In the morning, along with Jerome and Suzan's son, Adam, our daughters had allot of fun helping the Torres feed the farm animals, including llamas, ducks, emus, ostriches, donkeys, buffaloes, etch...

Today was a sunny day and at 11:00 AM, there were thermals. The air was a little unstable. Dave went for a short flight. Jerome decided to go too. He describes his flight in detail in his diary.

Click here to see his diary and read flight # 20th.

We are on the front page of The Observer, one of the local newspapers.

Click here to see the article on The Observer

Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 6th:

At 5600' altitude, I had to fly with a 190 pound passenger.  Good take off and I could still climb.  Once again, the Monster PowerMotor did the job right. I have not tried at sea level yet, but I can imagine how easy it will be with this powerful unit that weighs only 66 pounds total.

November 8th:

This afternoon, Jerome had four nice flights with is brand new SD 48 received today.

Ron Greenwood, a trike pilot, arrived today with his wife, Della. As he wants to foot launch, he took a weeks vacation to come training.

The evening ended nicely at the Daniele's with a good oriental meal prepared by Susan, Jerome's wife.

November 9th:

After 24 flights and with happiness showing on his face, Jerome headed home with Susan and Adam. They too had their share of fun in New Mexico. As Michelle Daniele said: "He came as a man, he left as a boy."

November 11th:

Because of his previous trike experience, Ron progressed through the training rapidly and sololed yesterday, on his second day.

Kathy Smith, the hot air balloon pilot who gave us a balloon ride on Emie's birthday, flew with me this afternoon.  She enjoyed her ride so much that she now wants to train and fly her own paramotor.  It seems that everything related with the air is interesting to her:  After 1½ year of flying back and forth from Albuquerque to Houston every week end, Kathy and Sam decided to get married.  He said he wanted a "plain" wedding.  She answered:  "OK, a "plane" wedding.  So, they got married on a plane!

Christine Rogers, just after her solo flight.

November 12th: Nice weather - again and again. Bill Walsh uses to say that a day ending with a Y is a day to fly.  Well, I am beginning to think that a day beginning in Albuquerque is a day to fly.  After good ground handling, good practice on the simulator, many tow flights, and two tandem flights, I felt that Chris, one of the female students who is on her late 50's, was ready to do her solo:  Nice take off and landing. This evening ended with a nice dinner at Lorrie and Ray's house.  Chris and her husband, Mike, brought beer and champagne to celebrate her solo flight.

November 14th:

After a full week of training, Ron left today, happy with his accomplishments and his SD 48, ready to fly on his own.

On her 12th foot launch, Michelle Daniele aggravated an old knee injury. She told us she plans to see the doctor and finally have it fixed, because she prefers foot launching over the trike.

November 16th:

Michelle went to the doctor and he confirmed that she will need surgery. He assured her that after recovery, she will again foot launch. Until then, the trike will once again become her flying companion.

November 26th:

At the end of the day, I flew in tandem with my oldest passenger, a 76 year old gentlemen named Mister Wickens. When he was landed, he was very happy and his comments were nothing but good. "Exhilarating!", he said.

Our Para-Motor-Home is small, but efficient. Just before leaving Canada, we installed a desk for our computer, so Elisabeth can keep our clients informed and serviced.

November 28th:

Today, I flew a TV reporter tandem, Nanette Miranda, from KOAT-TV, in Albuquerque.  Just a few feet and we were in the air.  She was nervous at first, but once we were flying, she had a good time.  After landing, she was very happy and proud to have had this experience.  Like all my tandem passengers, she received her certificate and that evening, we watched her report on her tandem flight on the 10:00 o'clock news.

November 30th:

Three days ago, Chris, our oldest female pilot, did her 6th foot launch. Yesterday, David soloed after his third day of training and Larry soloed today.  This 230 pounds man, flying a SD 48 with a Pro Design compact 37, had a picture perfect landing.

Tonight, like most nights since we have been in Albuquerque, we all shared another nice dinner.  Some nights, we are treated to a Mexican meal, other nights, a Canadian meal, depending on weather Michelle or Elisabeth cooks.  What a nice and tasty way to end a day after good flights!

December 2nd:

Tonight, we are heading for California.  The girls are so happy here that they don't want to leave, but we are sure they will enjoy California.  Our first stop will be in San Diego to meet with Alan Chuculate.  Then, we plan to go to Los Angeles, because I want to fly at "the beaches that have oceans connected to them" ;-). We hope to return to Albuquerque to spend Christmas with the Daniele's and our other new paramotor friends.

San Diego, California, December 4th: This morning, Mary and Alan Chuculate warmly welcomed us at their home.  As it is true for many in the paramotor business, they have a garage that is not used for cars but for flying stuff. This afternoon, we met and flew with Michael Dowdall, a Moskito pilot, Jeffrey Williams and Ron, both paragliding and paramotor pilots and "Turbo Bob" Ryan, a trike pilot. I flew the Monster twice, with Alan as my passenger.  We took off in a few steps. Turbo Bob foot launched the SD with both the small and medium Silex.  He also tried the medium Silex with his trike and enjoyed it very much. Later, I flew his trike with the same Silex.  We both agreed that the Silex and the trike are a great combination, and Bob confirmed this because at the end of the day, he bought a Silex.

"Turbo Bob"Ryan, flying his trike with his bran new Silex.

December 5th: I was up at 5:30 AM, to prepare for the days flying with Alan at Lake Elsinore.  We were few pilots having fun together. Mary and Alan invited us to have dinner at the Corvette Bar Grill, a nice restaurant with great ambiance of the 50's.  The waitresses and waiters dressed and acted like they were from the movie, Grease.  We all had fun and this is now, Eleonaure's favorite restaurant. Brian Hirsh, Alan Chuculate, Eric Dufour, Steve Tustison, Bill Bennett, Charles Darwin,"Turbo Bob" Ryan (up), Steve Roy and Alex Dell.

Alan Chuculate as the pilot, and I as the passenger, with the Monster   The Monster flew four times today. Twice, Alan was the pilot, with me as the passenger and twice, it was the other way around. Once again, nice take offs.

December 6th:

We had a delightful time with our daughters at the famous San Diego Zoo.  Such a large variety of animals, over 15,000 different plants and beautiful scenery.  To date this is the nicest zoo we have visited.

This evening we all ate in our Para-Motor-Home, with Mary and Alan's agreeable company.  Just as we were finishing our meal, Jerome arrived, driving from his northern California home to come to fly with us tomorrow.

A take off with Jerome, my 220 lbs. passenger.

I couldn't ask for a better heavy weight test passenger. One more successful tandem flight with the Monster.     Click here to see Jerome's description of this tandem flight, at his "Flight Reports", on flight # 46

Alan Chuculate, me and Bill Bennett

That evening, Mary, Alan, Elisabeth our daughters and I, were invited to Bill and Margo Bennett's home for dinner.  Margo is a fine cook and a warm and perfect hostess.  We enjoyed the meal as well as the time spent there.  I've always had a lot of admiration for Bill, due to all he's done in the Ultralight world and it was impressive to see so many trophies, mentions and certificates of accomplishment that this pioneer has received over the years. Active at 68 years old, Bill is now flying a Buckeye and is still full of new and creative ideas for ultralight development.

December 8th:

Alan and I spent most of the day discussing and working on the paramotor mechanic.

Before leaving San Diego, we invited Mary and Alan to their favorite Greek restaurant.  We all enjoyed their company, and once again, it was an excellent evening.

Los Angeles, December 9th: This morning, we traveled to Los Angeles. Jerome and Greg Anderson went with us to the beach. It was nice to be with two of my former students, happy owners of a an SD48 and SD44.  Both are enjoying every flight.  Jerome has flown over 40 times, all within two months, and Greg nearly 100 in 15 months. Such moments are reminding me how gratifying it is to be a good paramotor instructor.  It was fun flying on the beach all while our daughters spent time playing with Greg's golden retriever, Rosy.

