|
PPG Field of Dreams!!
"If you build it, they
will come"
History of Past Students
- Click here
07 Dec 07 - We're off to Florida tomorrow!! -
Jo and I will be departing for Florida tomorrow. I was hoping to depart earlier
but the weather has been terrible. We have a very small window of
opportunity tomorrow and we're going to take it. I hope everyone has a very
happy Xmas and New Year, special thanks to my customers who supported
PPGNB. I hope that everyone get's in some nice winter flights and We'll
see you again this Spring. Jo and I will be getting Cell phones in Florida and
we should have internet access. We'll post our contact numbers as soon as
possible. Take Care in the Air!! Frank & Johanne
28 Nov 07 - Bear's Mission Everest Update
- The following
episodes of Bear's Mission Everest are scheduled to air on the Discovery
Channel as he battles to fly his powered paraglider above the worlds highest
mountain, Mount Everest, facing 200 mph winds, temperatures of -100 F and an
altitude of 30,000 ft as he succeed his incredible dream.
| Sunday |
02 December 2007 |
3:00 am Eastern |
4:00 am Atlantic |
| Sunday |
02 December 2007 |
8:00 pm Eastern |
9:00 pm Atlantic |
| Wednesday |
05 December 2007 |
1:00 am Eastern |
2:00 am Atlantic |
| Wednesday |
05 December 2007 |
8:00 pm Eastern |
9:00 pm Atlantic |
| Thursday |
06 December 2007 |
4:00 pm Eastern |
5:00 pm Atlantic |
| Sunday |
09 December 2007 |
10:00 am Eastern |
11:00 am Atlantic |
| Sunday |
09 December 2007 |
2:00 pm Eastern |
3:00 pm Atlantic |
27 Nov 07 - Bear's Mission Everest - This Sunday Dec 2/07on the
Discovery Channel at 8 pm ET 9 pm, there will be a one hour challenging
experience of Bear Gylls traveling to Himalayas where he attempts to fulfill his
dream to fly a powered paraglider higher than Mount Everest.
19 Nov 07 - Cold flight!! - Old mother nature hasn't been very
good to us PPG pilots lately with high winds, rain, snow etc, etc. So, I was
happy to see the cold air to move in to stabilize the air for flying . The temp
this morning just after first light was -13 deg C. I went outside to the shop to
pre-flight my trike, I flew my trike because I knew at this temp I would require
the charging system to keep the Gerbing electric gloves toasty to get a decent
flight in. As I stood outside, I was debating if I should wait until later
to allow the sun to warm the weather up a little. Well, I was a wimp and I
talked myself into waiting. I grabbed another coffee and as I was sitting in my
nice and warm house I started to think about a documentary that I had just seen
recently regarding WW1 pilots. I had reflected on how many morning like these
that they had to go into battle with open cockpit aircraft with no heat and no
electric gloves and yes, getting shot at the same time. Cold weather is
very inconvenient, but is not a safety issue. So, needless to say I quickly
drank down my coffee and out I went. I flew for just over an hour and the flight
was cold, but great air!! Of course recreational flying is no comparison to what
the brave pilots of WW1 went through, but sometimes I think we take our freedom
and little luxuries for granted.
11 Nov 07 - Remembrance Day - We Salute
Those Who Have Served and Those Who Continue to Serve.
It
is the
VETERAN
,
not the preacher,
Who
has given us freedom of religion.
It
is the VETERAN
,
not the reporter,
Who
has given us freedom of the press.
It
is the VETERAN
,
not the poet,
Who
has given us freedom of speech.
It
is the VETERAN
,
not
the campus organizer,
Who
has given us freedom to assemble.
It
is the VETERAN
, not the lawyer,
Who
has given us the right to a fair trial.
It
is the VETERAN
,
not the politician,
Who
has given us the right to vote
It
is the veteran
,
Who
serves under the Flag,
It
is the veteran
,
Who
serves under the Flag,
ETERNAL
REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
We can be very proud of our young men and
women in the service no matter where they serve.
9 Nov 07 - Ed's New Mini PPC - Ed was happy to pick up his new
Mini PPC today. This is the first unit sold by PPGNB but won't be the last!!
These unit's are the extremely easy to fly due to the paraglider set-up with no requirement
to pull up risers during inflation. The Mini PPC has a F33 Hirth Aircraft
rated engine that is extremely reliable and powerful and as you can see you
buckle in like getting into your vehicle. The front windshield helps to keep you
warmer during those early morning flights, not to mention winter flights. Other
nice accessories are front disc brakes, carbon fibre three blade adjustable
pitch prop, electric and Pull start and a 12Volt receptacle to plug in the
electric gloves or any other 12 volt device. If you're looking for a nice trike,
the Mini PPC is the answer. After Ed had left, I had a chance to get in a quick
Sunset flight.
