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this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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I'm a flight instructor, fixed wing. Spent a lot of my 20s around small airports.
I've seen exactly one paramotor flight in person and it ended 40 feet up a pine tree.
This guy took off from the grass along the T-hangars heading away from the runway, and made a right turn that took him directly under the Downwind leg for the active runway at a fairly busy uncontrolled airport. He was not carrying a radio. I'm not sure exactly why, I don't know if his engine gave out or if he made some glaringly bad decisions, but he wound up in a pine tree. My understanding is this was his first flight of any kind in any aircraft, and it was made solo in a paramotor at a busy airfield.
Completely separate story that is related to this one in my mind: I had a couple men walk into our flight school one day. Just walked in; no appointment or anything. Father and son, one in his mid-20s about my age, the other in his mid-50s or so. Turns out they were both mechanical engineers, and they got it in their head they were going to design and build their own ultralight airplane, and wanted to ask someone about the legalities of such. I pulled a copy of the FAR/AIM off the shelf, pointed them to FAR 103, which is the page and a half of federal laws governing ultralights. I also strongly suggested reading FAR 91 and the AIM, and asked if they would be interested in flight instruction. Got kind of a "lol no we have bachelor's degrees." response from them. That was in 2011. Never heard from them since. I wonder if they gave up, or if they killed themselves.
Probably self-trained, too. That's not uncommon in paramotor. Paramotor can be an incredibly safe, and cheap way to fly. But without good instruction, there's a lot of ways to get yourself killed. Ending up in a tree is probably one of the better outcomes for that guy.
I'm going with poor decision making all around.
I wouldn't be surprised if they got something built, and scared themselves shitless the first time they got in the air with it and never touched it again.
Every now and then we'll see a complete newbie ask about building their own paramotor to save some money which is insane because a full, brand new beginner kit costs in the neighborhood of $10k-$15k brand new. Used gear can easily be half that.
Building your own gear is insanely dangerous, because if it's configured incorrectly, you can easily end up in a dangerous situation like a torque twist where the motor twists the risers of the paraglider and spins you around underneath it. That situation is often fatal. And newbies just don't know these things.
And the icing on the shit cake is that these types often have a chip on their shoulder. They get indignant that we recommend paying for training and tell newcomers that they don't need to waste the money on training.
I have a radio, I know how to use it. I almost never carry it just because my motor spark causes so much interference that it makes it unusable. I'd like to figure out a way to shield that interference, but I haven't done it, yet. I fly out of a small, not-busy uncontrolled airport, but I'd really rather not be near an airport if I could help it. I'd much rather fly from just a regular grass field if I had access to one.
I'm also a ham radio operator, and I once noticed a lot of noise that corresponded with the engine RPM on the VHF radio I had in my pickup truck. Turns out the distributor was overdue for replacement, it was still running okay but the points were so worn it was acting like a spark gap transmitter. The cylinder head should be enough mass of metal to stop you hearing the actual spark plug.
I have little experience with paramotor engines, I imagine it's got a magneto ignition? You might want to examine it.
It is a magneto, and it's a super common issue. I've seen some have success with shielding the wire from the magneto to the spark plug. I just need to try that.
There is a bit of a weird catch, isn't there? It's way easier to find schools and instructors for fixed wing, but fixed wing ultralights are fairly rare and relatively expensive (many things that people called "ultralights" technically weren't, which is why Light Sport happened). Paragliders and hang gliders (and their powered counterparts) are much less expensive and available well inside the limits of Part 103, but it's tough to find schools and instructors who can give you meaningful instruction for them.
This feels like a problem with a straightforward solution.
These days, paramotor instructors are easy to find, and fairly plentiful, especially if you're willing to travel. The real catch is determining the quality of the instruction. There are a fair number of grifters and bad actors in the sport that lure in unsuspecting newcomers.
I think it's a lack of standardization, at least in part.
No, don't do that. It doesn't work. When you combine weather suitability, instructor availability, aircraft availability, and then filter it by "when I can get away for the hours or days I need to set aside for this" you end up spending the one hour of flight time a month reviewing basic maneuvers over and over and never building proficiency or advancing. I've seen this as both a student as an instructor. You need to be able to call up the airport and say "can I book an hour of instruction tomorrow?"
First step: Do not hire an unlicensed instructor. Not since 2004. The Light Sport rule superseded the informal "heavy ultralight" malarky previously intended for non-certified instruction. Ultralight students should seek instruction from a CFI who is qualified in the category and class of aircraft they seek to fly, at the VERY least. Some guy who guesses he'll show you how to handle an aircraft? Nah.
A qualified instructor should be willing and able to present their certificates upon request. It's a credit card sized piece of plastic overall colored teal with an airliner and some Wright Brothers imagery printed on it. It should bear a certificate number, and on the back there should be an Endorsements field that says the kind of aircraft you want to learn to fly. Government speak for paramotors is "powered parachute." The thing that looks like a big hang glider with a little car under it with a propeller on the back? That's a "weight-shift trike." Make a note of this.
