Silently falling from 6400 feet

This weekend I decided that after takeoff, I would climb up high- I mean really high. At least high for a paramotor that is. I got to 6400 feet and killed the engine. It was the first time I had ever stopped the engine on purpose while still flying. It felt a little strange at first because I thought about the fact that if I couldn't get it restarted in the air, I'd have to make kinda of an emergency type landing. Anyway, I wasn't too worried because I figured that if I had enough altitude, I could probably glide to just about anywhere I could see. (Click the above text for bigger picture)

What an amazing feeling!! After I stopped the engine, the whole machine settled down. There was no noise, no vibrations, no thrust or torque trying to push me or turn me another way; there was only the feeling of wind in my face and the light whistle as the wind blew through the frame. It was absolutely incredible! I immediately started taking pictures and then noticed a huge airliner going by. He seemed so close but he probably wasn't. It looked like he was climbing out from the Williams Gateway airport nearby.

With no engine running, I started to descend. It was hard to notice the falling feeling at first because I was up so high that there wasn't for a point of reference. The lower I got though, the faster it felt like I was falling. At around 2000 feet, I decided that I'd pushed my luck far enough and started the motor. It fired right up and I made my way to the landing area. This was definitely the best flight I've had so far. I think I'm addicted to stopping the motor so I'm sure you'll eventually hear about me landing somewhere I shouldn't have. Here are some pics and video I took while up. The photos taken from the ground were shot by my friend Bill.

This photo is looking to the west. You can see my house, the GM proving grounds and the Williams Gateway airport.

This is looking at my truck and trailer......can't you see it? It's the white spec down there.

This is the view between my feet.

Here's looking East at the Superstition mountains.

In this photo, I circled my house and my truck.

Thats what I look like from the ground.

Here's me bringing the wing down behind myself.




And another front shot.......

This is a short video of me soaring with the motor off. It's hard to hear me because the wind is whistling over the microphone.

Dalin flies!

Today I took Dalin flying with me. He's been wanting to go but I needed to make sure we could do it safely and that he was ready. We ended up just putting him on my lap and seatbelting him in. I was surprised how different the machine flew with just 40 addidtional pounds.

I thought for sure he was going to be really scared and that I would have to land immediately. As soon as we were airborne, I asked if he was ok and he said, "yeah, this is fun!"
We played over top of the twins and Alishia for a few minutes and then climbed higher. Dalin did fantastic and never acted scared or nervous. Even I was more frightened my first time up!

Here's a short clip of us taking off together:

Flying with the family

I flew a little again this weekend but this time I didn't drive all the way to Rio Verde, I stayed close to home and flew out of a desert clearing. Alishia took some short video clips of me taking off, landing, and buzzing around the kids and neighbors.

Takeoff:



Flying:



Landing:

Lower and higher

Today was a beautiful day for flying and it was the first time I had the experience of flying along side of someone else. We started off by flying extremely low, almost touching the river in some areas.


After that, I decided to gain some altitude and see what it was like up much higher. The highest I'd gone so far was around 1500 feet so this time I flew up to around 3000. These altitudes are just guesses based loosely on my own assumptions and what other experienced fliers were telling me from the ground.

This picture is looking south over an orchard towards Fountain Hills.

If you look close, you can see our cars way down there!

At the top of this picture, you can see the edge of Bartlett lake. The photo was taken from over top of the Verde River looking North at about 4000 feet.

Certified!

Today I finished my training and took my written test along with the flying test. Yes, I passed. I am officially a Level 2 certified PPG pilot, whatever that counts for. The day went very smooth and I took my camera up with me for a little picture taking. They aren't the best pics but when you're trying not to crash, you get in kind of a hurry. These are taken from about 400 feet up looking to the South from the town of Rio Verde. (Northeast Scottsdale) In case you were wondering, thats the Verde River you see below.

Much better

Today was the opposite of yesterday. Everything went very smooth and I had about 6-7 separate flights. I was consistently able to setup, take off, fly my patterns, and land successfully. There were no emergencies, no issues, and no one shot at us! It was a good day.

While I was flying around, my instructors grabbed my camera and got some shots of me in the air. One of the photos shows my not-so-level landing; I came in on two wheels and barely pulled it off.

Here are the pics I have so far: