Powered Paragliding Ontario PPG course-March 03                   

March 22, 2003         Ground school.

Well, I have changed the concept of the ground school since last season so I was a little nervous before we started since I was not sure how well will things work out. There were four students, Jerry, Randall, Steve and Matt.  Everything went well except that I kept mixing up Matt's and Steve's names so I felt bit like an old confused  grandma.... I was not able to remember until I told my self "Steve studies on campus", since he was wearing a "Campus Crew" T-Shirt.  The only problem was that I said it out laud! So every time I would glance at Steve's shirt he would say "Steve" before I was be able to say anything... Anyway, we have finished at 12:30 pm which was bit behind schedule and the plan was to go to do some ground handling. As we stepped outside to load the trailer it was raining and that was the end of today's training. Since we had the machines out I have suggested to start one and so we did and that was it for the day. Matt and Jerry are meeting me tomorrow at 9 am for glider ground handling. Hopefully, the weather will be good. If not, I will eat my shorts!

 March 23, 2003         Glider handling and Jerry's first solo flight.

On Sunday morning sun where nowhere to be seen but that is actually much better for flying or training as wind is much more consistent and there is no thermals to spook and shake the crap of a first time pilot. When Matt  and Jerry have arrived the trailer was loaded and equipment packed. I have explained and hopefully students learned to how to check a current aviation weather forecast on the internet and since it all looked good  we were on our way to the field 9 am sharp. I gave directions to the field just in case we get separated after which Matt proceeded to run several red lights as the only part of the directions that he remembered, was the word "sodomy" and was afraid to lose sight of us. So here we are, on the QEW Fort Erie bound again staring on every flag to judge the wind direction and strength. 

The road to our cut part of the field is just a dirt road that gets pretty muddy and slippery after rain so right away I got stuck. Luckily, Matt had rope and used his truck to tow me out. Here and there his truck's back wheels would spin and threw mud on my windshield, bumper, front grill, lights, roof, windows, doors, wheels, antenna and insurance sticker so it looked like I have spent couple of hours off roading somewhere in mud country.

Next was to demonstrate to the students that it is realy possible to fly with lawnmower strapped to ones back......So out comes the Simon RR.

I have explained and showed to the "gloves brothers" how to properly mix fuel  and since there was perfect amount of wind of was flying in no time. Low passes high passes and bunch of touch and go's. 

And then it was time to get the gliders out and start practicing inflations. After 3 hours of hard work we have progressed quite bit but more training was needed. We took 30 min off for lunch during which I managed to do 20 min short XC flight.

At around 3 pm both Matt and Jerry improved to such a degree that we have decided to practice inflations with paramotors on as one has to get used to the extra weight and awkwardness of the machine while on the ground.

This was very demanding and hard work, especially for Matt who is heavier then Jerry and therefore was using the super powerful but quite heavy Simon RR. Jerry was bit better off with the much lighter Spider unit but given the fact that he is smaller, less heavier and perhaps less strong it was still quite hard. That did not prevent him from maintaining constant smile on his face :-)

We have worked hard and it was time to fly. Jerry has tried to take off several times but there was 2 problems. For some reason the Spider was not producing the regular amount of power and Jerry was having hard time controlling direction of take off run and we started to worry that he will disappear towards Niagara Falls. We have checked the position of the HI and LOW adjustment screws and found no problems. It was not until Jerry, who is mechanic by trade, goes "what about the choke"? Damn, it has been almost 4 months Since I used Spider and have I totally forgot that there even is a choke. Never mind checking it's position as there is no need to manipulate it at all. Well, we pushed the leaver down to disengage the choke and Spider started to run as I remember it. Jerry gave it couple more tries but was getting tired so it was Matt's turn. Pretty much same situation, we were all getting tired and there was not enough energy to get it done. Matt has decided to quit for the day and just watch and Jerry was in for couple more tries. We have both agreed that if he doesn't take off in next 15 min we will wrap it up and leave it to next time. Another try and before you know I am yelling: "RUN, RUN, FULL POWER, FULL POWER, DO NOT SIT DOWN, KEEP RUNNING, YOU ARE FLYING...... AWESOME"......and Jerry was in the air. This is when his wife Karen finally came out their car where she was patiently reading all day to take a look at Jerry who turned into a bird...... 

We have practiced turns, low passes 

and high passes.

I knew that Jerry did not have any gloves on so in about in about 20 min I have asked him if he wanted to land. Since he started to kick his feet, which in instructor to student "mute" language means YES, we started the landing approach. 

After being bit slow on final landing flare and some feet and knee skidding Jerry was safely back on the ground 

We shook hands and gave high 5 to each other and that was it. I think I will buy a small bottle of Champagne for the next first time pilot as this would be a nice way to finish off the first flight..... CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR FIRST SOLO JERRY!!! _________________________________________________________________________

More courses