The FAA maintains a database of all certified aviators as a matter of public record. Given the instructor's name and especially certificate number, you can look it up in the database to verify that it is not false, expired, or otherwise bogus. Most airman certificates do not expire but flight instructor certificates do.
Second step: Make sure to communicate that you are looking for training to fly ultralight aircraft. Indicate whether or not you are also seeking a sport or private pilot certificate, now or in the future. The ideal instructor will have experience in ultralights (and most powered parachute or weight-shift trike sport pilot instructors will; fixed wing airplane instructors might not). The right instructor for you will be willing to take you through the pre-solo lessons, adding in ground instruction for the legalities and responsibilities of ultralight aviation. The wrong instructor won't listen and insist you pursue an airman certificate. Suggesting pursuing a certificate, and logging instruction given as such, is more than fine, and if you want to solo in the 2-seat trainer you learn in before a single-seat ultralight, you will have to qualify for and get a student airman certificate. But if the instructor will not hear about ultralights and doesn't listen to your needs, he's the wrong instructor for you.
Third step: An introductory lesson/discovery flight/whatever you want to call it. This can be quite the experience for someone who has never flown in a small aircraft before, there's a lot of new stimuli, but pay attention to how the instructor behaves before, during and after the flight. You can tell an instructor who has a cavalier/macho attitude from one who is professional and safety conscious. If you ask about something you see that looks wrong about the aircraft, there's a clear difference between "That is designed to be that way, that weirdly bent piece of metal prevents the lines from tangling in the propeller as we're inflating the parachute" and "don't worry, it's fine." Go with the instructor who wants to show you how safe and stable the aircraft is, not the one who wants to show off wild maneuvers. You're looking for maturity and professionalism, and you'll be able to spot it.
Paramotor training works differently, though.
I travelled for training to Florida. I stayed there for 2 weeks and did nothing but training. We'd do any flights in the morning and evening, and then instruction in the middle of the day when the air is no good for flying.
Not all schools operate like that, but many do. The other type, where you spread the training out as weather permits, those are suited more for locals.
Second, there is no licensing in paramotor. There is a governing body that offers ratings, but it's not required, and honestly, I've never once needed to prove my rating to participate in events. https://usppa.org/usppa-program/
I know for a fact there are several instructors out there who have no USPPA ratings. I'd personally not use one of those instructors, or recommend them, but they do exist.
The better instructors, in my opinion, will do an introductory tandem flight or two. Another option is towing, where the student is hooked up to a winch with a paraglider and a short flight happens where the student gets to land without the motor on their back. In my training, I got both of these. Two tandem flights and three flights with towing. But some instructors do neither of these things.
Taking a large chunk of time to complete training in one whack isn't unheard of; I read an article in AOPA magazine about a guy who got his PPL in 3 or 4 weeks doing that. He basically rented the flight school for a month to do it. I will point out that this case was notable enough to write a magazine article about. Not everyone can afford to take 2 weeks off to go to Florida for flight training. I went to ERAU, don't ask me how much my flight training in Florida cost.
I'm aware there is no licensing for paramotors as they are considered ultralights. I'm curious about the legality of these "tandem" flights you keep talking about because the very, very first rule for ultralights, FAR 103.1(a) says "For the purposes of this part, an ultralight vehicle is a vehicle that: is used or intended to be used for manned operation in the air by a single occupant." It is my understanding the historic exception for 2-person trainers was removed with the Sport Pilot Rule, with the intention of moving ultralight pilot training to tail numbered aircraft and instructors certified under 61 Subpart K. 103.5 mentions waivers, are tandem powered paraglider flights done under an administrator's waiver?
Reading the website you linked, I struggle to understand the experience requirements for a tandem instructor. This thing talks about "years", "flights", "flying days" what is all this? The requirements in FAR 61 parts J and K for sport pilots and instructors are a lot more straightforward. Hell I might see if anyone's offering SP-PPC training in my area and add on a couple ratings. Looking at the requirements with my logged experience as a fixed-wing instructor I could be a licensed parachute pilot in a 3-day weekend and a parachute instructor in a month. I wouldn't even have to re-take the FoI.
It's exactly this.
Now, I'm not an instructor, and the highest rating I've attained is PPG2. So some of this I'm a bit fuzzy on because my info is 3rd hand. My understanding is there are no hard and fast requirements. I know that for the ratings, there are written tests you have to pass that are done by the USPPA. As far as the waivers go, I think it's just up to the administrator. From what I understand, there's a bit of an epidemic of administrators who will just give out waivers for cash. I've heard of at least one that will do it for as little as $1500.
FAR 103 and ultralights are pretty chaotic. There's very little structure to any of it.
Yeah the rules are basically "Anything under this weight, speed and fuel capacity with one person on board...stay out of IMC, stay out of controlled airspace, and anything goes."