set and connecting the new risers. They seemed to make a big difference and Chris was soon buzzing around the field. Meanwhile Ralph was busy being crazy for the camera and his upcoming documentary.

Roy and Jason were tinkering with engines and generally getting ready to fly so I had the chance to nip up to 1300 metres for a quick flight. It was 16C even up high. This weather really was bizarre for November. After landing, Jason and Roy were soon in the air and Ralph had a couple more attempts at take off. Soon three wings were cruising around the field and the day was going better than could be expected. As is usually the case, it didn't last. Ralph managed to clip the prop on the ground. I heard the now familiar 'phwack' of a breaking propeller and knew that Ralph wouldn't be flying that machine again today. As ever Ralph was good natured and shrugged it of :- all part of the sport. With Ralph's flying abruptly cut short the rest of us decided to take a little trip to Crystal Beach. We all fuelled up, made our checks and started getting ready. Within minutes four of us were in the air, circling the air field, waiting for Roy. He was having a little difficulty with his launch, so after nearly 10 minutes we headed off for Crystal Beach. Four of us flew out from the airfield. This would be Jason's first serious excursion from his take-off site.

We each weaved our way over the Niagara countryside, dipping down low to play over large open fields, climbing again to hop over built up areas. We soon saw Roy in the distance, making an effort to catch us so we circled some more and took the opportunity to investigate a huge cloud of dust thrown up by a combine harvester. Roy was soon with the group and the five of us continued on our way towards Crystal Beach, racing to beat the sunset. Roy and Jason turned back early. With no previous experience of a long flight they were concerned about fuel levels and made a start back to the airfield. Jason had only shorts on and must have been getting bloody cold too. Chris, Andre and I pushed on, keen to see the beach and complete our goal. It was a great site to see th lake come into view as we approached the beach. Small fires were creating a hazy layer close to the ground and two layers of air were not mixing at all, causing a weird inversion at close to ground level.

The sun was illuminating the beach front properties with a magnificent orange glow that only happens just before sunset and we cruised up the beach following the shoreline and enjoying this privileged perspective. Andre and Chris dipped down below tree level skimmed the water, only inches deep at places and crystal clear.

I remained a little higher and scrambled around with my camera trying to capture some of what I was enjoying. I decided to head back and, noticing that my GPS was going faster as I climbed, ascended to 1000 metres. This gave me a groundspeed of 70km and I soon caught Jason. Roy had landed out a few km short of the airfield with engine problems and had hitched a ride back to the airfield, arriving before me. It was now almost dark and Andre was next to arrive. Last in was Chris Miller who made a few circuits before landing fast in the nil wind conditions near the ground. Unknown to us, Ralph had followed us throughout the flight, snapping photos on the beach and racing back to meet us all at the field. We shared stories, cracked open some beers and packed up the gear. This was a great flight so late in the season!    

Nov 9/09      Update from past student Mike D.

From: Mike D.
Sent: November-08-09 9:34 PM
To: zemanandre@yahoo.com
Subject: Strobe on my RR

Hi Andre, 

I recently added a strobe light to my paramotor. Over the summer I had a few of the ultralight pilots that fly in my area advice me to add a strobe and make myself more visible. Feel free to post this so others can see how easy it is to add some safety to our flying. 

The pictures below show the mounting I made up and the switch I added. I made the mount swivel and lock so I can rotate it down and make it less prone to damage when I am moving the paramotor in and out of my trailer. 

I used a Kuntzleman SC103 12 VDC that runs off the battery/alternator system. It pulses 42 times a minute and can be seen in daylight for 1.5 statute miles. It can be bought here in Canada at http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/kuntzsc103.php for about $ 102.00 Canadian. They accept online and phone orders. They recently moved their store from Mississauga to Brantford (Brantford Airport). I drove there and picked it up.

The strobe can also be bought on line at http://www.kestrobes.com/cat5.htm.

The additional wiring, switch, connectors and hardware were about $ 25.00. The light comes with an inline fuse. I suggest using it and buying the fuse holder. Make sure it is the right size, some are for smaller fuses. I used the tap-in connectors that tee into an existing wire. It made the wiring quick and easy.

Anyway, take care. I check your news often and always like seeing what is going on with your training.

Regards,

Mike

Nov 6/09      Great flight on Wednesday Nov 4.

No wind, relatively warm air... I decided to do some hop in for my own pleasure + I needed to test couple of things.

It was great flying in very smooth air. I only lasted 40 min - I am turning into a sissy when it comes to cold air...

Nov 5/09      More training with Ralph on Sunday Nov 1.

Sunday was a nice day so me and Mark went to the field to meet Ralph for more training. He brought his film crew with him to get some footage for the up coming documentary called the Beauty Day. It was over a month since Ralph flew last time so it took couple of tries to get in the air. On first attempt he did not apply full power and on the second sat back too early. After that we managed two good flights. First flawless, the second with bit of a stumble on landing. Mark was test flying one of our units and filming Ralph air to air. Arthur showed up later on with his trike and showed us some quite wild take offs. Bit of a PPG rodeo.

Good day. The beer at the end tasted like honey...

Oct 27/09      I can still run PPG course.

Even though there is no more courses scheduled this year I can still run one based on date agreement. The weather is very unpredictable now so this would only work for someone wiling to drive down for each training session. Please email me at zemanandre@yahoo.com if interested.

Oct 27/09      Two students started PPG course on Oct 17, 2009

Martin and Zsolt

Martin has some experience flying hangliding trike and Zsolt is PG instructor with over 100 PPG flights. Ground school went well. We went to our field for flying where Zsolt demonstrated his skills and flew 5 times. Martin was working on his ground handling skills and Valentyn came down for visit as well.

Oct 9/09      Wayne goes to 8100 ft on WJ - new XC and Sky Fides 26.

Andre,

Just though I would share some of my fun! - Please look at the attachment.

Wayne G

Wayne was in PPG course that started June 7, 2008 - See news June 9/08  and also June 7, 2008 where he manages to foot launch 10 times in 2.5 hrs. 

Oct 8/09      September PPG course with Steve - Tuesday Sep 29/09 - video.

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