Using my friend Peter's camper for the trip from Ottawa to St. Catharines, Ontario. Left at 10:00am and arrived at about 5:00pm Friday May 3rd. Showed up at Peaks Indoor Climbing gym and met with Sam who let me hook up power and settle in for the night. Had a terrible sleep as it was an unknown bed and the excitement of starting my course!
Class started at 8:00am the next morning and I met with owner/instructor Andre Zeman. Great guy and down to earth vibes, which in my opinion is great to have for an I instructor! I also met my two classmates, Paul (65) from Kingston and Bob (22) from Espanola, Ontario.
We got down to business with paperwork and class instruction. We learned about weather, thermals, equipment and technics. Watched several (do not do) videos. Seven hours later we wrote the Transport Canada Student Pilot exam restricting us to powered parachutes and I passed with flying colours and was awarded with student # 107895!
We then proceeded to our flying field located approximately 20 minutes away, South West of Niagara Falls. We went though all the equipment and hooked up our gliders to kite. The wind was strong. The instructor gave me a few pointers and he said I would be fling solo that day.
Received my new Kangook cage and Moster 185 motor and wow what a piece of gear. Got all set up in later part of the afternoon and did a few dry runs. Hooked into the wing and listened to Andre though the headphones. "Run run run, pull on the A lines" and the kite lifted up! "Power up go go go", so I did and the weight of the paramotor on my back got lighter and lighter as the wing lifted. Within seconds I was running in mid air about 30 feet off the ground. "Power up and climb", Andre ordered through the helmet and I climb another 100 feet and I finally sit into the seat. Wow wow wow...it was euphoria and awe inspiring! Words just can't explain it, you just have to feel it!
I practiced right and left turns and throttling up and down and after 15 minutes I made my decent from 250' to 150' and listened to the instructions. "Motor off, glide, get out of your seat and get ready to run when you touch down. Brake lines position A....(10 feet off the ground), position B (6 feet) and......C (3 feet)" I touched down, landed on my feet and turned to let the glider drop softly. Amazing!
