Brendan Hughes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1365214,00.html

T4molie

Quite a good article... me being an "early adopter" and all

JackClark

Great article. Me to a tee. I was first in line for a Bugeye! As the article says...

So, without people like me there would be no Blobeye WRX STi Spec C Type RA

Latest gadget, pocket plane.

Brendan Hughes

Little Nellie 2004?

Andy Porter

You must have some big pockets Jack

JackClark

>You must have some big pockets Jack

Yeah, the depreciation on the Bugeye is a killer! Or if you mean the Paramotor it's the cheapest way to fly other than Easyjet. Beautiful engineering by the way, same Bailey of dump valve fame.

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

Quote - "One of the best gadgets I ever bought, also in 1999 (clearly an ill-starred year for bets on the future), was a Psion 5mx, a palmtop computer with a laptop-style keyboard that I still think is the best portable writing machine yet devised."

He was a bit late - I'm still using my Psion 5

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

do you strap it to your back or does it fold into a plane? show me, show me please looks cool though whatever it is

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

ahhh

found the website, at £5k all in thats not bad at all

hmmmm are they easy to fly?

JackClark

Very easy to fly. Not so easy to get off the ground. I did 7 days training in France towards my licence and need to go back for a few days more to finish off. I'm not confident enough to just turn up and take off on my own yet, but should have that sussed this month. The weather's not helping.

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

I could only presume it wouldnt be as scary as parachuting, as you dont have the element of will the chute open? its open so ipresume once you get up there if something does go wrong like you run out of juice its just a matter of using the controls to land safely? (wind allowing)

do you have to take off from a hill or can it be done from flat ground with a run?

looks very

JackClark

Your wing can collapse, but it's rare in normal flying conditions and most wings - though not mine - are rated to recover in a certain time and way. Engine off is no problem, in fact I'll be switching mine off as much as I can, using the engine for as much altitude I can bare then gliding as long as I can whilst eating my sandwiches and listening to my iPOD

You don't need a hill just a nice flat piece of land and a run into wind.

I need to grow my ***** back again, they were huge when I started this hobby and have steadily shrunk, having the wing here and a lot of ground handling practice is slowly bringing them back up to original size. When you've been dragged around the field by a 25 meter square wing minus motor it's a bit of a nerve breaker strapping a spinning propeller to your back and launching it again.

I went for an Action wing - www.flyparamania.com - it's just about the fastest non competition wing you can buy with a 60kph cruising speed. My motor will fly for around 3 hours with the full 10 litres of fuel. Should get me up to Wales for a days flying with a quick landing at a petrol station on the way back.

boxst

Hello

I was in Brighton about 7 weeks ago, and there were people doing this on the beach.

Suddenly there was a huge gust of wind and they all went flying towards the main traffic. One landed in the middle of the road and nearly got run over, the two others smashed into the wall. One looked as though they broke their nose and the other possibly a few ribs along with losing a few teeth.

So be careful.

Steve.

JackClark

I'd hate to think I'd made it sound safe, it's not. I've heard tales of severed hands flying through the air and shoulders sliced off and how about a Parmotor on fire in flight, not good at all.

A huge chunk of gaining a licence is the study of meteorology, this might have helped the people on the beach, but you don't need a licence to fly in this country. I'm getting mine so I can get insured.