the faulty prop

the faulty prop, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

aye, it was definately fatigued....

First flights !! . . . and first crash !!

First flights !! . . . and first crash !!, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

Was supposed to be doing my static jump today, but low cloud closed the DZ

(drop zone) for the day.

However it was ideal conditions for a paramotor. . .

so down at the beach, just like wilbur and his bro 100 years ago, I did a

reverse launch and shot up into the air ! My first flight was about 15

minutes: down the coast, turning, going back over the sea with Robin

island on my right, and then coming down for a reasonably decent landing,

though I didnt stay on my feet.




10 mins later I had another flight under my belt !



It was time to do a forward launch for next flight as the wind had fallen to

zero: in conditions like this you have to face away from the glider, pull

it up and while pulling, run like feck... oh yeh.. and remember you have

30kg of motor on your back. . and at some time along your run when it is

flat and smooth, you need to build up to 100% power on the motor on your

back. . .



all went well at first, then I made a rooky mistake: once i felt the motor

begin to take my weight rather than continuing to run and keep the power

on, I lifted my legs up . . .



this was not good.



basically it does not have enough lift to get you up at this stage, so all

that happens when you lift your legs, is that the ground comes up to meet

them !



I knew I was fecked at this point, but tried to save it by getting on the

brakes... it didnt work and by this time (only 2 secs start to finish) I

had lost reach of the engine cut off.



So I hit the ground sideways, fell back with the engine still running and

the prop still turning...



$&**(!. and I was on the ground with smashed prop everywhere as the prop

had dug into the ground and cage !



Anyhoo, such is life. Luckily he had a spare prop, so on with another 250

quid of prop and back on the horse!



I managed to get up next time on a forward launch, and finished with 2 more

flights, the last one being about 45 mins long.



So all in all a good day. Tomorrow is still up in the air (hahahahaha). .

could be sky diving or paramotor depending on weather.



have to say, its fair knackering me out running around all day in the heat.

. been having a wee siesta in the afternoon. . . sitting at a desk 9 hours

a day doesnt really prepare you for this sort of activity. . .

most folk here are cycling, jogging, kite surfing, etc. . . all superfit.

never been in a country where the average person is so fit

day 5: monday

Hmm

well, had a KFC at about 4pm yesterday. By 7 I was on the lav. Pretty much
had to remain there for the next 16 hours... bloody chicken. . its always
chicken. this was the full cold sweats and liquid.. well youve got the
picture.

so it was raining during the night and the plan was for me to do my static
jump today, but seeing as I couldnt be more than 10 feet from a bog until
noon that wasnt really a goer. .

so stayed in my room recovering.

By noon though it seemed to have passed, but the DZ was packing up for the
day as the wind was geting up, so it looked like a wasted day, but Barry
called at 2 to say the wind on the beach was perfect for motoring !

so out with the motor for another go.

During prechecks though I noticed the main engine mounting was missing. . .

oops.

obviously this had detached itself during the previous days incident... so
the only thing holding the engine on was a rubber mounting at the top.

pity I didnt notice this yesterday before I did 2 flight AFTER the crash
with this being the only thing holding it on !!!

anyhoo, got a bolt from a hardware store and fired that in with some washers
and we were back in business.

Up and ready for flight number 6. . and went great. took off cleanly and
landed on my feet for only the second time.

Next flight also good. and again landed right on my feet !

Final flight of the day was a longer one. Had some air traffic during this
one: a huey chopper above me, a small plane coming towards me on my left,
and another paramotor below me.

But no probs, all in control.

barry had me then do a partial clapse of the wing (big ears). this is where
you clapse the wing so only the central part is inflated. Its useful for
coming down quickly if you need to. That went well too.

Finally I touched down for my 3rd landing of the day. and all on my feet !

so. progress definately being made.

tomorrow its over to the airfield to try to get my static jump done, the the
plan is wed: paramotor, thu: sky dive for first time.

<fastshow>today I was mostly eating anything but fecking chicken </fastshow>

day 2

day 2, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

Ent out to some africance farm about an hour from cape town to practice

launching with the motor.



In the morning it was almost windless, so there is a fair bit of running

about to get the wing up over your head.



Once I started to get the hang of that it was on with the motor !



spent 2 or 3 hours running about with that on my back doing trial launches..

it was 33 degrees by this time. . . with a 30kg fan strapped to your back.

. while horse flies are drawing blood all over my legs !



But made some good progress and was ready to have my first flght.



However I cocked up the next 2 take offs. BY this time the wind had started

to pick up and it was getting a bit blustery.



Barry took the first flight to check out the thermal activity. I got some

good video of him takin off, and Im glad it wasnt me as he was bobbing up

and down quite a bit in the turbulance.



FOund a wifi hotspot but not working properly. Going down to the beach where

Im told there is another one to try. . .

new sight

new sight, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

I saw my first white person walking today along the sidewalk. . . they did

look like they were just on their way to their car, but still . . Ive gone

2 days without a white face walking.



The bus stops are very busy, but are black only really. never seen a single

white person queuing.



all the houses are still surrounded by walls and fences and big signs

proclaiming "armed response unit" security.



The weird thing is that to the locals they dont notice this as its all just

normal for them, so I dont feel I can bring it up in converstion.

local trade

local trade, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

Oh yeh, driving through the farms this morning at about 9am, and we passed 3

or 4 bkack wimin in white leather boots. Apparently the passing truck

drivers like a pick me up in the morning !!

day 1

day 1, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

Cool ! DAy one was excellent. got into cape town about 8am and was ground

handling my new wing by 10am ! By 12 noon the wind had picked up a bit...

enough to lift me 6 feet or so, and hang for a bit with Barry pushing me.



In the afternoon the wind picked up a bit, so we packed it in about 3pm.



Not before Id had the motor on my back for a bit though to get used to the

weight.



Tomorrow: more ground handling in the morning trying to get full control of

the canopy without running around all over the place... then if I make good

progress, maybe the first flight in the afternoon !

day 2 still

day 2 still, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

IN a bar called the Primi. Its pretty cool.



Have to say it really takes some getting used to here...



appardheid might be gone, but any bar around here is 100 % white. staff are

100 % black.



One guy just served me a beer with "here you are master"



The whites are very definately in control still. They have that sort of

authoritanian attitude that is simply not challenged by the black pop.



we had longer to drive back today because the local township had riots and

were throwing stones at passing cars.



It is a bit of a stereotype, but all the wimen are gorgeous, all the blokes

are 6 foot tall and fair skinned.



They still have a pretty weird fashion sense that has girls in their 20s

going about in skirts that barely cover their knickers. . . which is nice

:-)



so some scran tonight, and 8.30 tomorrow I start my static line jump

training. . . the first stage of AFF: accelerated freefall.

Motocross madness

another test, originally uploaded by powerlord_tvr.

First real post. Just to check its working. This was me on saturday on the motocross bikes for the first time.

Plan is to try to regularily post piccies and updates here with I'm in Cape Town with some in flight stuff too.

Stay tuned !

stu