New Fuel Line

Joe took a couple photos of me when we were putting new fuel line on the PPCs for the inspections. Looks like the only thing left for us now is to meet up w/ the FSDO to get some signatures and than start working on our sport pilots. I was talking to Jeff the other day and he mentioned a fly-in down in TN next month called the Smokey Mountain Fly-in. I am not sure if I am going to be able to go, but I am going to try since it sounds like fun. My N-Number is N716PP and the 716 is Noahs birthday and the PP stands for powered parachute.

N-Number Finally Complete

The machine now has N-number and is ready to fly legally except for me getting my Sport Pilot. I am so glad this is finally over and can put this behind me. It wasn't that bad once I started talking w/ the man that was inspecting it. I will have to post the mans name later since I have already forgot it, but he was the first person to fly a powered parachute. He was super nice and very helpful during the entire process. Joe got his machine N-numbered today and it passed w/ flying colors. I know Chris and John still need theres inspected and I believe both of them are going on Monday. We had it done in Amherst at Ron Dixons place. He had a great hangar that was really nice and big even though it was full of ppcs and trikes. I guess the next step will be heading down to TN to get our sport pilot student so we can fly again and that will hopefully be very soon.

Almost ready for inspection

I have been working with Joe over the last couple days trying to get our two machines ready for inspection this Friday. We pretty much have the red one done except for some minor things that will be taken care of before the inspection. Overall I am very pleased w/ the machine and I think it will pass w/no problems. John Dubose (Kiwi) did a great job on the stickers and Joe came up w/ the N-number plate which I think turned out better than expected. I will be so glad when this whole thing is over and behind us, and we can concentrate on flying again. I noticed this week that three days in a row were perfect for flying, but was unable to because of having it tore apart. I have got to admit that this is a lot of work, but looking back the work was well needed for the most part, and was probably a good thing. I have also started a MySpace page so I will probably be posting less until I get the hang of that.

N-Number Inspection

We have signed up to have our ppcs inspected at the end of this month for our N-Numbers. We have been working on our machines to get them ready, and I believe we are very close to having them done. We are having them inspected in Amherst Va by what I have been told was the first person to ever fly a powered parachute. He flew the first one at the University of Notre Dame. I guess he probably didn't realize what he was starting and it will be a pleasure to meet the man that started it all. I will have to say he must pretty crazy or very brave to be the first one to leave the ground in an open cart supported only by a big parachute.
I hope that we want have any problems w/ the inspection, but since this is the first time any of us have had to do anything like this it should prove to be very interesting. We have not been flying much lately due to weather, busy schedules, and trying to get the machines ready. Hopefully after all of this is done we will be back to flying on a regular basis and can put all of these headaches behind us.

Smith Mountain Lake by PPC

Yesterday we were working on the machines getting them ready for the N-number inspection when the wind seemed to come to a halt. I believe that this inspection is not going to be as bad as first thought, but until it is done I will have to just wait. Kiwi and I flew yesterday over Smith Mountain Lake for about an hour. It was a little hazy in the air, but still a beautiful day to fly. I started doing some studying for the written test and I found out quickly how little I know. Their is a lot more to this Sport Pilot than I imagined, but I guess I don't have a choice and will have to start hitting the books.

Short Flight

I took a short flight the other morning to get a couple pictures of the land we are planning on putting a house on. I was hoping to get some shots to help us figure out where would be the best building spot. Unfortuanetly the camera died after only a couple shots so that plan went out the window. I still was able to get a couple before I returned back down to earth. It wasn't ideal flying weather either even though on the ground was perfectly still. Once I got up around 600' I started getting bumped around more than I like so I called it a day, and headed back to the field.
We are all still working toward getting our Sport Pilot right now, and I think our next step will be to get signed off to take the written test. I have the study materials now, and just need to take the time to start reading.

