Although I leaned to fly single engine aeroplanes, the cost of maintaining my skills led to me now needing to re-certify all my exams and redo my air time. Unfortunately, my bank balance, coupled with a wife and two children did not justify both the time, or the money for a skill barely used. So when I heard about paramotoring many years ago, I was intruiged. The thought of taking off within a handful of steps with a self propelled flyinggn machine, without needing a runway, flightplan, or little else, left me thinking about how I could still get some time in the air, without the same leve of cost or disruption.

Also, paramotoring also offers the ability to take off and land with relative ease, making a short excursion more practical (and far far cheaper) than hiring a whole aircraft for liittle more than a quick picnic.

So in this series of articles, I hope to describe the hobby of flight, and how I believe paramotoring to be the answer.

Flying is always restricted by weather. The bigger the aircraft the more wind tolerance. Paramotoring can take place in similar weather to anyone wishing to fly with a standard VFR liicence (visual flight rules), but not recommended in too gusty conditions!

The first step was to visit somewhere to try it. Although no-one offered it near where I lived, I found a place near Alconbury off the A14 which did this by appointment. With an hour slot booked, I popped down for a fairly informal intriduction to the canopy (parachute), and how the strings worked that connected you to it.

Feeling like a novice, and not noticing the 'clues' for wind direction, it took some practice to get to set the canopy right on the ground (the first step of preparing for take-off, but once  this was mastered, the next step of learning to walk into the wind with the canopy directly overhead didn't seem too difficult. Perhaps the wind was just on my side that day.

Although I had no engine attached, I practiced all the steps necessary for take-off, ensuring that the canopy never folded above my head, and I could correct it if it did by getting ti to 're-inflate'.

Harded than it looked, and requiring a certain element of fitness to keep the tension on, and keep it in the right place, I spent a good few hours walking around the field,wondering  what was next

And before I could consider attaching an engine, my time was up.

Seizing the chance to strap on an engine, albeit without a parachute I pressed myself against the instructors car, strapped on the engine, with help stood up (after all, carrying a large chunk of metal on my back weighing about over 25kg wasn't exactly natural).

With my glorified lawnmower behind me, and the throttle control in front, my instructor gently rotated the throttle as I pushed on his car, with my arms locked straight.

Without ear protectors, the noise would give you a headache within no time, although I do suspect that ear protection is most needed during take-off and the cllimb, as once at a suitable altitude less power is needed to simply maintain height.

So after my little escapade, I bought a second hand paragliding canopy of ebay, to give me the opportunity to practice on the ground. (the one I bought is not suitable for paramotoring as it cannot take the extra weigh, but is good for ground training)

Behind the Lord Butler Sports Centre, and on the Saffron Walden Common I ventured, running down the hill with great fury, managing to make a far shorter flight than the handful of feet by the Wright Brothers all those years before , and to which I was grateful for my padded (and now slightly bruised) behind. Needless to say, with the exercise, I slept well that night.

So with the next step for me being to do more  ground control, and then strapping on an engine and taking more lessons, I end this article, with the hope to bring you more in the future when I can claim to have flown, and not simply dropped!

If anyone wants to also try, or simply watch me make a fool of myself chasing down the common, please contact me, and perhaps I won't have to look silly on my own... or maybe I still will!!!