| Albuquerque,
February 1st:
It was Elisabeth's airport day. She went
to the Albuquerque airport in the morning to pick up Sunter, a pilot
from Toronto, who came to take training to become a tandem pilot, then
in the afternoon to pick up Benoit Boucher (Ben), a pilot from Montreal
who simply came to get in a lot of flying, since it is very cold in
Quebec, and finally in the evening for me. We had a great reunion
here in Albuquerque.
February 2nd:
Paramotor extraction, For a while now,
I've had this idea about picking someone up from the ground while
flying my tandem glider with my powerful Monster unit. |
Also, today I tried an aero
towing.
I flew the Monster, pulling David at the end
of 100 feet of line.
My medium Silex and his extra large Atlas
simultaneous inflated, I added power and we
took off.
We climbed into the wind to about
200 feet and landed for safety reasons.
I knew it could be
done, but technically, it is dangerous.
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February 3rd:
As for yesterday, Ben had
many flights and Paul, my
student from England, flew
four more times today.
Michelle had her first two flights on the
trike, since her surgery, and was very happy to be back with us up
there. We all flew... |
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Even Eleonaure, my 12 year old daughter,
soloed on a trike. We all celebrated the event at dinner.
After she opened a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne, we toasted
her accomplishment. The adults of course, had also the
traditional solo beer. |
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Eleonaure, just before her first solo
take off. |
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Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, February 5th:
Yesterday we took a 2½ hour
drive in the ParaMotorHome, the Paratour van, a trailer full of
paramotors and a pop up camper, to the Chaco Canyon National
Monument.
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Lunch time at the camping area in Chaco Canyon
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We kept in
contact along the way by radios, as Jerry, an
amateur archeologist, explained to us about the
Indian cultures of this regions in the past.
At 6700 ft altitude, Chaco Canyon is an awesome
place with many ruins of the Anasazi Indians
dating back a thousand years.
Of course, this morning, we went to fly in the
area.
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| We were allowed to launch
from a certain area and could fly over the monument
as long as we were 2000 ft above the canyon, the
ruins and a mesa with a very old solar calendar. The
sight seeing was very unusual here. |
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flying, we went back to the ParaMotorHome
for a good lunch, and then went to explore
the ruins. |
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We all enjoy visiting the ruins of the Anasazi
Indians.
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On our way back, we gave
into our temptation and stopped along the side of
the road, still on the Navajo reservation, and flew
once again over the beautiful canyons. Quite a few
Navajo people pulled over to look at the funny fan
men flying over their land.
Albuquerque,
February 6th:
This morning, we started our day by watching about
thirty hot air balloons taking off from our training
field. After they were airborne, we started our
teaching and had many flights during the day.
February 8th:
Our two Canadian paramotorists left today with
tanned faces and happy with their many flights here. Sunter went back to
Toronto with his brand new Monster and Ben went back to Montreal with 25
more nice flights. As has been the case, the altitude was no problem for
them... except that maybe they slept like babies at night.
February 12th:
Yesterday, we all went to the
Daniele's for a spaghetti dinner to celebrate with our Alaska student
Bob, on his solo flight.
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We called it
an early night to get a good nights rest for a
balloon rally that we were invited to, at the crack
of down today. |
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Paul and Bob got a ride with Kathy Smith, in one of
the 200 hot air balloons registered as my assistant
and David flew through the colorful bulbs to catch
them. Another great day in Albuquerque.
For a few weeks now, Elisabeth has
worked on a new Web site for American Flyer ppg and today she lunched it
on the Net.
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Dan, Jack and
Bob, during their mechanic maintenance course. |
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| February 17th:
Jack and Dan, who are good friends, started their
training course this morning.
You never see one without
the other and we jokingly call them the "Jack Daniels"
boys. Bob, who will soon receive his new SD48, is still
with us for his advanced training.
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February 18th:Paul, who
loves to fly very high, had his longest and highest flight
this morning. We estimate that he was 5000 ft AGL.
In a cloudy sky, he ascended through a cloud and as he flew
above the clouds, he noticed two small airplanes flying
below him. Our English paramotorist landed with frost
on his face and clothes.
Barrel roll (looping) with the Silex,
February 19th:
A couple of times this morning, David and I had
fun doing our tandem pick-up. As Michelle filmed us, David did
acrobatics in the air while under me. It is a great routine for an
air show.
This afternoon, David wanted to practice wing
overs, so he went up with an SD 48, a small Silex, a reserve and a
radio. At 1500 ft, and under my radio supervision, he began the
wing over maneuvers.
The Silex turns really well and
after two spirals, he did his first wing over and was close
to a complete 360 degrees barrel roll. He lost a few
hundred feet and climbed back to a safe altitude to start a
second one with a little more input. This one was a
more complete 360 degree loop (a really good barrel roll)
than a wing over. Most active aerobatic pilots will
call that a looping, but this is technically more a barrel
roll than a loop. In this maneuver, the glider
remained stable and open.
He had not planned to turn it that much, but
after watching the video over and over again, we all agreed that David
had looped the Silex. My assistant was really excited and proud of
his first very good barrel roll. But I don't recommend this for
beginners and pilots without the right equipment and proper training.
The Silex is easy to loop; I know this because
I have turned it many times in high spiral dives and wing overs before.
Now it is my turn to go for the 360.
 Click
here to see this Barrel roll on video (1.94 MB)
*Special thanks to Bill Corbett,
who was a great help to place this video on this page.
