Powered Paragliding Paramotoring New Brunswick

I have been taking short flights around the Steele field to get my bearing and just to spend more time with my machine and to see how it reacts to certain situations that I can create. The owners of the farm have been more than accommodating and have said that I can use their field anytime I want.

This morning (Saturday 30th of June. 0700 am. I was setting up for take off when a fellow by the name of John showed up with a Tandem Six Chuter on his trailer and said that maybe we could fly together. I guessed that this is the guy that I saw flying last winter and got me interested enough to call you. We talked a bit, checked out each others equipment and decided to fly to Hampton via the Hammond River and then back by the Kennibecasis. I was in the air for 1 hr and 8 min. Highest elevation 1384 ft. I got stuck in some thermals over Hampton Gulf Club and had to spill some air to get to a lower altitude and get back my ground speed. Along the river marches we saw deer and moose, and fishermen enjoying the morning. Cars slowing down along the old 100 hwy to look at us fly by. Farmers waving at us as they cut their hay and their cows heading for cover because two of the biggest birds they have ever seen are going over top. Landed back at Steele field, just like you taught me. Power on and a little brake.

An AWESOME FLIGHT, and you are the one I have to thank, for making it possible. Your instruction gave me the knowledge and skill I need to operate my glider with confidence. My new adventure is a dream come true. Again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

27 June 07 - Sussex RC Club - On a few occasions, the Sussex RC Club has flown from there site right beside our flying site. Bruce dropped in and helped finishing cutting the field and waiting for the weather to improve. Bruce then flew an XC to Apohaqui and continued down to Lower Millstream while I kept radio contact ensuring Bruce had clearance from the RC aircraft during take off and landing.

Note to all pilots: Send me some Pics/Videos of your flights along with a small narrative. I'll post it on the site for other pilots to enjoy.

Sussex RC Flying Site Local RC Pilot landing RC Flying Club beside the PPG Field

No that's not Frank, it's Bruce Frank & Bruce on radio as he flew to Lower Millstream

27 June 07 - Jo's working hard!! - Unfortunately I am unable to do my regular chores around the house, but Johanne had picked up the slack and is carrying on with field maintenance!! I'll have to be extra good, when she comes in from several hours of cutting the grass!!

24 June 07 - Unfortunate incident during testing equipment - As an instructor I always like to test fly students equipment prior to them flying it for the first time. The problem I have is that I'm a very light pilot. To date I had flown medium size gliders(fides 28) in good conditions without incident or any flight issues. However this time I had a student that had purchased different type of equipment from another distrubutor. His glider was an XL glider that I knew would be too big for me to fly safely and I knew that I would be at the low end of the scale for this glider to fly and under these conditions had a greater risk for flight issues, especially parachutal stall.

Well, on Friday evening 22 June 07 Kev and I had finished In -flight training and the winds were quite low. I had decided to take the chance a pre-flight his equipment, knowing that I would have to be light on power and brakes to not induce a stall . I thought under these conditions everything should be OK to conduct a pre-flight, well I was wrong!!

I inflated the glider during a forward launch and the glider inflated well and slowly added thrust and in a few steps I was in the air. I stayed low for a bit to see how the glider was reacting and it seemed to be OK. When I added more power to slowly gain altitude at about thirty feet I had noticed the glider was lagging behind, I reduced power and had minimal brake input, however the wing had disappeared from my sight and I knew I was in trouble. The glider did not completely stall from my eyewitness (Kev) and did remain inflated, however did go into a parachutal stall and I had dropped from approx 30' of altitude. I hit hard and the motor had sustained bad damage to the frame and prop to include a bad left wrist injury to myself.

Lesson learned: - I knew better, but thought I could beat the odds in this case if I was easy on the controls - I was wrong!! - Never fly a glider that you are at the low end of the weight rating, you are at a greater risk of parachutal stall, stay closer to the top of the scale!!

Bad decision results - I'll be residing in the St John Regional Hospital for several days to get my wrist sorted out,. I already had one operation but will be completing the final repair to my wrist next Tuesday;

I'll be replacing Kev's frame and prop, but I'm going to upgrade his frame to the Pro series frame which is much more stronger in case of fall;

No flying or training for me for at least 7-8 weeks, in which I apologize to students that had booked training during this time.

22 June 07 - Kev Day 3 - The weather has been very unpredictable, and mother nature likes to give us small window of opportunities to train. Kev and I had taken advantage of the break in weather this morning to get in two more hours of training . The winds were low so we covered forward launches. Kev picked up the technique very quickly and was soon completing forward launches with little or no assistance. Good work Kev!!

21 June 07 - Kevin's second day - Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating today for Kevin. However, we were able to train between light rain conditions.. We covered pre-flight, starting procedure and weight & balance.

20 June 07 - Jim's XC flight and Kevin starts training - Another beautiful morning and Jim and I went on a XC Flight. When the flight was done, I had to get ready for a new student arriving this morning for training. Kevin had showed up right on time and we had completed a full morning of training. Unfortunately the winds were too strong to continue with kiting drills after lunch. Kev's training will continue as soon as the weather clears up.

19 June 07 - Nice evening trike flights - Bruce and I flew over the metropolis of Sussex and area this evening. We had to wait for the air to settle down until about 2000 hrs, it was worth it!! Great flight, great air!!

16 June 07 - Glen returns for refresher training - It's been a while since Glen's last flight so he came down from Fredericton to get in some refresher training. We worked on his forward launch and landings in which he flew 3 good flights this morning. Good work Glen!!

15 June 07 - Nice Evening Flight - Tonight, I had a chance to get in a relaxing warm evening flight. These are the flights that make this sport what it is!!