Jerome, Greg Anderson, me and Eleonaure, my older daughter.

The evening ended with a nice dinner at Greg's home in Thousand Oaks.  Greg's wife, Serena, calls him "Grilling Greg" and "Boss of the Barbecue", and we could not agree more.  Our dinner was delicious and the company delightful.  We also watched a few paramotor home videos of our flight on the beach earlier that day and a video of Jerome's 43rd and 44th flights that he kindly let us before leaving.

December 12th:

I met Greg on the beach to fly.  A gentle and calm breeze that made it perfect to fly a paramotor.  Greg and I both had two nice and flights.  Once again, Greg flew the medium Silex.  After landing, I noticed a big grin on his face.  He said he can't believe how easy and enjoyable the Silex was to fly:  "It turns on a dime, flies very stable, no bumps or oscillations, and the flair on landing was exceptionally smooth and linear. " To him, the difference to his glider is like comparing a Porsche to a Cadillac.

After taking off in soft sand with the medium Silex, I cruised along the ocean and 2 minutes later, was flying over my campground.  I could see our ParaMotorHome with my wife and kids waving at me.  I did a spiral to come closer and waived back at them.  I was happy flying in this perfect air coming from the ocean.  Greg has found a perfect paramotoring site.  He has done his homework with obtaining permission from the right agencies and respects beachgoers.

After we landed, we saw another paramotor pilot flying towards us.  Unrecognizable, we waived at him to land, but instead, he kept flying and disappeared over the mountains.  We don't know who he was and Greg seemed surprised to see another paramotorist in the area, since he knows all the locals.

My first tridem, December 13th: This morning, we once again, went to the beach to fly.  My first thought was to take my oldest daughter, Eleonaure, up for a tandem flight, while my youngest, Emie, watched from the ground.  It was excellent conditions for a reverse launch and the idea of a tridem flight crossed my mind...

In tridem, with my two daughters

Emie was all for it, and with Greg Anderson's help, setting up and doing the filming, we performed an easy reverse inflation and had a good take-off.  All three of us were quiet comfortable.  I used our intercom to speak to Eleonaure and she would repeat to her sister.  Our 30 minutes flight allowed plenty of time to fly the beach and also fly over to our campground, so Elisabeth who was in our ParaMotorHome doing some computer work, could see us.  She was pleasantly surprised to wave to the three loves of her life, all in the air, on the same paramotor.  We headed back to the beach, where we landed softly. We all loved the experience and will surely repeat the inaugural flight of Paratour Airlines. ;-)

Lake Elsinore, California, December 15th: Alan Chuculate and I met at Lake Elsinore, to do some paragliding with the Silex. Conditions were perfect and I launched first with the small Silex.  Alan flew the medium Silex for an hour, demonstrating big ears, spirals, B stalls, asymmetric frontal collapses, etc...  with great skill.  It was fun to see him enjoying himself.  After landing, his first comment was:  "I like this glider!"  He has decided he will write an article for Ultraflight Magazine about the Silex, so look for all the details on his report. Click here to see this article

Alan Chuculate doing big ears with the Silex, while paragliding at Lake Elsinore.

December 17th: The desert landscapes between New Mexico and California were so gorgeous and interesting, the many miles of driving passed quickly.  When it was Elisabeth's turn, I could barely catch nap, as she would wake me every minute or so, to look at something new.
Elisabeth, Emie, me and Eleonaure, at the Grand Canyon	We decided we would stop to see the Grand Canyon, on our way back to Albuquerque.  What can I say?  Living in our ParaMotorHome is a little tight sometimes, but the nice size yard we enjoyed in Quebec cannot compare with some of the ones we've had on this journey, in size or grandeur.  While admiring this marvel, I could easily imagine myself enjoying it, even more, flying there.