parastars 2002

As expected, this second edition of the World Parastars Convention was a huge success. It is actually the biggest North American paramotor fly-in, with 140 paramotorists registered, from Italy, France, Germany, Wales, England, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden, Japan, Canada and the United States.

To achieve this tremendous result, the Parastars have put an enormous amount of work. Both Terry Alford, president and Bill Hocker, vice-president, orchestrated all with excellence.

For this world event, they recruited experts in different fields, such as Chris Santacroce (aerobatic flight), Bruce Erion (announcer), Eric Dufour (director for the record of the most paramotors in flight), etc. and had dedicated people working hard and long hours, to accomplish this grand event.

The Parastars Vice president, Bill Hocker and Terry Alford, President.

Bruce Erion won the picture contest of the ParaStars convention 2001, with this "Ricarus on a tree" one.

Remember the famous Ricarus?... This new bird species discovered in a tree at the ParaStars convention last year?

Well, Ricarus (born Rick Hagger) was one of the many dedicated Parastars members on the site this year.

"Ricarus of the United States of America ParaStars" ;-) was there helping non-stop all days and being the site guardian at night.

Two propeller companies attending this year : Steve Boser of Sensenich in Florida, and David Beres & Rusty Adamson of Beres & Hirsch propellers in Oregon.

It was a good thing for the pilots to benefit of a quick propeller service right on the site and to have the opportunity to attend an interesting seminar on propellers balancing, repair and design, by Dave Beres.

Alain Poulin, a French Canadian pilot living in Florida and a ParaStars member, graciously provided all the tables and chairs for the meeting tent and the Red Bull main tent.

Steve Boser, Alain Poulin, Mark Praught and Rusty Blevins.

Rusty Blevins, a Floridian pilot recently moved in California and a close friend of David Robichaud (the American pilot who died last December), volunteered him self to drive the "Limousine service", which was greatly appreciated by the pilots.

All weekend long, we saw the "Limousine service" driving back and forth all over the place.

With the profits of this event, the Parastars will give $2500.00 to the David Robichaud funds, belonging to his son Robert. Another great gesture of the ParaStars.

Click here for more info on David Robichaud

Neil Stubbs, our daughter's favorite orthodontist and paramotor pilot from Florida, came with his beautiful wife Debby, on Sunday.

Jeff Goin, a cheerful paramotor and commercial plane pilot of Illinois and also president of USPPA, came with his Rialta RV that he nicely baptized "The Enterprise" because it carries an airplane (his paramotor).

From France, Jean-Francois Guilbaud, a plane, multi axes, helicopter and paramotor pilot (champion in some of these disciplines), also the chief editor of the international French ultralight magazine "Vol Moteur", attended this year again. He is a real gentleman with lots of culture and has a brilliant way of telling things. It is always a pleasure to see him at these events.

At the moment, Jean-Francois is writing a 4 to 5 page article on this convention and the Vol Moteur director accepted his innovative proposition to provide the English version of this article in the same issue. It is a premiere that will allow many of us to read.

Debby and Neil Stubbs, Jeff Goin, Jean-Francois Guilbaud, from France, Brad Weiss, and Don Jordan (lower).

Brad Weiss, from Jade-Sky Paragliding in Florida, and Don Jordan , in Texas during summer time and in Mexico the rest of the year, were among the many instructors present all weekend. They too had a joyful time hanging with all paramotor folks from all over.

From left to right:

- Richard Good, instructor from Paratour in Florida and Quebec, Canada.

- Simon Good of England (Richard Good's brother) paramotor pilot since last February and of course, trained by Richard Good and Eric Dufour, of Paratour.

- Anthony Curry, a pilot from Wales, living now in Florida. I love listening to his accent!

- Jack Kimble of Florida. This low profile plane and paramotor pilot did a lot for the sport.

The weather during the event was great, with about 85 degrees each day and flying allowed most of the time, except when the thermals were strong in the afternoons and when there was a demo flight. Apart from scattered showers on Sunday afternoon, conditions were partly cloudy with 5-8 mph winds most of the days.

The Parastars organization has put emphasis on safety and there were no accidents to report. Some broken propellers, but that's it. Every morning, there was a pilots briefing and all pilots had to attend it to be aloud to fly. Wearing a radio helmet was a mandatory to get the permission to take-off. Easily recognizable with their yellow T-shirt and hats, the safety officers did efficient work. There was a paramedic and a police man every day on the site and with the FAA collaboration, there was an interdiction for planes to fly over the area during the convention.

It was decided that Bruce Brown instructor at Paragliding Ohio, in Ohio, Bill Walsh instructor at Powered Paragliding Sports in Massachusetts and Bruce Erion of Georgia, were going to be the leaders in the pattern. They were easy to identify with a streamer behind their glider.

Bruce Erion is a pilot with 12,000 hours in helicopters over 32 years. He began flying paramotors, taking his training with Eric Dufour at Paratour, in 1996 and since then has logged about 500 hours & over 1000 flights.

The flying during the record was safe and also was perceived as such by all pilots in the air and people on the ground who realized that a well executed mass launch can be much safer that a bunch of pilots flying all around with no pattern and no rules.

The "Limousine chauffeur" was once again driving back and forth, bringing more and more pilots to the launch area.

As predicted by our weather man Rob Reynolds , this Saturday morning was just perfect, with a light breeze. Rob, a pilot from Alabama, accomplished a valuable job at the convention and also gave an excellent weather seminar.

For conducting this massive amount of pilots at the same time, Eric was assisted by effective safety officers, making possible many take-offs at the same time and non-stop. It took about 1:30 minutes to succeed to the number of 74. A new North American record and a world record in real numbers.

From the ground as well as from the air, it was impressing to see all these gliders of different colors in the sky. Many cars stopped on the highway to see this spectacular aerial show.

Once the record of 74 was reached, the safety officers with a facial expression showing their satisfaction, still kept alert until the last glider was in the air.

Jeff Thompson, an accomplished pilot of Florida, was acting as one of the safety officers. He is also the computer guy for the Parastars, in charge of their Web site.

Unfortunately, he had to leave on Saturday afternoon, for an emergency appendectomy. While I write these lines, he is back home, recovering well.

Two of the safety officers helping Eric Dufour during the record of 74 in the air: Left, Jeff Thompson, center, Rob Reynolds, with Eric Dufour at right.

Not only was there a record of 74 paramotors in the air at the same time and place, but also a little record of 7 female PPG pilots, flying during this same record:

From left to right: Michele Daniele, instructor at American Flyer in New Mexico, Maria Ortiriega from Airfer in Spain, Dawn Pistocchi of Florida, Cindy Adkinson of Michigan, Catherine O'Gara of West Virginia, Susan Mitchler from Sky Biker in Alberta, Canada and Christiane Moisan (CC) instructor of Quebec, Canada.

Inset: Tammy Bowles, instructor at Southern Skies in North Carolina, wasn't part of the record, but has flown during this gathering.

Danny Kriseler with Booth.

With 140 pilots registered, including 8 women, there was also 2 dogs flying tandem:

Danny Kriseler, instructor at the Dukes of Windsoar in Maryland, came with some of the members of this PPG club, including Boot, his faithful friend. We can see how comfortable Booth is in the air and how much he enjoys flying. On a report on the New Smyrna Beach fly-in held in December 2000, it is mentioned how much this dog wanted to fly with Dan.

Eric Dufour with Tiny.

Eric Dufour was flying with Tiny, which showed interest in flying long before Eric finally decided to bring him for a tandem ride.

Click here to see a video clip of Tiny flying tandem with Eric Dufour

Oscar Meschiari of jpxitalia, a very knowledgeable mechanic and the Italian constructor of the Cors-air engines, met Eric Dufour last year at Sun 'n Fun. I can say there was chemistry between these two guys and before returning to Italy, Oscar spontaneously promised Eric to build an engine specially for him: A "special powerful super pippo" M21Y.

Eric was very touched and honored by such a thought and he never put any pressure on Oscar. And when Oscar says something, he really means it, because one year later, the "Special Eric M21Y" engine was there, with ED001 (starting with Eric Dufour's initials) as the serial number on this engine.

At Sun 'n Fun 2001.

Picture courtesy of Alex Varv

Oscar wanted a special look on Eric's engine and it is different of the other M21Y, being polished instead of black for the regular M21Y.

The exhaust pipe and the Tillotson carburetor featuring on Eric's engine, make it a little more powerful and much more silent than the regular M21Y engine. In June 2002, the Cors-Air engines will be like Eric's one, except for the polished look.

Fernando Ortiriega, the Spanish constructor of the Airfer paramotors and also Oscar's good friend, made a frame for this 172 cc engine, so Eric could fly the "Special Eric M21Y" engine as soon as it arrived in America for Sun 'n Fun and the ParaStars convention.

Eric Dufour flew it a few times and was happy with the power and the silence. It also runs very smooth. He tested it on his thrust test bench and the results were very good with a good safety margin.

