Tag Archives: powered paragliding

Yzerfontein PPG – a few more photos

These courtesy of Hannes Jansen, one of the other pilots on our sortie to Yzerfontein recently. I do so love to see my beaut orange & yellow Eden 4 in flight.

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Why we fly PPG

The link to this video has been circulating the flying community, and it explains the thoughts and feelings behind flying powered paragliders so nicely that I have to pass it on.  If you have a fast connection, click the settings (cog wheel) and watch it at 720p – it’s worth the wait.

Powered paraglider XC to Yzerfontein

Section of the aeronautical chart showing the area and airspace

Great PPG flying on the West Coast today.  We met at Grotto Bay and flew north along the coastline to Yzerfontein – 30km of almost uninhabited and deserted beach, with the occasional wild ostrich for company.  After an extended coffee break at Yzerfontein to assess what the wind was doing (a NE land breeze meeting the forecast NW sea breeze) the general consensus was to head back to Grotto rather than chancing a flight to Langebaan.  Fortunately, help was at hand in the form of Dave, who offered to drive my Pajero as a support vehicle, and so I invited him to drive it all the way to Blouberg, said goodbye to the others at Grotto Bay and flew the whole stretch back in one go – more than 70km cross-country flight if you allow the small detour around the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station restricted airspace which I had to make.

Continue reading Powered paraglider XC to Yzerfontein

Zee PHG

Reading my last post, I realised I alluded to the Zee PHG photo without actually publishing it.  Daft.  Here you go:

Brent flying his powered hang-glider with Hout Bay in the background

While the uninitiated might presume this tiny aircraft to be a microlight, it is actually a powered (aka motorized) hang-glider – the wing is a perfectly normal standard hang-glider with which (unlike a microlight) you could run off any handy hill or mountain and have a soaring or thermic flight sans engine or undercarriage.  The undercarriage and engine are designed to be super light-weight, allowing the entire assembly with pilot to fall within the allowable maximum weight for the glider wing.  This means that if flies just like a normal hang-glider, albeit with slightly more drag.  They are designed to allow pilots to take off from a handy spot, fly to the nearest hill or thermic area, turn off the engine and soar.  Yes, you do need a license – first as a hang-glider pilot, and then a power conversion to fly the PHG.  You’ll recall from earlier blog posts that I went off and learnt to do this some time ago, before unexpected circumstances landed a powered paraglider kit in my hands.

Looking down the Cape Peninsula from 3000ft - click for enlargement

This was the first time we’ve flown the PHG and PPG together, and although we didn’t do formal tests we made a number of observations.  Launching the Zee in zero wind was an absolute breeze (hur hur), with the machine accelerating smoothly across the beach on its big bubble wheels.  By comparison, I took three sweaty attempts to get the PPG airborne: no-wind takeoff in deep sand with a paraglider and 30+kg of kit on your back is a challenge.  Once in the air, the paraglider (I fly a MacPara Eden 4 Powered with a PAP125 engine and on this occasion a 125cm carbon prop) seemed to climb more rapidly, or at least at a steeper angle.  Cruising speed was identical at trim, with the PPG a little faster on cruise with the trims open.  Both aircraft felt the rotor turbulence behind the big peaks; I had one 60% asymmetric collapse and Brent described a few significant bumps, but I think he had more confidence in his rigid wing.  I could lose height very rapidly by putting the paraglider into a spiral, but lack the hang-glider’s ability to accellerate into a steep descent in a straight line.  Landing the PPG in a limited space is of course  very easy; by the time we returned there was a 10 knot wind blowing, and I was able to make a precision landing a few meters from the car, whereas the Zee needed a bit more space and rollout.

Considering flying to Rio for tea?

For about 1h20 flying time, including several climbs from low level up to 3000ft, we used 5.5 litres of fuel (petrol) for the PPG and 8 litres for the PHG.  We didn’t have anyone specific to assess the relative noise, but onlookers who I spoke to said they couldn’t hear either aircraft from the moment we climbed out over the bay until we were setting up for landing – good news for environmental and noise-abatement reasons.  Grins on the pilot’s faces were equally wide, and the post-flight beer/cider at Dune’s Restaurant 50m from landing tasted equally good!

What’s the verdict?  We need to fly more 🙂

PPG – Goedverwacht Dawn Patrol

Great flight this morning from Goedverwact Microlight Airfield near Durbanville with Keith, Callie, Martin, Hannes, Mias and Thys.  I was particularly glad to get in the air, as my PPG motor needed some work done recently and I was worried about misbehaviour.  We kitted up before sunrise beneath heavily overcast skies with a low cloudbase, but the morning blessed us with a gentle northerly wind in which to launch and then cool, calm flying conditions.  I’m afraid you will have to put up with iPhone photos, as I have lent my usual flying camera to my friends Cathy & Andrew as they depart for a motorbike circuit of South America: they’ll get better use out of it!  I’ll use it as an excuse to take my SLR flying instead, *grin*.

Preparing before dawn at Goedverwacht
Keith in flight

Our route meandered through the Durbanville Hills to the west until we reached Morningstar Airfield, where we did some low passes and admired other flying machines while they admired us.  Thereafter we cruised through the farmlands at low level, following the river for a while.  We then turned east and flew to the Klipheuwel wind turbines, landing back at Goedverwacht.

Route in blue
Morningstar Airfield
"Local traffic, Whisky Mike X-Ray, motorised paraglider and five others departing east from Morningstar at 500ft..."
Klipheuwel wind turbines

What a pleasure, in good company – thanks guys!

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth..."

Dawn Patrol

The last two days I have eschewed my ‘new’ habit of cycling to work in favour of a much earlier start, but a greater reward: powered paraglider “Dawn Patrols”. Keith Pickersgill of Xplorer PPG invited me to join them in flying from Kreeftebaai just south of Melkbosstrand on Monday at 05h15 (just in time to catch sunrise from the air), and it was such a success we repeated the effort this morning, with 6-8 pilots each time. It means a four o’clock start from home for me, about an hour’s flying and then quick pack to be back in the car in the notorious West Coast traffic to arrive in ICU by 0730… but what a payout 😉

I flew with the new Go Pro HD Hero 2 for the first times, and will hopefully get around to putting a little video together, but here are some quick frame grabs from this morning:

Skimming along over the waves shortly after launching (and remembering to activate the helmet camera…)

Climbing up to meet the sunrise over the beach south of Melkbos

Ground-skimming through the veld at first light

Dawn patrollers

800ft over Melkbos on the way to work 😉