Hello everyone,

It’s been a busy month what with the British Paramotor Nationals an’ all!  The Nationals was interesting to say the least as Richard Meredith-Hardy not only had the venue 1100ft above sea level in the windy peak district but also changed the format of the competition.  The weather forecast over the three and a half day comp,  although promising proved to be quite windy and turbulent for a good proportion of the time with Sunday and the reserve session, Tuesday morning which was extended to 4pm  proving best overall.  The new format of the competition gave the competitors a choice of when to fly a particular task. This meant that you needed to choose the right time to complete a task for the conditions to get the best score. Many found this a bit confusing which meant that some pilots chose inappropriate tasks for the conditions whereas others got it spot on which was reflected in the scores.

Saturday was blown out with very strong winds of 30 mph+ damaging a number of tents including my own and dramatically destroying a B&Q special that had been intended at the main control tent as well as some others.

Sunday’s weather forecast from Tim Salter was more promising with a westerly light to moderate wind in the morning and becoming light NW later. The sky looked really good early on in the day with nice cumulus forming against a clear blue backdrop. Along with a good proportion of the field I had decided to fly a limited fuel task which entailed flying with 2 litres of fuel and flying as far away as possible.  I elected to launch during a window 12 noon to 2pm and with a white high level cloud layer covering the sky by 12 noon, took off with reservations about the conditions for the task with the sun being blanked out so much. For the first few kms I used approx half of my fuel ploughing through the dead air downwind of the airfield and it wasn’t until reaching Bakewell that I got my first good climb to cloudbase at 2,900 amsl.  Thereafter I used a number of thermals and only used power to avoid descending to low whilst looking for my next ride to cloudbase. Over the next couple of hours, cloudbase increased to over 3,500 amsl and I was getting some excellent thermal climbs aboard my medium PAP Racing (ITV Tomahawk) wing. After nearly three hours in the air the last of my fuel was exhausted, I’d run out of thermals and all that was left was to find a safe landing place. After returning to the airfield courtesy Geoff Dawson who’d volunteered to drive retrieve, I found that I’d managed 71.8kms to win the task.

A pre-arranged task, again of limit fuel, but around a short course was set for the Sunday evening, due to my extended retrieve and arriving back late for fuelling I suffered a 20% penalty for this task. I started the task but wasn’t at all happy with the course and what I considered a dangerous downwind section so aborted the task after 2 laps. I scored a massive 53 point out of a possible 1000 for that one.

Monday started with an unstable sky and strong winds, some pilots managed to squeeze a task in by setting off soon after the window opened at 8:30 am, but I was slow getting ready and electing a task and the weather thwarted my efforts to complete a task that day. Tues I couldn’t compete as I had to leave to take care of a family commitment, which meant I missed one of the best days, c’est le vie!  

Overall I managed 16^th place with Michel Carnet once again winning 1^st place. He deserved it as it was obvious during the competition that he was 100% focused and determined to do well. Well done Michel.

Product news.
Well we are still waiting for a confirmed production start for the ROS125 powered machines, but if all goes well it should be next week. I saw a prototype machine flying with engine at the Nationals and it proved to have plenty of power combined with excellent economy of approx 4 litres per hour.

I’ve been busy on the Skydragons.com website adding a new shopping basket system, this now includes replacement propellers so it will make it easier for you to obtain a replacement should you have a little accident requiring some new woodwork or plastic!  In the next few months I’ll be supplementing my range of goods offered by Skydragons the first of which is re-furbished mobile telephones, a little diversity never hurt and I’ve been really impressed with the Ericsson T39 that I’ve been using the last 18 months so I’ve bought some re-furbished handsets. I’m selling these for £55 including delivery, its great little phone that has a comprehensive no nonsense specification.

The transport / storage bag system for the three part chassis is now completed. It is in two parts and has a padded section for the engine / chassis part and other section is designed to accommodate the two mesh frame sections plus the wing. See attached pictures. Price is £240 plus delivery.

Well that’s all for now, keep in touch and keep looking in on the website as I’ll be upgrading and adding to it over the next few months.

Happy flying…

Noel.