After the Flite Test team's first Paramotor Solo, Aviator PPG's instructor, Eric, walks everyone through the mistakes they made and how to improve. More on paramotors:
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Aviator PPG has a unique way of teaching their students how to pilot a paramotor.
“It’s really a three-phase segment,” says Eric Farewell, Aviator PPG co-owner and instructor. “You learn how to kite the wing, you learn how to control the motor, and then you learn how to fly the wing. And we have lots and lots of ground school inside of all that. Then you finally have that triumph of getting off the ground for the first time on your own.”
Eric believes every aspect of paramotor training is important for success.
“Suddenly, you put all these pieces together and you got in the air and you landed and you survived!” says Eric. “You did something that man is not supposed to do and survived.”
After the first solo flight, students have the opportunity to go back, watch the flight, learn what they did well and what they need to improve on so that the next time they get in the air, their flight becomes even more fluid and successful. The great part is that the students get to have a second attempt at soloing with the paramotor.
“Not only do we get to do it again, but we get to share much more accuracy in the air work,” says Eric. “Your first few flights, you’re a great robot. You’re going to learn exactly how to fly the wing, how to fly the motor, how to be controlled. But then after you get those first few flights, you start to take control yourself.”
As students continue to take solo flights (after 10-15 or so), the instructors begin to cut back on speaking to them in the radio. However, here and there they will give helpful tips and little reminders about their flights.
“You’re starting to get that control,” says Eric. “You’re starting to get that air work in, starting to learn how to turn around a point, learning how to fly low and how to fly between trees…all the things that make flying paramotor so incredible.”
Eric and the instructors of Aviator PPG are passionate about seeing students grow from that very first day in ground school as newbies to experienced pilots of paramotor.
“The whole adventure is amazing to teach people and show them those first three segments,” says Eric. “And then when you guys take that energy and put it all together into something amazing in your first flight, you become part of the flying family and then moving beyond that into becoming an expert pilot at your own level is the best thing for us.”
If you want to learn more about paramotor and how you can become a pilot yourself, visit www.flitetest.com/paramotor.