Some pics from my local 'Airfield'.

Last Sunday morning, two of my buddies from a nearby rural town, came to fly in my area. The weather was nice for flying with no wind at ground level. (although there was a 25Km/h Easterly blowing above 500ft (150m) altitude. I took off first and went into a circular pattern while waiting for the others to 'get up'. Unfortunately, because of zero wind on the ground, they never managed to take off, however I used the 'waiting time' to take a few pics of my local airfield. Usually I spend little time in the area. (Only during takeoff and when I come-in to land)

My friend Gert's wing lying on the ground. He never managed to 'get up' though :-(

General view of my 'home turf'. Note the cut grass where the local aero modeling club use to take off and land. The airstrip is about 100ft by 10ft wide. (30m x 3m)

Checking the parking bay at Twisters (bottom right). Usually is full of cars - not on a Sunday morning though :-)

Looking to the South. About 2Km away is my friend Van Rooyen's house.My Nokia N8 cell phone has a very good camera. Even when I zoom-in, somehow manages to keep-up the rather good picture quality.

Flying at my Father in law's farm.

I am paramotoring for a few years now, yet never bothered to fly near the farm of my father in law. It is not that far off. About 30miles or 50KM to the west. The previous day I did try to fly there but a nasty and fairly turbulent head wind only let me do about 15Miles/20KM. Gladly my wife agreed to pick me up and give me 'a ride' for the reminder. The next day the weather improved a little and when a few friends of mine decided to fly in the area, I too 'went for it'. I took off fairly late in the afternoon. The scenery was beautiful. Due to the wind coming over the mountains, the air was a bit turbulent but within reason and so, I had a very nice flight just short of a hour. How I wished I had a nice video camera to tape it all. For now though a few pics, hastily taken with my old and trusted cell phone, will have to do.

Chris been helped to takeoff on his second flight ever! He is a big man of 115KG (250pound). He is using a tandem paramotor and got off the ground rather nicely. He is a good paraglider pilot and now a paramotor one too :-)

This is part of my father in law's farm, with the N2 interstate road in the background. The road basically cuts the farm in two.

 Some more Tsitsikamma dams. This entire area is well known for the diary farms. Note the green grass all over. It is used to feed the 1000's of cattle.

This is a 'close-up' of one of the many milking stations. Twice a day the cattle are herded inside where machines are doing the milking job :-)

My Cyber4 wing as a Paramotor.

Hello everyone. It has been a while now since I have posted something about flying. Well, this weekend, I had a very nice and relaxing flight (1hour+) from Jeffrey's Bay to St.Francis Bay and back. The weather was perfect, with a slight onshore breeze, just right for my new wing. Icaro (the Cyber4 manufacturer) does not release any performance data regarding the wing. Armed with a GPS, Camera and Vario, I took off on the main beach in Jbay with the main intention of testing it as a paramotor wing. On take off, the wind was about 5-8Km/h. (On my first try it dropped to about 3km/h). The wing is heavier then my old Golden2 (and less performing). It come up just fine but did not give me the chance to turn around and run (I always do a reverse pull up). I waited a few more minutes and, when the wind got a bit stronger (around 5km/h), I tried again. It was a fairly slow pull up (normal for a very safe EN-A) and I did run like a dog. (Or at least it felt like that) At around 15Km/h I felt the wing been loaded and I knew I got over the most difficult part. I had a long stretch of empty beach in front of me and decided to back of the power slightly in order to test the behaviour of the wing during this most difficult part. While running at 13-15Km/h + a 5Km/h wind from the front, the wing was loaded to about 75%. I gradually pulled the toggles and I was surprised at the immediate response. Of course, the stall point was very close, at this slow speed, however, if my hands went fully up, the wing will respond by coming more forward. This wing is not meant for motorized flight to begin with. Is a very safe (probably the safest) paraglider wing there is. During this 'test run' I was impressed by the left/right response. A bit of pull and the wing will react. Keep in mind, it was only 3/4 loaded. Still, very responsive/sensitive for a beginner wing. By now I was getting tired of running (I am very unfit) and open the throttle to 100%. At the same time I put my hands up. In so doing, I wanted to see if it will just 'pick me off the ground' or should I say sand. Well, it did not. The speed was not quite enough, but very close. After a few more seconds of running, I did apply a very gentle and gradual brake, on both sides. As expected it picked me up in a flash and I come to realize, my feet were holding it back. On firm ground (not soft see sand) it will definitely 'get up' just by 'brute force'. At full power, it climbed steadily at around 1.4-1.5m/s, a bit slow compared to my old G2 (1.85m/s with the very same engine), but given its large size (certified 95Kg - 130Kg for paragliding!), I found it normal. However, shortly thereafter, out of nowhere, it began rolling. Not much, a few degrees either side. I remembered, ICARO tolled me, the wing is not meant for paramotoring and decided to back off the power a bit. The Vario dropped to about +0.5m/s and the rolling motion stopped. Now I wanted to know more about this anomaly. I knew the turbulence is zero because of the laminated air coming over the open see. Whatever motion there was, must be wing generated. I gradually 'powered up' again. The wing went back a little and as soon as the Vario indicated +1.0m/s the rolling motion began. I kept full power to see how bad it will get. It never went past 10 or so degrees either side and it responded very well to counter braking. (This has to be done at the right time, otherwise will make it worse). What bothered me more was the Hi drop in speed, while under full power. (Obviously Hands-up, NO brakes.) The large wing size relative to the total weight (about 120Kg all up) and low aspect ratio, makes for a safe paragliding wing but is not good for motoring. Next I wanted to see if the rolling motion is affected by the speed bar. Indeed, even 1/4 bar will reduce it a lot and at the same time, increase the speed to more normal/safe levels. I want to mention that only under full power this issue becomes troublesome. Anything below 1m/s climbing rate and there is nothing to worry about. Speedbar or not. OK, enough of this. With the engine fully stopped, my anemometer indicated a wind speed of 34.2 to 34.7KM/h. Nice indeed. Same test on full bar pushed the speed to 43.7KM/h. Not to bad for a beginner wing with a big cage and prop to block the wind. I think is safe to say, in a paragliding harness, you can add another 1-2Km/h to this figures. The hands-up sink was relatively Hi at 1.4-1.5M/s. While on quarter brake the sink dropped to about 1.3m/sec. The wing made a safe, solid impression, even for a beginner like me. Is reacting fairly quick when asked to but only for the first half of the toggle range. When you go past that is still does what any glider should do but less so. Not linearly. In other words is very forgiving. The low aspect ration certainly has a word to say regarding the safety, especially when the student wants to polish his boots with the toggles. In the end my GPS died (battery). The track log seems to stop in midair. Unfortunately it was here when I put it thru its paces (wanted the fuel tank to be almost empty). The landing was very uneventful, easy and predictable. (as expected of such a low spec wing) I will do some more testing next time. For now have a look at a few pics I took during the flight.


Greetings from South Africa.

Mario.