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February 29th:
Last week, Veronique, David's girlfriend, came from Quebec to join
him here, in Albuquerque, for a couple of weeks. This morning
they left for about a week, to visit Nevada and Arizona.
After celebrating his 50th flight, Paul and
his paramotor left with them. Most likely he will doing all of
his sight seeing by air now, before going back to England. Not
a bad way way to end a course...
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Just before leaving: Up : David and Paul. Down: Jerry, Michelle and Veronique. |
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| February 28th:
Denise Van Kuren, who trained on the foot launch in
Albuquerque with Michelle, arrived today with her fiance.
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March 1st:
After a very early morning for all of us, Denise and Scott exchanged
their vows in a hot air balloon basket... at the training
field, with the sun coming up over the Sandia Mountains as the
backdrop.
Being Denise's best friend, Michelle stood
as her maid of honor and Kirk, Scott's best friend, flew in from
Texas to be his best man.
They went in beautiful Santa Fe for their
honeymoon.
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| March 3rd:
Veronique and David arrived today all smiles
from "a great and beautiful trip," as they described it. They
parted ways with Paul Capsey in Las Vegas as Paul headed to Los Angeles
to meet his girlfriend flying in from England, and David and Veronique
headed for the Grand Canyon.
Paul Justice, a local student, started his
course this morning. Even though Scott was still honeymooning he
managed a solo (paramotor solo flight of course) and he did this
afternoon. According to Denise, he performed them both very well.
After another busy day at the training field,
we all went to Chris's for an "aurevoir" dinner organized by the local
pilots. I was an evening filled with much laughter and a few
tears. We have really been spoiled by our new friends in New
Mexico.
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The "aurevoir" dinner, with the group of
local pilots and our newly wed paramotor couple. |
It is great realizing just how fast this group of pilots here has
grown. When I first came, there were 6 local pilots.
During my stay, I trained 16 locals and 7 coming from around the
country, including one from England. Since the local pilots
are now over 20, they have decided to start their own club in
Albuquerque. They voted "The FanTasticos" to be their
new name. |
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| March 4th:
It was a warm and beautiful day here and the field was
crowded. Everyone flew (at least once), including four
PPC pilots with their machines. The field looked and
sounded like a real ultralight park and traffic in the air
was heavy.
The "Jack Daniels boys" and Paul Justice -all
three from Albuquerque- did their solo this evening. Another
three successful soloes. At the debrief, Jack told everyone that
his flight was the most expensive 15 minutes of his life. He
wasn't talking about the cost of the solo course, but about buying a
paramotor. I think he was hooked.
While everyone started to pack their gear,
Michelle went for a short trike flight and smiled like everyone else who
had flown. David was the last to fly. Under my supervision
again, and with a safety chute, he went to 1300 feet to do some more
barrel rolls. We ended this evening late at the field, celebrating
our new solo pilots with a cold beer and a warm bon fire.
March 5th:
It's really true: We are leaving.
Our good bye's were emotional. I did not know much about New
Mexico before I arrived here for the Balloon Fiesta. What was
supposed to be a two week visit in Albuquerque, finally became a five
month stay with great people to share this adventure with.
I could have taught in different states, with
different people, but Jerry, Michelle & Tony and all our new students
and friends made our decision to stay in Albuquerque for the winter
easy. The weather was more than good for teaching, the altitude
has never been a problem. The nice open field where we taught,
often with many hot air balloons, the warm house where we all shared
many meals and cold beers together are all such good memories that will
last a lifetime. Thanks all and see you at Sun 'n Fun and maybe at
the 9th Annual Paratour Meet in Quebec!
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Houston, Texas, March 7th:
It is a balmy, and quite humid 80 degrees here.
We spent the morning with Denise and Scott. It was nice to see again"our
two paramotor pilots newlyweds".
Our daughters had a great time with their
horses.
We had a very enjoyable evening as Andy
McGavin, a local paramotorist, and his wife Sandy, joined us at
Denise and Scott's house for dinner.
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| March 8th:
Too windy to fly at the beach today. Andy and I kept in
contact all day just in case... but the wind didn't go down.
Before leaving Houston, we went to dinner with Denise and
Scott at the Cafe Adobe, a nice Tex/Mex restaurant. Good
company, good food and good service... a very good
evening. After dinner, we headed for Louisiana. |
Lafayette, Louisiana, March 10 th:
This afternoon and evening was spent with Phil and Jo
Ellen Carlos, Bud Johnson and Steve Webre at the Carlos'
house. We had a very enjoyable time talking
about.... you know what.... We watched paramotor videos,
ate some great Gumbo (a local dish), and were treated to
home made beer made by Phil.
After our delightful dinner, Jo
Ellen, who plays piano, and Phil, who plays a variety of
middle age musical instruments, performed a mini concert
at our request. A very nice time with very nice
people. |
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Phil Carlos, playing hammer
dulcimer. |
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Bud Johnson, Steve Webre, Phil Carlos and
me, in Lafayette. |
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March 11th:
This morning, Phil, Bud and I
gravitated to our natural environment: A flying field.
We had a nice short flight and when it got too windy, we landed and
chatted with Bud, who, having no motor yet, is grounded.
A short time later Steve, Elisabeth, Jo
Ellen and the girls arrived and joined "the big boys" for a soda.
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Before leaving Lafayette, we had a fascinating visit at
Vermillonville, an old restored Acadian Village, where we
learned a lot about the history of the French people in
Louisiana. We found many similarities with our Quebecer
ancestors.
Right afterward, we headed for Florida and stopped in our
ParaMotorHome for the night in Pensacola, Florida. |
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