The M21Y will be ideal for tandem and solo flights, as well as on trike. It should be one of the most reliable units on the paramotor market. Eric will fly test it and time will tell.

Richard Good, instructor at Paratour in Florida and Quebec, flew the M21Y with the Airfer Bimax tandem on a trike, with Bruce Brown, instructor at Ohio paragliding. Fernando Ortiriega from Airfer, also flew it many times on the trike with his wife and other passengers. They all had the same comment : Powerful, smooth, silent.

For more information on the M21Y, you can contact Alex Varv, the American importer of the Cors'air engines, or Oscar Meschiari of jpxitalia.

The M21Y is also used for the Bimax of Airfer paramotors. Bruce Brown is the American importer and Fernando Ortiriega is the constructor of the Airfer paramotors.

Paramotor	Engine	Prop size in inches	Thrust in pounds
Fresh Breeze Monster	Hirth 33	48 (122 cm)	160
Fly Products 130	Simonini	51 (130 cm)	160
Airfer Bimax	M21Y	48 (122 cm)	145
Paralite Sky Cruiser	Simonini	48 (122 cm)	120
Walkerjet	Simonini	52 (132 cm)	120
Paraborne Backplane	Simonini	48 (122 cm)	115
Airfer Tornado	Cors-Air	39 (99 cm)	113
Paratour SD	RDM 100	48 (122 cm)	112
Paralite Sky Cruiser	Top 80	48 (122 cm)	102
Airfer Titan (prototype)	Falcon 110	48 (122 cm)	89
Paratour SD (prototype)	Radne 120	39 (99 cm)	84
*These thrust tests were made in open air and were done just to give a comparison between the engines. Due to factors such as temperature, humidity, wind, etc. numbers can change. They did other tests the next day and the results in differences were about the same.

Markus and Carmen Muller

It was a joy to see again Markus Muller, one of the two German Fresh Breeze constructors. Like last year, he came to the ParaStars convention and Sun 'n Fun with his beautiful wife Carmen and their lovely 7 year old daughter, Elona.

He had with him the new Fresh Breeze with Simonini engine and the new Silex X. The small Silex X is now available on the market since it has the homologation for DULV and DHV and they are now working on the homologation of the two other sizes.

The atmosphere was very friendly during this world gathering. We all took pleasure of chatting "paramotor" four days long and swapping on what's new in the sport.

From left to right: Fernando Ortiriega, of Airfer paramotors and an excellent pilot, his wife Maria, Jerry Daniele, instructor at American Flyer in New Mexico and Scott Johnson, instructor at US AirBorne, in Washington state: 3 competitors; 4 friends sharing the same passion.

Right, Wayne Mitchler instructor at Skybiker in Alberta, Canada, who comes enjoying the great Floridian weather and fly a lot during winter time.

From left to right:

- John Madgik, a popular pilot from Pennsylvania and a great guy who becomes a "Southern Para Gipsy" during winter time.

By the way, his Silex with an American flag on it (the only Silex version in the world actually) has recently been stolen in Florida. If you have any information on it, please, contact John or us.

- Javier & Jose Jr. Casaudoumecq, instructors at Aerolight USA in Florida and their father Mister Jose Casaudoumecq, who keeps his youth by enjoying the sport with his sons and attending most of the fly-ins. As for Jose Jr, he is now the proud father of the beautiful Chloe.

From left to right:

- Kanji Watanabe a well known Japanese pilot on the pilotsclub forum, that many pilots were happy to meet for the first time. He won the ParaStars 2002's award of the farthest pilot traveled.

- Michael Purdy, a handsome pilot from California, who is also a commentator with Casey Cadwell, on the PPG Radio show, an interesting weekly paramotor radio show on the Internet. He took the opportunity of such a big gathering to do many good interviews, including one with Kanji.

- Don Jordan, who lives in Texas and in Mexico, flew in the US Navy for 7 years before joining American Airlines in 1965. Now a retired pilot, he flies and teaches paramotor. Retirement? What is that?...

- Nich Scholtes, instructor in Illinois, is one of the fortunate guys who happens to be married with his best supporter. Her name is Stacey and they came together with Morgan, their daughter who celebrated her 4th birthday during the convention. Nick, who is an electrical engineer and very knowledgeable in radio stuff, gave an extensive seminar, with topics such as various types of radios that may be used for PPG, on what characteristics make a good radio, radio helmets, different types of microphones, how they work, what a noise-canceling mic is and how it works, VOX, ANR, music, sidetone, etc.

