Attending my course.

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!

Well, only three days till I leave for my course.  So much to do and a few loose ends to tie up before I hit the road.  Have to pack for the unexpected and will probably bring the mountain bike for after hours transportation...

Been a little while and been busy.  I've done plenty of kiting and received my Horus Helmet with communications.  I can connect to a walkie talkie (bought with Canadian Tire money)

 or the aviation radio that my father gave to me for Christmas, an Icom A-4. 

It also has another port so I can connect my iPhone to it as well and listen to music or make a call while up in the air!

I am exactly 18 days away from my course starting and am getting excited!!!  I am borrowing a friend's camper (Winnebago) and will be using that to drive down and stay in St. Catharines during  my 1 week course.

In the last week I also put my order in for a motor and cage assembly through my instructor.  I bought a RS Ultra, Kangook Classic.  It comes with a 146cm carbon fiber propeller and a Moster 185cc engine.  It's a 2 stroke and has plenty of punch for it's size.  I had my instructor, Andre Zeeman, register it with Transport Canada so it will be all ready to go when I get down there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well it looks like I have my registration letters...I received a letter from Transport Canada.

 

 

 

C-IKDT

 

 

In radio lingo...it is pronounced " Charlie India Kilo Delta Tango"

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 



Awesome evening to kite...

 

 

 

Well after a long day at work, the winds picked up to about 11Km/h and set me up for some kiting! A professional photographer asked me if I minded that he take pictures of me..."No problemo" I said! Here is his info:


Alexei Kintero
http://www.alexeikintero.ca
Facebook

Ended up getting a bit airbourne a couple times...that was fun...might have to start wearing my helmet...

Now I needed instruction.  There aren't very many schools for paramotoring in Canada, let alone Ottawa.  I narrowed it down to two choices, Quebec City and St. Catharines.  I contacted both locations via email, had a few back and forths and after further thought I went with the St. Catharine's choice. It is a one week course...so have to book some holidays from work.   

See link here:    Powered paragliding Ontario 



"Learning how to fly powered paraglider under instructor's guidance is essential for safe and continuous enjoyment of the sport. To earn an ultra light pilot license required to fly PPG in Canada a student pilot must complete 30 take offs and landings totalling 5 hours in a log book."

No flight experience necessary."

"Course fee includes use of our certified, state of the art PPG equipment."

Link:  Course Info

I sent the instructor/owner (Andre Zeeman) my $1000 deposit for the May 4th, 2013 course.  They are only limited to two people so I made sure I did this early.  Andre sent me a course package and syllabus.  I was on my way.  He asked me if I had any equipment and I responded "No".  "Well if you can practice kiting a wing before you come it would speed up the learning process."  It would also cost me less in the end as you pay on the hourly learning process.

Hmmm...Kiting.  What is it? Well, basically you take the wing/kite and you kite it while wearing a harness.  No motor needed.  It is all done statically in one place, not unlike a child with a kite.  By kiting, you learn how the wing responds to brake (steering lines) input and and learn control.   



I searched the internet and found a 30 square meter wing for sale on Kijiji, but it was in New Brunswick.  I called and he said it only had 10 hours on it...he bought it from someone getting out of the sport.  So it was new.  A new wing goes for about $3000.  He wanted $1000, what a steal.  I asked Andre what size I would need because wings are dependant on the weight they hold in the air.  A good starter for me would be a 30 m2 wing...PERFECT!!!!  Now, how to get it to Ottawa?  After a short conversation the seller told me he was coming through Ottawa in two weeks (over the Christmas break) on his way to Toronto and could deliver it...wow...lucky or what?

I bought the wing and rigged up a rock climbing harness to fit my need that I purchased at Mountain Equipment Co-op or MEC as it is know in Westboro.  Never having worn one it was a little snug on the package but I guess that's normal. 

Fast forward to January 1st 2013.  1st Kiting session.  Alex (my 9 year old son) and I walked to a local field the day after a heavy night of partying with neighbors till 3:00am.  No better way than to start off the new year trying to kite.

Alex took pictures while I climbed into the harness, layed out the wing in a crescent shape, clipped the wing risers into the carabiners on the harness and exhaled loudly...now or never.  The wind was about 14km from the North West and I wasn't sure how it was going to react.  I pulled hard and it lifted from one side and crashed, lifted from the other side and crashed.  After about 20 minutes in -15 degrees and snow covered field I was dying of heat...wow what a workout!  I finally got it to rise up overhead and while pulling on the brake toggles...it stayed up for about a minute.  I did it!  It felt great!

I decided to buy a book online that almost all PPG'ers (powered paragliders) buy.  Called the "PPG Bible 3".  Lots of great info for anyone starting out and it had great tips for me on kiting.  I think I have read it over about five times now...can't get enough.

1st Post...43rd Birthday...and so it starts publically!

Well here I am turning 43 this morning and all is well.  Although this isn't my 1st day of my paramotoring adventure it is the 1st blog.

Let me begin by introducing you to my sport to be:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramotoring

In layman terms:

Paramotoring (or powered paragliding) is a paragliding wing, under which a harness is hung.  A two cycle engine coupled to a propeller is attached to that harness.  You then strap yourself into the harness securely and you are set.  The propeller provides thrust and forward momentum and the wing provides the lift.  No mountains or hills required.  Flat and or down hill land is better and a head wind doesn't hurt either.

How did I ever the idea of getting into this aviation sport, you ask?  Well long story...short. 

In late summer of 2012, I had my motorcycle up for sale, a 1997 Kawasaki Concours.  Mint and full of life left in her at 56,000 kilometers.  I barely used it anymore so I decided to sell it on the the "For Sale" website Kijiji  http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/.  I received lots of bites and one of them came from a gentleman that wanted to offer me his powered parachute trike in exchange.  Not knowing much about the sport I did some homework that night and searched the internet.  Amazing thing this internet, thousands of hits.  Websites from all over Europe and the USA.  Not much from Canada, but some.  What really got me reved were the videos.  My favorite 1st video was this one:  PARABATIX,  I love the song too!

I found a Youtube video made by Alain Bard from Ottawa video. Wow was he knowledgeable.  He's a paramotor pilot, paraglider pilot, hot air balloon pilot (built his own), skydiver and stilt walker Alain's Website.  He basically said the unit was homemade, 20 years behind the times in all aspects and to stay very clear of it. I met him a couple weeks later in his garage and he introduced me to his paramotor kit.  Awesome....

My father was into ultralight flight in the early '90's.  He took a course, attended an ultralight pilot's course and passed the Transport Canada exam.  He bought an ultralight airplane used it plenty and later sold it.  He ended up building an airplane from a kit with plans ordered from the USA.  So suffice it to say that the aeronautical gene is in the Morais' blood!  Now I am about to embark on a less expensive version and don't need a runway to take off from.  A modest field is all I will need.