Kodak Albuquerque
International
Balloon Fiesta Paramotor
Fly-in New Mexico, USA
October 3, 4, 5 & 6 2002
** "The following is not an
official report, but my personal view of this event."
Elisabeth
Guerin
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This edition of the Balloon Fiesta fly-in was a PPG
event that will be remembered. Helped by their local Fantastico
Flyers, and supported by the Ultralight chapter of EAA (Experimental Aircraft
Association), ASC and USPPA,
Jerry & Michelle
Daniele of American
Flyer, did an excellent work to organize this fly-in.
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American Flyer recently moved their paramotor school
to a
huge grass field beside Albuquerque: "GrassLands".
Yes, grass ! It is where they held the fly-in this year and it was the best of both worlds: Savoring the
wonderful New Mexican desert sceneries, but taking-off from a
grassy field. (I hope you read this Milos ;-) |
| A still present Hispanic culture and a nice PPG community
make this fly-in very special. It is always held during the Kodak Albuquerque Balloon
Fiesta, which is the biggest North
American hot air balloon gathering, and it just
a few miles away from GrassLands.
The area offers great sceneries, some of them are almost lunar.
Pilots enjoyed adding their memorable flights over the volcanoes in their log
book.
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Paramotors flying with the hot air balloons.
Pictures of the hot air balloons courtesy of Jim Jackson
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 Flying over the volcanoes.
Picture of the volcano courtesy of Bruce Brown
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| Thursday was windy and cold, but it was warm for the rest of the
weekend and very good for flying. At 5200" ASL, the mornings were chilly and everybody
would be wearing warm jackets. But soon after that, around
10:00 am, people were trading them for T-shirts.
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There were about 50 pilots, including 3 women pilots
and 3 powered
parachute (PPC) pilots, coming from all over the United States as well as
from Canada and Israel. Under the big tent, the pilots briefing conducted by Jerry & Michelle
Daniele, Jeff
Goin and Eric Dufour, held at 7:00
every morning.
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At the pilots briefing.
Briefing pictures courtesy of Jeff Goin
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| Of course, Jack Kimble, who
usually attends most of the
fly-ins all over the world, was there enjoying the event and he flew his patriotic American flag wing.
The next
fly-in he will attend should be in Malaysia.
Jack
is a great American ambassador for our sport.
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| Friday morning, Eric Dufour, instructor in
Florida and in Canada,
invited
Michelle Daniele, instructor in New Mexico, to fly PPG tandem on
a trike with him... But with her as the pilot in command:
"You are ready
Michelle. I will coach you and you will do just fine; you
will see", Eric said. As predicted, Michelle did just perfect and now knows that she is ready to work for
the next step
of tandem piloting on wheels.
After this flight, she was feeling exactly what most of the students
do after their
first solo, except the guys usually don't hold Eric in their arm
like this. ;-) |
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| Here is with Eric Dufour and a very happy Michelle
Daniele right after her first tandem flight as the pilot in
command.
Picture courtesy of Bruce Brown. |
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In the afternoon, after the early morning flights with the hot air balloons, a
couple of pilots took a nap.
Some went to
Albuquerque, in the heart of the Balloon Fiesta festivities.
Some others have chosen to stay on the site,
chatting under the big tent, instead of doing the
"siesta" or the "fiesta".
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Every evenings there was a huge bonfire. Friday night, we had a
nice Mariachis show, followed by a raffle, where people could
win T-shirts, harnesses, a large kite, a flight suit, a stuff sac,
etc.
Steven and Janette Otero, treated us with tasty New Mexican
meals cooked right in front of us, on the site.
Harolyn Ellison
provided Ortho-bionomy massages right on the site.
Bill McCoy and Lou Aragona of Coyote Metals (505-293-1422)
had a booth on the site, where we could see (and buy) nice local
hand made crafts.
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| Bob &
Jeannie Peters from Colorado. |
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Many pilots came with their RV and few more toys in addition
to their paramotor.
Bob Peters, one of American
Flyers' graduates, brought his motorcycle to add more fun
while going all over the huge field. |
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On mornings and evenings, some games took place and Eric Dufour
started playing
"ParaSoccer" or "ParaBall".
Most of the pictures of the "paracone" and
"parasoccer" are
a courtesy of Bruce Brown. The others are mine. |
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Because there were some cones on the field, Eric
Dufour started by kicking a few while at low pass and then continued
playing by bringing one on his foot, and then, one on the other
one...
And taking a third over a cone and between the
other cones, and so on... Being a skilled pilot himself, Jeff
Goin from Illinois, had a blast joining Eric at the
"cone game". |
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Some paramotor pilots from Arizona: Tod Hollan, David
Crockett,
Bill Wright and Maurice
(Mo) Sheldon , PPG instructor. By the way, there was two PPG pilots named David Crockett attending this
fly-in. The other one is from Mexico and he is related to the legendary cowboy.
