Sun 'n Fun 2000

Lakeland, Florida, USA

April 9th to 15th, 2000

Special thanks to Sunter who corrected this English version.
 

** "The following is not an official report, but my personal view of this event."

Eric Dufour
This was my fifth year attending Sun 'n Fun to show my products.

I looked forward to having a good time, again, with the people who share my passion for the sport, meeting old and new friends, socializing and flying with many paramotor and powered parachute pilots.
Our booth, at the Paratour section.

Special thanks to Alex Varv who provided this picture.
 
At this year's edition, Francesco de Santis (Paramotor USA), Leon Wacker (Paratrike in Michigan) and I, decided to pool our resources in the same booth, so we ended up with 6 different models under the same tent:  SD, Fresh Breeze, Adventure, Miniplane, Paratrike and Paramotor.
 
Three pilots of Miniplane team: Scott Johnson, Diego Cecchetto and Boris Mayford.
Guy Leon-Dufour, Bill Walsh and me.

Throughout the week, we were joined by: Guy Leon-Dufour (owner of Adventure products from France), Diego Cecchetto (owner of the Miniplane from Italy), Scott Johnson (importer of Miniplane in Washington), and Jerry & Michelle Daniele and Tony Olmi (American Flyer PPG in New Mexico, where I spent a happy winter teaching with them).
At the launching site:  Me, David (back) Wayne Mitchler, Richard Good and Michelle Daniele.

Tony Olmi, left, and Jerry Daniele, right.
 
Also present were: Wayne and Susan Mitchler, owners of Sky Biker Aviation, Alberta, Canada:  The Good family and, Bill Werntz, who produced a great video on the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta PPG Fly-in.
 
Bill also captured the action at Sun'n Fun.  He ran all over the field, taking a variety of shots.

All take offs and landings were filmed along with comments from all the pilots, which he plans to use for his latest project....  The 2000 Sun 'n Fun PPG/PPC Fly-In video.
Bill Werntz, me and Scott Fisher, from Florida.
 
The first morning, everyone anxiously gathered at the field hoping to fly, but the winds were too high and the officials canceled the first scheduled launch.  Of course, many pilots were disappointed.

The evening window was just perfect and at 7 pm, we were all ready for a massive launch.
 
We counted about 35 PPC and PPG flying together at the same time in the air.  The scenery was breathtaking.  You could feel the excitement of the pilots flying for the first time together.
 
"Turbo Bob" Ryan, Alan Chuculate, Wayne Mitchler, Greg Anderson and David Robichaux.
 
I flew the large Silex for the first time and just like the smaller sizes, it handled and flew very well.

Alan Chuculate, from California, who was there with "Turbo Bob"Ryan, also from California, flew the large Silex too.  Alan must have liked it because he wrote me a check after his flight and left with his own large Silex.
During the week, we saw many different brands of engines and gliders.
The Silex and the SD.
 
The SD on trike, with the small Silex.
 
Michelle Daniele had some good flying on her trike; she was by far the most elegant pilot inflating her paraglider on trike.
We flew an ingenious little trike adapted to the SD.  Wayne Mitchler, an instructor from Alberta Canada, made it.

It was always present on the field and then in the air flying an SD with either the small or medium Silex. Inflations were always perfect.

Susan, Wayne's wife, was flying foot launch with us.

On the left, the trike adapted for the SD.

 
I met again with Mike Campbell Jones, designer of the Reflex wing and his son Pascal who has flown a paraglider since age 8.  I flew the Reflex in strong winds and felt secure under this solid glider.  Mike had with him the Vortex paramotor, a good-looking unit.
 
Ray Kashefi, Mike Campbell Jones, me, Jose Casaudoumeck, Manfred Radius and Susan Mitchler.
A little pause, after the flights:  Chris Bowles, Scott R. Fisher, Bruce Brown, me and one of the FAA officials.
 
On every scheduled launch, we did tandem flying with the new Monster .

Each day, with different passengers, David, my assistant instructor, demonstrated good skill with the tandem flying.

I also went for a tandem with Greg Anderson, from California, who is a paramotorist and the Web master of the www.nappg.org.  He took advantage of hands free to get some good photographs from the air.
Before David's take-off with the Monster and Richard Good as his passenger.
 
Just about everyone flew each day throughout the week, except for Friday, where the rain kept the pilots on the ground all day.
 
Francesco de Santis and me, in preparation to fly.  With us, Greg Anderson and Alan Chuculate.
Bill Werntz filming Leon Wacker on his Paratrike and Tony Olmi.
 
Each night after flying, we were 15 to 20 happy campers gathered at the booth under the tent for dinner and watched the video shots Bill Werntz and John Good had taken during the day.

With John Good's motorhome and mine, we had electricity and everything else we needed for the week.
Mike Campbell Jones chatting with John Good.
 
At the Aerolight USA party, with Javier Casaudouhmeck (center) and Alex Varv (right).

Special thanks to Angelo Chirico who provided this picture.
Each day was spent receiving many visitors and also many pilots from the different booths.

Elisabeth, my wife, had a good time going around and meeting teams like the Sea Bow, ASAP, Aerolight USA, Paraborne, Spartan, Southern Skies Paragliding, Ultraflight Magazine, Aerosport Connection and many other ones.

Javier and Jose Casaudoughmeck, from the Aerolight USA booth, invited us to a party organized for pilots by Anatoly Cohn, of Apco... a nice crowd, a few good beers and good food.
 
 
It was the first time that this type of award was given to a powered paraglider at Sun 'n Fun.
Click here for information on the SD paramotors
During the week, three judges came to our booth to have me fill out a card, so the SD unit could be judged.  It seemed like I never quite had time, so on their third visit, David, my assistant, finally filled out the card.

They took a close look at the SD and two days later, the SD paramotor received the award for the "Best Type Powered Paraglider".
 
At the booth, with the three judges who came to announce me the SD paramotor was an award winner.
 
Eléonaure, with her dog Tiny, the day of her 13th birthday.
On the 13th, it was my daughter, Eleonaure's birthday.  We organized a hot dog party with all our friends.

She was also thrilled to have Melissa, Bill Walsh's daughter (Bill is the owner of Powered Paragliding Sports, in Massachusetts), share this evening with her.

Since Eleonaure soloed two months ago on a trike, she felt quite comfortable as part of the gang of paramotor pilots, even though she had just turned 13.
 
Once again, Sun 'n Fun 2000 was an excellent event. The camaraderie was there and we all had the chance to do nice flights.  In my opinion, it is one of the best places to go when you like to fly.
 
 

Click here to see Ray Kashefi's report on Sun 'n Fun
Click here to see Greg Anderson's report on Sun 'n Fun