New Pilot Picture

Here is a picture of John, who flies around the Bedford area in an Outlaw Powered Parachute. This is the UFPPC that I saw one day flying over Bedford. The other picture is a beautiful shot he got while flying over Smith Mountain Lake. I haven't been able to fly w/ John, but hopefully this summer we will be able to get up in the air together. It is always nice to hear from other pilots and especially when they are in the area. I hope we will start to get more pilots close by and maybe the Sport Pilot coming out will open the doors for some people. John is lucky since he flies a single seat machine so he doesn't have to worry about jumping thru all the hoops to get his machine N-Numbered and inspected. Sometimes I wonder if it would just be simpliar to just buy a single place machine, but for now we are looking into going to TN to get our training done this summer. Thanks for the pictures John, and look forward to meeting up w/ you this summer.

1st meeting on the N-Number transition

We finally got together yesterday to start working on the N-Number process. I believe we got a lot of the paperwork done, but their is still a lot of work to be done. We checked out each others machines and tried to get a head start on what we need to order to get our air worthiness certificates. It seems like a lot of detail work, but after looking at our machines it seems to me that it might not be as bad as first thought. Unfortunately the wind was up yesterday so nobody was able to fly.

Great videos on PPCs

I found a couple really nice videos on PPCs on YOUTUBE. I believe both videos were made from a flying club in Michigan called the Eagles Nest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvDl3WABRyU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLKmCDJ4X0M

Finally up in the air again

Kiwi and I finally got to fly again late yesterday afternoon. It was a great flight and the wind was perfect for flying. We only stayed up for around 30 minutes due to this being the first time up in a while and I have to say it felt great. I definitely had some rust on my landings, but I know that will come back after we get a couple more flights in. I hope this will be the beginning of some nice weather so we can start getting up a little more often. I didn't get to many pictures since it was getting dark and the camera doesn't work so well in the late afternoon. We are all getting started on our N-Number process and after looking at what we need to do I do not think it will be all that bad. The one shot I got was of Stanton River High School soccer field as we flew by yesterday.

N Number Time

I just received my conversion kit last week for changing the old powered parachute into a brand new N-number flying machine. I have to admit I have not been putting much effort into getting myself or the machine switched over to the new specs. I guess it is time to buckle down and get started on this and hopefully not have a really nice piece of yard art before it is all said and done. This whole idea of getting your machine N numbered and getting your sport pilot is a kind of tricky ordeal. It is like you are shooting yourself in the foot with either you do first, because once you have either or , you are illegal to use the other until you have both. As of right now I wish they would have just left the powered parachutes alone, so we would not have to jump thru all the same hoops that a regular pilot does. I am about to send off for my N-number registration and that does not seem that bad, but I am dreading getting the aircraft passed, and also myself passing the sport pilot test. I will try to keep the blog updated as I go thru this process but be ready for some head-banging, cussing, and probably a lot of complaining.

Dreaming of Flying

Here is a video of a guy skydiving from a powered parachute I found on YouTube. I have still not been up flying, but hopefully the weather will turn around and we will get some nice flying weather. I did have a dream the other night that I was taking off in the Buckeye when the parachute snagged on a house and made me flip over. Than a Trike slammed into a fence, but nobody was hurt. I guess it was more of a nightmare than a dream. So I guess even in my dreams I can't get back up in the air.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuCKuauFIvo

To busy for flying

I have actually no new stories of flying since I it seems like forever since I have been up in the air. Between the weather, work, and family I have not had much time for flying. I guess the main thing that I have to do now is get ready for the new sport pilot that is coming in this year. I guess we all have to have it by the end of the year no questions asked if we want to keep flying powered parachutes. I am not looking forward to getting this sport pilot right now, but maybe once we get going it want be so bad.

I put a couple links of Kiwi flying that we took over the summer flying over Bedford.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-FF94ptH1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRI_9-wdwhI

Future PPC Pilot

Here is our future pilot in the family. Noah got this flight jacket for xmas and when he puts it on he thinks it is time to fly. I hope when he gets old enough he will have the passion to fly, but I guess we will just wait and see. I have not been up myself in a quite a while, but maybe w/ the holdays over and everything starting to settle down I will be able to get back up.