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Enjoying the wide open spaces, seeing the
Monsano Mountains turning to some nice colors at sunset and hearing pilots talking
about their nice flight over the Rio Grande River,
reminded me of the terrific time we had during the
memorable
months we spent in Albuquerque back in 1999. |
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Among the people we had the chance to meet during our
stay, was Lorrie Loomis. Since 1999, she
has added over 125 flights to her log book. Ray, her husband who
started flying at the same time, has over 600 flights and is now a
PPG instructor for American
Flyer.
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| Steve Tustison
and
Steve Leich are both
PPG pilots from California. Tustison wears the official
T-shirt of this year's Balloon Fiesta PPG fly-in. It
is one of the nicest PPG t-shirts I have seen so far and I
made sure to come back with one of my own.
They sell for $20.00 US, plus
$4.00 for shipping in the US. To get one, you can contact
American Flyer.
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All the instructors attending: Up, clock wise: Arnon Lufti (PPG) from Israel, Bruce
Brown (PPG & PG) at Powered Paragliding
Ohio, Andy McAvin, (PPG) of TX
Flight Sports in Texas, Leon
Walkers, (PPC) in Michigan, Bill Briley, (PPG) in North Carolina, Dwight Offman
(PPC) of Sky Chariots and Mike Gonzales (PPC), both in New Mexico, Eric Dufour (PPG) of
Fly by Ranch in Florida and
Paratour in Canada.
Bottom: Bob Armond (PPG) of
Skytoys in California, Jerry
& Michelle Daniele (PPG) of American Flyer in New Mexico,
Ray Loomis (PPG) of American Flyer and Maurice
Sheldon (PPG) of Airparamo in Arizona.
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There was a paragliding accuracy landing contest, with Bob Armond,
instructor in California, as the tow operator.
The
contestants had lots of fun and it was just as entertaining for
people who were watching.
Eric
Dufour was the winner. He had his foot right on the
target... Well, Eric has the background of
a skilled accuracy landing skydiver.
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A record has been beaten:
The heaviest pilot flying at altitude... and it was a
solo. Bill Bishop from Colorado, did his first paramotor flight during the
weekend, with Michelle Daniele
coaching on the radio and Eric Dufour
helping Bill taking off. The crowd cheered when he left
the ground with his SD Mini-Monster engine and his tandem glider. Another touching moment adding to the event and
another great guy among us in the sport.
Eric Dufour, Bill Bishop, Michelle and Jerry Daniele
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PPG pilot from Florida and owner of Paralite,
Jim Jackson came with his son
JJ, who plans to become a paramotorist soon. Eric Dufour of
Florida and Canada, came with the new paramotor glider Sting
and the new SD paramotor with a new generation of the RDM engine with a clutch and now
silent.
Arnon Lufti of
Israel, who is traveling all over the United States for a 4 months
trip, came with his Vortex paramotor and his
Reflex wing.
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Arnon taught the others a game, consisting on ground handling doing a
360. I enjoyed watching it and he did pretty well.
On Saturday, three school busses brought almost a hundred kids on
the site, to see the paramotors closer and meet with the glider
guys. They have been chosen to form the jury charged to vote
for the quietest paramotor in flight. The
SD with new generation of rdm engine won the title.
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| The new SD with the now silent RDM engine
with a clutch.
Picture of the SD courtesy of Jeff Goin |
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The SD rdm 22 hp comes with the Fresh Breeze
composite 2 pieces prop for an improved noise level, more power and
a fast response on the throttle. It still has the good strong frame, but with only one ring
around the prop and 2 rings on the lower part of the cage for
more strength. It has also a clutch with a belt
reduction drive system, which contributes to make the SD rdm one of
the quietest units available.
The reduction is 3.8 to 1 and
the max rpm 9400. The thrust is a REAL 120 to 125 lbs tested.
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It come
with the J-bars and also the under bars with attachment points
on the harness. Both can be used. The RDM motor is running well,
and is reliable. It is easy to adjust as the carb is up with easy access
on the screws. |
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From Left to right: Michelle
Daniele, instructor in New Mexico, Jerry and Michelle's daughter Jordan, Jerry
Daniele, instructor in New Mexico, Bob Peters pilot from Colorado,
Mo Sheldon, instructor in Arizona, Arnon
Lufti, instructor in Israel, Tod Hollan pilot from Arizona, Jeff
Goin, pilot
from Illinois, Bruce
Brown, instructor in Ohio, Bill
Briley, instructor in North Carolina, Ron Estrada pilot from
Michigan,
me, Eric Dufour, instructor in
Florida and in Canada, and in front, Andy
McAvin instructor in Texas. |
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Picture courtesy of Ron Estrada |
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We concluded the fly-in with an enjoyable dinner at the nice
Luna Mansion restaurant: Beautiful place, good
service, delicious meals and low prices. The owner David
Scovill, came to our table and said: "Are you the guys who flew over our
place today? Well, I'd like to fly that thing too."
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So, see you again at the Balloon
Fiesta PPG fly-in 2003, Dave! This time, with a glider over your head,
a propeller on your back and a bigger smile on your face. |
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