Albert Deziel

The 74 year old man did it !
by Eric Dufour
May 24th 1999

 

Eric Dufour's oldest student, at 74 years, Albert Deziel flew a paramotor for the first time on May 21rst 1999.

It is not rare to see paramotor pilots in their fifties or early sixties. But recently, Albert showed up in my training field and asked all kinds of questions on paramotoring.  Finally, he decided that he would give it a try "before he would be too old", he said.

Albert Deziel is 74 year old, weighs 125 pounds, very articulate, but he is no longer in his 20s. It took a little longer than usual, but he was so dedicated that I didn't mind spending the extra time to make his dream come true.
 

He was doing as well as the other students, but got tired faster, which at 74, is normal.  After one day of training, ground handling, simulator, walk around with a small SD-70 direct drive, Albert was still willing to continue.  I gave him a tandem instruction ride.  He liked it very much and realized how easy it was, once in the air.  This part, he knew he could do.

Next morning, he showed up again and I decided to train him in the best condition possible and gave him a few tows.  5 days training, 3 tandem instruction rides on a period of 2 weeks.

One morning, we decided to foot launch with the ideal wind.  Albert was ready and on the first attempt, he foot launched in 5 steps with my help pulling him by the chest strap.
 Albert Deziel's first take off.
He flew the pattern for 15 minutes. We were all on the ground and I directed him close enough, so he could land in my arms after shutting off his engine.  He did just that and Albert landed on his feet, in my arms.

He thanked everybody, we all congratulated our eldest student and celebrated with a cold beer.

Albert now asks for more training and more flying.  He realizes he can do it with some help, but also that he would need wheels to keep flying by himself.  He will fly again with us and he has scheduled more training.
"My dream came true", said Albert, after his first landing.