5 Nov 07 - Back to foot launch!! - Due to my wrist injury in
June, I was unable to foot launch until my wrist was properly healed up. I flew
two short flights with the Nomad paramotor just to slowly get back into the
groove of things. As you can see by the cumulus clouds it was a little
bumpy, but it was nice to have a chance to run off the ground
again. I was getting much too spoiled with trike flying!!
31 Oct 07 - Happy Halloween - Frank went
for a flight this morning and unfortunately no witches reported flying in the
Sussex area. Fly safe!!
30 Oct 07 - We're Back - Johanne and I just returned back from
a western tour to visit our boys in Calgary. We had a chance to drive through to
Banff and the BC mountains, what a sight!! Congratulations to Bob M who wrote
his Ultra-light exam and is now a qualified and licensed PPG pilot. Ed E
has some really nice Fall Flights around the Sussex area. A few pics of the fall
colours.
17 Oct 07 - Out of the Office - Johanne & I will be out of
the office until the 30th October visiting our sons in Calgary, Alberta.
During our absent, all emails and telephone calls will be answered upon our
return. Thanks, Frank & Johanne
8 Oct 07 - Interesting short flight this evening!! - The
weather lately has not been very good for flying. This evening it was forecasted
for the winds to come down and it did, but not until 1830 hrs. This did not give
me a very big window to get in a decent flight, but I figured if that's what
Mother Nature has to offer I'll take it. I was in the air by 1840 hrs and was
enjoying a nice flight. About 10 mins into the flight I had a unexpected
surprise, the engine shut down, "dead stick". I was quite shocked
because I was flying the ECO 4 and the reliability of a 4 stroke engine is
better than our two stroke motors. When this happened my altitude was
around 1000' and I was South of the Sussex. I immediately tried to
restart but there was nothing, so I scouted for a nice landing area and thanks
to the Sussex area there was plenty!! I had to choose a place closest to a
roadway and big enough to re-launch in case I sorted the problem out. On the
other hand if I couldn't find the problem the ECO 4 is one heavy trike, it
weighs in at 230 lbs and would not be fun to manhandle around. Anyway, I found a
nice landing area and landed nice and soft by allowing this heavy trike to gain
full speed and giving a full flare just before touchdown. By this time I only
had around 1/2 hour daylight left and I knew I better find out what was the
problem. I knew it had to be electrical because I could not restart but I
started my troubleshooting. First I quickly checked the clear fuel line anyway
to check for fuel and the line was full, no surprise. I quickly checked the
wiring harness for an unplugged connector and everything looked good. So, it had
to be a bad connection somewhere. I went right to the electrical source
(Battery) and found the problem. The negative cable looked good but as I grabbed
it I could easily move the connector. I grabbed my tool kit and retightened the
negative post. I cleared the prop and attempted to re-start the engine, it
started and ran good. I quickly set up and off I returned home. Wow, I would
have hated to haul that rig back home in the dark!! I'm going to modify the
Battery bolts with self locking nuts.
Bring Tools & Fly High!!
2 Oct 07 - Decisions, decisions!! - This morning I was looking
forward to a good flight, the weather was cold and there was frost on the
ground. I dressed for the occasion and figured that I might as well start
getting used to the cold weather flying. Anyway, there was fog earlier but it
completely cleared up by 0800 hrs. I set up and was ready to launch by 0820 and
just prior to launching I could see another fog bank heading my way. I had
plenty of time to launch and fly away from the fog bank but this fog bank looked
different than the usual I see in the Valley. It was quite dense and far
spreading. I figured that I'll be flying for at least an hour and the fog should
be easily dispersed by then for my return flight home. Well, my engines running
my hands are on the "A's" and I'm ready to launch. It was at this time
that I had another gander at the fog coming and it was the time to make a
decision to launch or to stay on the ground. I decided on the more safer route
to stay on the ground until it passed or cleared up.
I shut down the engine and waited for a half hour to see if the fog would
clear, and it didn't. In fact it only was getting worse. The entire Valley
around my field was socked in with dense fog. Well, I waited for
another 30 mins and it was still unflyable. The fog did eventually clear by
10:00 Hrs .
The weather was clear and the winds were low, I was going to set up again but
I looked at the clouds aloft and they were strewed out in which meant high winds
aloft. So I decided call it a day and luckily I did because 10 mins later we
were getting winds gusting 20-30 Khms.
The morale of this rather long story is to never put yourself in the
position
where you cannot closely guarantee the weather during your flight time.
This was around 0930 Hrs, when the fog was beginning to clear
24 Aug 07 - Dennis Beach - Several PPG pilots
flew the beautiful coastline of Dennis Beach this weekend and enjoyed the
laminar air coming off the Bay of Fundy. We also had the free flight
pilots flying the coast as well. Johanne and Cathy had a chance to get in their
first free flight tandem thanks to Mike F. Attending PPG pilots were: Tim R, Ed
E and Jim M. All pilots had a great time with great air, good food and good
company. Thanks Ed, Juanita and Jim for the pictures. Video to follow.
.JPG)
.JPG)
HOME
|