Powered Paragliding Paramotoring New Brunswick

06 Aug 06 - Adrian returns to fly - Adrian had given me a call yesterday stating that he is ready to continue on with his training. The weather was looking good for training later on in the day and I met Adrian at the training field. It has been 9 months since Adrian had flown but after about 2 hrs of refresher training he was ready to take to the skies. Adrian's flight was very good but was a little bumpy at times. We waited a little to see if the winds would come down, but unfortunately it did not. Adrian is looking forward to return to get more flying in and to complete his course. Great work, Adrian!!

05 Aug 06 - Fredericton Jct Homecoming - I had the opportunity to take part in the F'ton Jct homecoming in which I had set up a static display and performed demo flights. The demo flights had to be re-scheduled to later on in the evening due to high winds. Glen Boyd had shown up to support the event as well as Roger and his family. (Few pics)

I taught myself to Hang Glide from a magazine article when I was 18, now I am 50, older, and hopefully a little wiser, When I decided I wanted to PPG I chose to get lessons , definitely a good choice, The learning curve is much quicker and you come out of it with a safe and effective approach to flying. The cost is quite reasonable if you compare it to the cost of a couple of parablend incidents due to poor technique to say nothing of possible injury.

When you get your lessons, Frank is your guy, very knowledgeable, willing to adapt his course to fit your needs, tells you how it is and what to do differently to make it work better next time. There is a lot to learn but the training stays with you after the course, I am still working on improving my landings and what works is to go back to what Frank taught me, eyes on the horizon , feet down etc. etc. So in my humble opinion, first of all get training and second get Frank to train you , you'll be doing yourself a favor .

1 Aug 06 - Baie du Febvre Fly In - This Fly- In was outstanding, there is no doubt that the local pilots from the Quebec area know how to hold these type of events. Quebec has the most concentration of PPG Pilots in North America thanks to the hard work and dedication of Eric Dufour, David Sigier and other local PPG Schools/Instructors. This event was the first organized in the Baie du Febvre area with over 100 Pilots attending including several female PPG pilots. There were pilots from various other provinces to include, Ontario, New Brunswick as well as Stan from the U.S.A. Any pilot attending PPG Fly-Ins will tell you that these events are not only fun to attend, but a big part of this sport. We all share the same passion for this sport and are looking forward to next Fly-In next year in Rimouski. Special thanks to Pierre Lemire, his family and staff for organizing the Fly-In. Here are a few pics of the event. (Click on photo to enlarge) More photos here

Mass Launch of 70+ pilots Great photo!! Csaba - Electric paramotor Mete - Flying over trailer site

Santa's sleigh-Can this really Fly!! Cool off time !! Mosquito fly by Stan/Csaba

22 July 06 Another qualified PPG pilot!! - Myself and Johanne had returned to the Island (P.E.I) to attempt to complete two goals, one was to complete Mike A's PPG course and the second was to go to Johannes Uncles 80th birthday. Well, I'm happy to say that both goals were achieved. Even though the weather this week-end was not the best we were given a break from the rain most of the day Saturday. We started early Sat morning but the winds were a little too high for a first flight. I had flown a couple of flights to play around in the air and was hoping that the wind would come down a little for Mike's first flight. There was a nice little sloping valley beside us so Mike and I had attempted a few sled runs(No motor) down the valley. Since the wind was quite strong, I thought we could probably get some free flight air time. We had attempted a few runs down the valley and did get a little air but to my liking the wind had started to come down. I quickly hooked up to a motor and went up to test the air, the wind had settled down quite a bit and it was definitely good enough for Mike to get in his first solo flight. Mike was soon set up and was flying on his first attempt, he was a little timid on the throttle at first but after a little coaching he went to full throttle and was enjoying his first flight. Mike had completed 5 successful flights that morning but the winds had picked up, so we ended training until later on in the evening. The evening brought good weather with overcast clouds and light winds. We set up and Mike was soon back in the air , because of Mike's fitness he had no problem with back to back flights until he met the course standard. Congratulations Mike, on successful completion of your PPG course!!

There was a day in my life, 24 years ago to be exact, that changed my life forever! As a boy of 13, I was walking through the mall with my dad one day looking in the shop windows when I came upon one of the most amazing things that I had ever seen! It was a little ultra light airplane on display and its at that moment I was bitten! Bitten by the bug to fly! Ever since then I dreamed, I saved, I researched and I studied in the hopes of becoming a pilot one day myself or owning my own aircraft and join countless people fortunate enough to experience the marvels and beauty of flight! It wasn't until one day, after years of waiting and trying to decide what type of flying I wanted to get into, I heard from a friend that he was getting into powered paragliding and to my amazement, knew of an instructor just outside Fredericton N.B. who was offering just that sort of training.

