Summer Idiocy?
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: uk
Posts: 894
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Jack and others - does it not occur to you that their motive was simply to provide a bit of entertainment for others as well as themselves?
Not disputing that it was a bit dumb.
Not disputing that it was a bit dumb.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: warwickshire
Age: 56
Posts: 25
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I took a para-motor "pilot" up the other week. He spent most of the flight explaining how he enjoyed the freedom of free flight, the lack of regulation, and the easy going attitude towards training.
When I asked him how many hours flight time he had, he replied "about 2, I crashed during my second flight and sustained a compound fracture of my hip and ankle"
Maybe some training isn't such a bad idea after all, Darwin shouldn't have it all his own way.
Andrew
When I asked him how many hours flight time he had, he replied "about 2, I crashed during my second flight and sustained a compound fracture of my hip and ankle"
Maybe some training isn't such a bad idea after all, Darwin shouldn't have it all his own way.
Andrew
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chez Sprog
Posts: 493
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The thing of it is no one wants them. Paraglider & hanggliders are hill launched craft in nearly all cases, with a few tow sites knocking about. This means the clubs have negotiated the use of sites with land owners over decades. Those sites are mostly on or by farms and or on land owned by farmers with a bit of landed gentry thrown in for good measure.
So the agreements can be a bit delicate what with legions of scum sucking hippies traipsing over your land with their weird parachutes & aluminium stockpiles & the last thing anyone wants is to upset the arrangement by spooking the livestock with squadrons of 50cc flying lawnmowers buzzing around left, right & centre
So historically they've not been all that welcome & putting them outside of club control has led to individuals doing deals to use fields piecemeal, so there isn't a guiding hand overseeing the thing.
Least that's how it was before I packed it all in. I'd love someone to come along & tell me I'm wrong & it's all changed, but I imagine it still goes along like that.
So the agreements can be a bit delicate what with legions of scum sucking hippies traipsing over your land with their weird parachutes & aluminium stockpiles & the last thing anyone wants is to upset the arrangement by spooking the livestock with squadrons of 50cc flying lawnmowers buzzing around left, right & centre
So historically they've not been all that welcome & putting them outside of club control has led to individuals doing deals to use fields piecemeal, so there isn't a guiding hand overseeing the thing.
Least that's how it was before I packed it all in. I'd love someone to come along & tell me I'm wrong & it's all changed, but I imagine it still goes along like that.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: London
Posts: 307
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I would never willingly fly a Paramotor - or an open flex-wing microlight or autogyro for that matter [wrong risk-to-comfort ratio for my preferences]
But each time I see one of them they make me smile - and I feel good for them that they can enjoy this kind of flying, even if at times I am astonished to see a Paramotor at several thousand feet, for example above me in the London TMA...
I only wish there were a way to ensure that everyone who takes to the air understands the rules.
Having no regulation for the actual Paramotor contraption is all fine, it makes a nice change from the general overregulation around in aviation, but there IS regulation for the actual flying - in the same way that a pedestrian or cyclist need to obey the highway code and stop at red lights... ah, oh, now I see...
But each time I see one of them they make me smile - and I feel good for them that they can enjoy this kind of flying, even if at times I am astonished to see a Paramotor at several thousand feet, for example above me in the London TMA...
I only wish there were a way to ensure that everyone who takes to the air understands the rules.
Having no regulation for the actual Paramotor contraption is all fine, it makes a nice change from the general overregulation around in aviation, but there IS regulation for the actual flying - in the same way that a pedestrian or cyclist need to obey the highway code and stop at red lights... ah, oh, now I see...
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,815
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I had a shot of paragliding and discovered that somehow I could break the laws of aerodynamics and physics.
It didn't matter what I did or how far away from the fence in question my testicles came in contact with something hard every landing. The fence post and barbed wire could be up wind didn't matter a jot.
Gave up when on the last trip I managed to seek out a key tensioning post didn;t even have any wire attached to it. Was just sitting there in the middle of nowhere hidding.
Sticking a big fan on the back would just seriously multiply the number and size of the objects I could crash into.
It didn't matter what I did or how far away from the fence in question my testicles came in contact with something hard every landing. The fence post and barbed wire could be up wind didn't matter a jot.
Gave up when on the last trip I managed to seek out a key tensioning post didn;t even have any wire attached to it. Was just sitting there in the middle of nowhere hidding.
Sticking a big fan on the back would just seriously multiply the number and size of the objects I could crash into.
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,815
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
To be honest I wouldn't have minded that. You would only get in trouble if it was his favorite. Anyway you can still get an airport pass after getting prosecuted for sheep shagging. (We found out that little gem after talking to security at an island airport which sort of confirmed my opinion of some of them that they would have been worried enough to find out)
It was the lacerated inside thighs that really hurt.
And as for chucking myself off Glen Shee with all those ski tows about..
That would have been suicide.
It was the lacerated inside thighs that really hurt.
And as for chucking myself off Glen Shee with all those ski tows about..
That would have been suicide.
