THE AEROPLANE IN THE BOOT OF YOUR CAR
Paramotoring is the most accessible form of powered flight. A paramotor is simply a power unit a pilot wears on his back, designed to convert paraglider wings to powered paragliders (PPG's). This personal aircraft can be safely flown on most calm weather days and requires minimal training by aviation standards.
Paragliders are usually flown without engines, from hills or mountains. In order to extend the flight, the paraglider pilot needs to find rising air (lift) in the form of warmer air rising in "thermals", or ridge-lift, where the wind is deflected upward by mountain slopes. Finding and using lift to stay aloft is known as soaring. Without this lift, a paraglider will glide, gradually descending until reaching the ground
Combining a paraglider with a backpack engine forms a powered paraglider, a paramotor, which can be flown from level ground, without the need for hills, mountains, a winch, wind or thermals.
The engine is used to gain or maintain height and the pilot can cover large distances without the assistance of the conditions. The engine can then be switched off to glide or soar as desired and re-started in flight when required to gain altitude.
Paramotoring has literally taken off in the last two years. Many disillusioned paraglider pilots are now turning to paramotoring to increase their air time and take part in new adventures. Paramotoring gives you the ability to fly for mile after mile at low level exploring the hills and countryside. Some paramotor pilots prefer to fly at high altitude often above the clouds. Here at Paraventure we enjoy all types of paramotoring from following the local rivers along the valley bottoms to climbing up over the highest peaks. Paramotoring enables the average citizen to take part in what has traditionally been the very expensive hobby of powered flight. Never before has powered flight been so accessible to so many people for such a small outlay of money.
Finally, here is part of an item written for SkyWings magazine by Paraventures Chief Instructor about the rise of paramotoring:
"While hang gliding and now paragliding seem to be part of a world wide decline, paramotoring is a still evolving and growing sport. I think there are two main reasons for this; equipment development is the first reason but the second is that a lot of pilots are finally waking up to the idea that if you want airtime, you could do a lot worse than strapping an engine to your back.
Usually the purist's start shouting at this point claiming that paramotoring is cheating, not being the same as paragliding and they are right. Paragliding is a fantastic sport; I've been free flying for 17 years and I still love it. Nothing really compares to climbing out in a big soft thermal with a couple of birds of prey but I just don't get much opportunity for this here in the UK. Paramotoring really is a completely different sport. It may not be as 'pure' as free flight but instead it offers an element of freedom that paragliding only pilots can only dream about. On one still day last Christmas, a few of us did a 45km cross country from Abergavenny, through the Black Mountains with a turn point at Monmouth then back home. The flight was done between the altitudes of 100ft to a maximum of 6000ft and took just an hour and a half. If this is cheating I'm quite happy to carry on doing so. It is possible to achieve long low level flights even by staying inside of air law restrictions; following rivers is a favourite one of mine although it is important not to cause noise pollution and to keep away from walkers, houses and fishermen. Paramotors are becoming far more quiet than they used to be so noise pollution will become less of a problem in the future.
Paramotor pilots tend to pick when they want to go flying a little more on their own terms. There is much less time wasted than free flying from hills and if the wind direction changes, you just move the windsock. If the day looks flyable, it probably is and you probably will. As professional people seem to be constantly busy, the attraction of a powered aircraft that can be easily transported in the boot of their car is obvious. Make no mistake though, paramotoring and powered hang gliding are still weather dependant sports; they are just not so weather dependent as flying from hills. So paramotoring is very attractive to busy people with little time on their hands but the sports many developments have attracted a lot of others.
Paramotor development continues on an almost daily basis. These back pack units are now lighter yet more powerful than ever before and slowly they are evolving to be much more reliable and user friendly than that of machines only a few years ago".
Paul Williams CFI Paraventure Sept 2006