It wasn't 10 minutes later I frantically got on the phone and call Frank with a list of questions regarding his PPG school. Frank was very eager and interested to answer all my questions and to my amazement, after a few phone calls that evening, we were making plans to start my training within a few weeks! The main thing that amazed me about getting in contact with Frank at PPGNB, was he had the whole package! I spent years trying to get a hold of instructors and finding a suitable schools that was not only close enough to my location, Prince Edward Island, but was affordable, didn't take weeks to complete the training, had a reasonable priced aircraft, and in this case, didn't need a hangar, trailer, or runway. A very attractive prospect for a new pilot with a limited budget and few resources. We set up some bookings for training and I headed over for the initial part of my training which ended up being a very pleasurable experience given the fact I was leaving home to stay at a strangers place for the weekend, had never been in a PPG before, and didn't know what to expect from the training or myself.

It didn't take long to realize I was in good hands and Frank and his wife Johanne were very hospitable, easy to talk to, and made me feel right at home. I left that Sunday with my Student Pilot Permit and very happy to have met two wonderful people who later would make my dream of flying a reality. Unfortunately, the following weeks we were plagued with either high winds, rain, or both which wasn't the conditions we were hoping for and made coming over to PPGNB for the weekend unsuitable. But with a lot of patience on both our parts Frank and Johanne saw an opportunity to graciously come over to the Island to help get me in the air while visiting relatives as well, but he location that we trained, low winds and direction made it difficult for me to make much progress but it was a very valuable experience which paid off later. Two weeks later we made another attempt and come hell or high water we were determined to get the job done, and with a little persistence from Frank and lot of hope nervousness on my part, I WAS FLYING!!!!!! The first flight lacked a bit of finesse, but after about the third flight and a calm reassuring voice from Frank on the radio, it soon became apparent to me this was it, this was going to happen, I was on my way to achieving my life long goal.

In closing, I'd just like to say, if after reading this and your still not sure what you want in flying but just know you want to fly, for god sake, follow in my footsteps and others before me and you won't be disappointed. This is the way to fly. Open, free, like a magic carpet ride and PPGNB is the place to do it. Frank and Johanne may not realize it but they are two of the most important people now that I've met in my life and I express my deepest gratitude to the both of them for the help they've given me not to mention how important their school is to countless others through the eastern part of Canada who have a dream like me. Keep up the good work, hope to do some flying with you in the future and am very proud to be part of the PPG community!

20 July 06 - Few pics of local pilots XC adventures - Mark Dean had been getting in some great flying around the province of NB and snapped a few photos of his flights. Thanks Mark!

Mark and Tim flying in the Blackville Mark getting in some coastal flying in Pokeshaw

15 July 06 - Great XC flight this Morning. - I decided to fly a XC flight this morning towards Welsford. It was a great change of view, I flew over Blissville, and Hoyt. The Flight was 36.1 Khms , it took one hour. (Few Pics)

7 July 06 - PEI trip!! - Johanne and I decided to go to PEI to continue training with Mike A and also to visit family as well as getting in some flying. Mike A had found an airstrip on the island where we could train and allow us to keep the motorhome on the property for the week-end. We arrived Friday after supper and we started training with Mike right away. Mike had been practicing Kiting in which payed off and he had several good forward launches, unfortunately he had hit the kill switch by mistake on more than one occasion and we had to abort the launches. The light wind went to no wind and with the humidity it was very difficult to get in a successful launch even for a experienced pilot. We waited for more wind and some time later a light breeze arrived, however is was at an angle that did not go down either runway. We had attempted to try several launches just to start to get running and we would run out of runway. On one occasion Mike had nearly made it in the air but had jumped into his seat early and had damaged his prop. I flew later on that evening and during the next morning. Johanne and I also had a chance to get a great XC flight in. (Few Pics) and Video)

5 July 06 - Tim starts training. - Because of the great weather we've been having lately Tim had a chance to start training. We covered all the Theory training as well as some paramotor training. Unfortunately the winds were too high for Kiting today. Did I mention that Tim's a big man!!(290 Lbs) Few Pics

4 July 06 - Ed Fly's!!! - Ed had stayed for an overnight stay to catch the weather the next morning. It was worth the wait, the morning weather was great and Ed had flown many successful flights to complete his course. Great work Ed!!