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Paragliders

Manthing

Manthing

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Is that the right name? Parachute and a big fan strapped to your back.
Couple went over the farm last night and I was wondering if they'd be any good for getting out and about to see the wilder parts of wherever it is you want to see.
Do you need a big hill to jump off of?
Is there a lot of red tape, I suppose that's country dependant.
See to be quite noisy as they passed over, they must be steerable as they came back over half an hour later against a reasonable breeze.
Anybody do owt with them?
 
Paramotor is the name of the bit of kit that you’ve described. There is a chap who does a lot of filming from his paramotor up and down the Wye valley. I’ll look into it for you.
outdoortroop.com

Are Paramotors Legal in the UK without a Special License? | Outdoor Troop

Every country is free to make its own laws and regulations regarding what happens within the bounds of their territory. As citizens of each country,…
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Guy and his Mrs down the road do a fair bit of paramotor flying. They go to a local airfield for take off and landing. They get quite upset when another local guy goes up from the local golf course. Apparently there are regulations to doing it.
 
I’ve done a fair old bit of reading on this and it seems that anyone over the age of 14 can fly one of these in cat G airspace as long as they stick to some basic rules. (Same rules as hang glider except they must also give way to unpowered aircraft) No licence, no training and no insurance required by law…however the BHPA insist on training and their membership gets you 3 million public liability insurance and the ability to fly paramotors in other countries. The guy that I’ve seen flying up the Wye is an instructor from Abergavenny.
Your paramotor and wing need to be tested and registered and you’d better enjoy servicing engines because it will need servicing between every 25 and 100 hrs of flight.
 
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G'day Manthing

As Mike says you are describing a paramotor. Here in Aussie they require some kind of operators licence but not a full PPL.

They definitely look fun. Saw a YouTube clip of some yankee bloke flew his to FL 150. Nuts!

One regulatory issue you might have in UK is airspace. Its pretty crowded over there and there might be limitations on where you can fly.

Cheers

Alan
 
I’ve just been looking at a UK airspace map and as I understand it class G (uncontrolled) airspace is the space up to but not including the floor level of class E airspace which varies according to hazards and closely controlled areas such as airports or built up areas. There is a surprising amount of airspace that you would have access to.
 
We were in Norfolk camping at Wells a few years ago and there were a couple of paramotor pilots most evenings flying on the beach about 20 feet up, looked good fun.
 
peteff said:
We were in Norfolk camping at Wells a few years ago and there were a couple of paramotor pilots most evenings flying on the beach about 20 feet up, looked good fun.
Click to expand...
Strictly speaking they should be a minimum of 500 feet from other people in a public place.
 
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