- Eric Dufour, chief instructor at Paratour, in Florida during winter time and Quebec, Canada, during summer.

Michael Purdy and me, while recording the interview about the next world PPG fly-in in Basse-Ham, France.

Among all of Michael Purdy's interviews for the PPG Radio Show on the Internet, was one with me. At first, I refused, since he intended to talk about me. But I later offered to the persistent, but still polite and charming Michael, an interview about the next World Basse-Ham PPG Meet, in France, since I think it is a subject of great interest in the paramotor world.

In his 35' motor home, Michael was all set with his recording installation that can also be carried in a wallet. In the comfort of a living room and in a relaxing ambiance, we had an agreeable chat, right on the convention site.

Alex Varv is a paramotor pilot from Illinois and the American importer of the Cors'air engines.

A man of heart and generous of his time, Alex is truly dedicated to the sport. He is always there to help and particularly with mechanical problems, whatever the brand is.

During the convention, Alex gave a useful seminar on the Cors'air and Falcon engines.

Alex Varv (left) explaining mechanic to a pilot attending the convention.

Among the other seminars during the convention, there were :

- Solo 210 clinic with Chris Bowles, of Southern Skies in North Carolina;

- Reserve clinic, with Alan Chuculate of California;

- Emergency maneuvers, with Chris Santacroce of Super Fly in Utah;

- Reserve with motor and installation considerations, with John Phillips of Pennsylvania, a skydiver with over 1800 jumps and paramotorist;

- Sue Gardner, director of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), spoke about the new Sport Pilot NPRM.

Bill Walsh, Nick Scholtes and Scott Travers

Picture courtesy of Jeff Goin

Scott Travers, the sole source overhaul support for the TOP-80 motor in the USA, presented a beneficial clinic on the this engine.

Good mechanic, he is now in the process of establishing "Flyhighman Powersports", a motor repair shop in Florida, providing solutions in R&D and normal overhaul procedures for all makes of two cycle engines. He plans on developing some new engine goodies as well.

Very professional, he provides Paralite with all their motor needs and establishing other contracts for similar services. No Web site as yet... hopefully soon.

Ray Kashefi filming pilots in action.

Inset, Stephanie and Ray.

Ray Kashefi from California, owner of the Skytoy Web site, came this year again and was all over as usual, talking to everyone and capturing what's interesting with his camera.

He made a long and interesting report on the Parastars and Sun 'n Fun at Skytoy.com, as well as on a 6 hours film you can get for $20.00 on video, or for $10.00 on DVD version.

Not only friendship was among us, but love was also in the air... Ray had a different smile this year, the one of a blessed man : The reason is Stephanie Williams, a woman pilot he now calls his better half.

- Diego Cecchetto, the Italian Miniplane constructor, came again this year and this time, he had a smile like the one Ray Kashefi had. The name of his beautiful Italian girlfriend is Daniela Tuffanelli.

- Michelle Daniele, instructor at American Flyer in New Mexico. Her and her husband Jerry are genuine kind people and very dedicated to the sport. In October, they host the popular Balloon Fiesta PPG Fly-in, in Albuquerque.

- Jim Jackson, the American ParaLite constructor and a real gentleman we all like in the industry.

Diego Cecchetto, Daniela, Michelle Daniele and Jim Jackson.

Aerobatic show to the enjoyment of the crowd
This year again, Chris Santacroce of Super Fly in Utah, one of the very best paragliding and paramotor aerobatic pilots in the world (if not the best) gave a show, performing wingovers, stall, SAT's (Safety Acro Team- a spin/stall), etc.

For the first time, David Sigier (instructor of Quebec, Canada who has been trained by Eric Dufour), did an aerobatic show, including stalls, wingovers, SAT, barrel roll, etc. Both pilots executed their maneuvers flawlessly. Helicopter and paramotor pilot, Bruce Erion is also a professional reporter, and a very good one. With about 20 years in the TV business, he did zillions of announcements and you should see the numerous awards and trophies in his house ! The ParaStars took the right decision by having Bruce commentating at the convention, including the aerobatic show, which he did admirably too, helped by Richard Good of Paratour, for the technical descriptions. As it was a first experience in commentating for Richard, he asked some words of advice to Bruce, who generously gave him the rights tips. Well, it resulted that Rick just did it greatly. Not only a very professional commentator, but also a great photographer, Bruce won this year again the picture contest. In addition, he won the funniest event plaque, for his failed launch attempt with 5 items attached to his wing, and for his very professional and humorous microphone work during the convention. There was also some other contests, such as bomb drop, slalom and kiting competitions that somebody else than Bruce won. ;-)

Paratour came with some novelties at the convention:

The training bar on the SD paramotor, that caught the attention of many. Once they knew more about this teaching tool, it started to make more sense for them.