15 June 07 - Vince cancels his training - Vince showed up early this morning to fly, however the fog was in. We watched a video and waited until the sky was clear. By 0900 the skies were clear and Vince was set up to continue his qualification flights. Vince did get in a successful flight however he was getting more nervous as his flights increased and was having a difficult time concentrating on the launch procedure.

I went over the procedure again with him, but I could tell that he was very nervous and was losing his confidence. We had talked and both agreed that this sport was a little too much for Vince to continue training safely. Vince agreed, and he will be selling his gear to try to get back some of his investment. I'll post his gear on my site as soon as I get the pics.

I would like to say that this sport is not for everyone and even though Vince did not complete his training, he did put forth a gallant effort to reach his dream of flying. On a good note, Vince did get the chance to fly on three occasions and did something that most people can only dream about.

10 June 07 - Dave's Testimonial - Dave has been into aviation for over 20 years, he is a free-fall parachute instructor as well having his private pilots license. Dave has just recently completed his PPG course and he has written a testimonial as well as a brief description of one of his flights.

If you could describe a flying day that was so close to being perfect, that you would think it only possible in a dream, what would it be? The temperature would be warm, but maybe “fresh” enough that a light jacket would be nice. The winds would be calm. The sky would be blue. Some like to start their days early, as do I, but any good start would include breakfast with my family and a hot cup of coffee with my wife. A leisurely drive to the airstrip and a non hurried pace getting the flying machine prepared for flight. All systems go and off into the still air. The flight would be totally spontaneous, nothing planned, formation flying with a bald eagle, maybe some geese or a duck or two. The deer in the fields would look up at you with curiosity and caution. The farmers working in their fields would wave as you passed by their tractor cab, eye to eye….Birds would swerve in and out of your path in a playful way. Cars would stop along the highway to wonder at the spectacle. Sailors on the river would wave excitedly as you passed just over their mast. Picnic goers on the beaches would wave and you could see them pointing their cameras….shooting shots they would be describing in details to their friends, the amazing sight they had seen that day. There would be moments that it seemed like you were the only one in the universe, and moments when you were the spectacle of many along the rivers edge. Unfortunately, all flights would have to come to an end, but in this dream it would have a perfect landing in front of a small family audience followed by the sharing of the many stories of the days events.

Like many…I too dream of flying. Flying has always been one of my passions. The idea of powered paragliding seemed like it should be another wonderful opportunity to share the skies from. I came to the PPGNB program like most, I would expect, full of anticipation, excitement and enthusiasm. I also came with some flying experience which I wasn’t sure whether it would prove to be an advantage or disadvantage. I had only seen PPG’s in action once, over 20 years ago. I was sure things would have changed significantly since then.

I was delighted to see the foundation of the PPGNB program is the promotion of safe and responsible flight for all involved. The facility is outstanding. It has easy access, centrally located, great flying field, storage facility, training classroom, training aids including a flying simulator and a “Granny suite”, all within 5 minutes of the town of Sussex. Frank Savignac is an excellent instructor. He has an absolutely wonderful talent of presenting the material in a way that should make sense to both a “seasoned” and/or “unseasoned” hopeful pilot. He has the ability to see what specific to each individual is being done incorrectly and what needs to be corrected.

Frank would keep telling us what to do….correcting our flaws in technique…and each time he would manage to change the delivery…just a little….so maybe the next time…we would actually comprehend what he was saying…it would click…and we would progress and move on.

Total time a loft, 1 hour 35 minutes. Total cost of fuel & oil, less than $7, everything else was PRICELESS!!!!!

10 June 07 - Vince fly's - Vince flew his first two trike flights this morning as well as having Bruce and Jim going for a small XC flight. Congrats Vince on your first flights!!

Jim completed his PPG Trike Course - Jim had finished his final flights this morning and has successfully completed his course. Congrats Jim!!

8 June 07 - Vince passes his SPP - Vince had passed his student pilot permit test this evening and was issued his SPP. With a little more practice kiting he'll soon be flying.

8 June 07 - Jim Fly's - Jim had finally had the weather going his way this morning and had flown 6 successful trike flights. (Few pics)

7 June 07 - Vince start's training - Vince had just completed the construction of his trike and was ready to commence his training. We covered a full day of training today but unfortunately the winds were too high to get in some glider training. The weather looks good tomorrow to continue Vince's training. (Few pics)

3 June 07 - XC flight down New Town Rd - Ed and I had a chance to get in a XC flight this morning. The air was good and the view was picture perfect!!

1 June 07 - New updates on PPGNB web site - Johanne had added pics of the 2007 PPG convention in Florida, the link is at the top of each News page. Also, I've added a new video to my video library. This video is a PPG trike video designed to aid trike students in the take off and landing procedure. You can find it in the Video section. Here's a link. Trike training video

1 June 07 - XC flight this morning - The weather forecast from yesterday had predicted No-Fly weather for this morning, however mother nature again is at most times unpredictable. The winds were light and it was looking good for a flight. I was expecting a short flight but after getting to altitude the winds aloft were good. That meant a good XC (Cross Country flight). I had flown around the Sussex area and had take a few pics of the beautiful scenery!!

31 May 07- Jim starts trike training!! - Jim's trike had arrived from shipping yesterday and the weather was outstanding today for trike training. Jim arrived in the early afternoon and we began training. We trained on kiting, In-flight as well as I had conducted Trike Demo flights for Jim. He did very well on all subjects and is now ready to take his first trike flight. Now, we wait for the weather!! Later on in the evening Bruce had shown up and had two very good flights around the field. Needless to say Jim is very excited and is looking forward to his first flight.