The new RDM engine with 22 HP, giving 125 pounds of thrust, with clutch.

A new quieter exhaust system for the RDM SD unit.

The same good strong SD frame with one loop only. This unit will have the light tandem capability, as we could see it flying two persons at the convention.

The new under bars with harness attachment points, that now replace the J-bars as an option on all SD's.

The training bar (in yellow) on an SD paramotor with under bars.

From left to right : Danny Carriere from Canada, Eric Dufour of Paratour, Canada & USA, Simon Good from England, Richard Good of Paratour Canada & USA and on his knees, in front of the SD paramotor, Raynald Tremblay from Canada.

We had also the new SD with Radne engine, for light pilots. A light, but strong unit with clutch and a 100 cm prop that had a fair thrust with 84 pounds, to fly light pilots and especially, the "petite women". It is our new lady unit for this sport. A larger diameter prop with the SD Radne engine is in development for the "Monsieurs".

Michelle Daniele, instructor at American Flyer in New Mexico, tried prototype of the SD with Radne engine. Here are her comments:

"I am excited about the new SD Radne paramotor. Great power for it's size, comfortable and easy to launch with the new "distance" bar. Reasonable noise level. I want one and I'm hoping to be the first customer. With the strong cage that Paratour is known for this will be a great machine for our new female pilots. I'll take mine in Hot Pink!

Michele Daniele, preparing to fly the SD with Radne engine for the first time at the Parastars.
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Christiane Moisan (CC)
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There were some pilots offering tandem rides all over the weekend.

Among them, was Laurent Carillon, a nice French pilot, living now in Florida. After becoming an experienced pilot, he took training for tandem flight with Eric Dufour. Laurent is now a certified tandem pilot, operating in the Orlando area.

During the event, we had the pleasure to meet Laurent's mother, a charming lady who came from France to visit her son and his lovely wife Maryline. Of course, Mrs. Carillon delighted to take a tandem flight with her son.

Laurent Carillon preparing to fly tandem with his mother.

Picture courtesy of Terry Cohen

Left to right :

Dan Reimer, trained at Paratour in 1997, is now instructor in Manitoba, Canada. He also went to the Arctic, for a scientific study made with the help of paramotor flight.

Bruce Erion (Darth Vader), of Georgia. As we know, he carries a lot of toys with him. Some times, he also has a costume with him and this weekend, he had this Darth Vader one for the times when we can't fly.

Bill Walsh, instructor in Massachusetts, a guy we all affectionately call "Wild Bill", was messing around with a devil hat and rode off to play "devilboy".

Both couldn't resist "playing" together.

Ed Shikatani, pilot from Ontario, Canada. He received his training with Eric Dufour in 1995 and has enjoyed flying ever since.

Next year perhaps the ParaStars will have to add a costume contest... ;-)

There were about 220 people attending to the Saturday night banquet. We could enjoy a salad bar, chicken, fish and roast beef, with a variety of vegetables and different desserts.

During the banquet, were distributed awards and many raffle prizes, such as PPG lessons, radios, radio helmets, cases of Castrol oil, a variometer, etc. They have been offered by the vendors and a VCR has been offered by Neil Stubbs and Jack Kimble, who are not in the business and have been very generous toward the sport over the years.

That Saturday night, luck was with Bill Walsh, from Powered Paragliding Sports, in Massachusetts, who won many times at the raffle.

Gift certificates of appreciation were dispersed to: Greg Kaspar, Dawn Pistocchi, Rob Reynolds, Dave Beres, David Hunt, Chris Santacroce, Eric Dufour, Lon and Debbie Chaney and Jim Jackson for their significant contributions during the convention.

Right after the banquet, 5 paramotor pilots did a little escapade for some good free falls at Sky Venture, in Orlando, 30 minutes away from the convention site.

It is actually the best wind tunnel in the world. Soon, there will be another one in Thailand.

They all went there in Jeff Goin's "Enterprise".

Left picture: The Enterprise in front of the Sky Venture wind tunnel.

Right picture: At SkyVenture, up row from left : Chris Santacroce, Jeff Goin, John Philips, the instructor, low row from left: Eric Dufour and Brad Weiss.

Picture courtesy of Jeff Goin