Sun Apr 7, 2002
Orlando, FL - Lakeland, FL
This was the Parastars trip with an early beginning. Having
planned vacation over a year ago, I parlayed my week into 15 days off and came down to
Florida early just to enjoy. This state must have the most PPG pilots per capita
of any other...and they're so welcoming! My first night (Sat Apr 6) was at Jim
Jackson's shop where Wayne and Susan Mitchell were also camping out. They are a
fun couple from Canada who come down for the winter to fly, teach and generally
let their free spirits soar.
Jim Jackson's Paralite shop was a hub of activity: Scott
Traverse was giving a motor maintenance clinic to Chris's motor transition
students, several of which had purchased Top 80 Sky Cruisers. Jim Jackson's wife
had taken ill and while he was at the hospital, Wayne and Susan were obviously indispensable
at keeping things running. Just before sunset the three of us went over to
Lakeland to set up the Paralite tent. It was an amusing process but we managed.
Don't let Susan's small size fool you...she can carry her own weight! Pictured
right, they enjoy the comforts of our labor...and the tent stayed up the entire
time!
 The
next morning promised to be a breezy one so I headed over to Jim Jackson's home
launch right around sunrise. Chris
Santacroce was running a motor transition course and would be there sometime in
the morning but I wanted to be ready to get some horizontal sun first thing in
the morning.
 Early
was a good thing too...the winds were forecast to pick up early and blow out the
day and a call to flight serviced verified that by 9 AM it was going to be a
howler. So that meant that as soon as sunshine percolated the low air into it's
fast-moving upper brother, a rough cousin would send us all for cover. The
forecast was right.
At first the wind was just
inconvenient because I could not move forward above 200 feet. By 8 AM it started
getting bumpy and by 9 AM I'd had enough. Dave, one of Chris's students works on
inflations on the right.
 After
spending some time with the the Motor transition guys it was over the opener at Sun-N-Fun. While I'm involved in other forms of
flying, the first stop was to Paradise City...ultralights. It's
always so good to see the family of PPG people...the sport is small enough to
know most of the active participants. Jose & Javier were the first one's I found and what a spread!
They occupied the "corner office" and had gear oozing
out the sides. Then to Bruce Brown's Fly-Ohio tent and Jim Jackson's Paralite
display.
Alan Chuculate and his friend "Turbo" Bob rolled in
later and we agreed to fly together away from Sun-n-Fun for the next couple
days. Pictured left above is a friend of Javier, Javier, myself, Mauro, Alan
& Jose.
 Mauro
(pictured right in gray) is a PPG instructor from Panama. An enthusiastic and
interesting chap who I've been corresponding with for some time now. What a
treat to finally meet him. In addition to instruction he also does video. .
  Alex
Varv, pictured far left was helping Bruce Brown and also presenting the Airfer
motors for other applications. Bruce kept busy talking to passerby. Eric Dufour
showed up this day too and we were all amused to see "ED001" stamped
on an Airfer engine...it was intended for Eric!
There weren't as many vendors there because most all of them
wanted to be at the Parastars convention and didn't want to have to go to both
places. Mo, Scott Fisher and I (pictured left) caught up on the latest there
too. Scott Fisher and I met at my very first PPG fly-in during the 1999 ABQ
Balloon Fiesta.
Fernando, the designer of the Airfer motor was there and he
spoke no English. Obviously a fun-loving fellow along with his wife Marie, it
was good fortune that Mo is fluent in Spanish and was able to both translate for
us and engage him in conversation.
Apr 8, 2002
Lakeland, FL - Cocoa Beach, FL
Alan & Turbo were going to meet me the following morning
at Jim's home launch so I docked the Enterprise there. More wind was in store
and I wanted to be airborne early.
 Surprise
A knock at my door surprised me...it was still dark. When I
opened it there stood Betty Pfeifer (pictured left). At that hour I didn't even
recognize her. It turns out she had planned on testing a new wing design with
Wayne Mitchler as pilot.  We
talked for a while and then my cell phone rang...at 6AM. Nobody calls me at that
hour...it was Alan and Turbo Bob (pictured right)...their truck had died about 5
miles away.
They weren't so concerned about the truck but didn't want to
miss any flying! So I drove over to the gas station where they were and we
heaved all their gear into the Enterprise to get it over to Jim's still
early.
What a morning and the sun wasn't even up yet!
Test Pilot
   Bill
of High Energy Sports (Betty & Bill pictured far left) is a designer
extraordinaire of reserve and powered parachute wings and has even worked on a
NASA recover re-entry parachute. Betty is well known from her reserve clinics.
They are now working on a Paraglider wing and this morning Wayne Mitchler, a
very experienced trike, PPG and PPC pilot flew the first test flight.
It was interesting being witness to the first flight of a new
design. Strictly speaking, it's not a completely new design, it is a
modification of a successful wing they currently produce.
  While
they worked on the first flight I took in some of the good morning air. 200 feet
above there was a steady howl, almost stopping me. Down low it remained light.
The flight went well (from my perspective) although they said there is work to
be done. So goes product development.
Pictured Right is Wayne with his SD Trike and his flying
buddy/wife Susan.
Flying: Don't Try This At Home
Chris Santacroce (pictured left in the weird attitude) and his
students showed up later and most of us flew in the rough-textured air. Chris
put on an impromptu show including the SAT.   Alan
and Turbo engaged in some of their low-level antics including an in-flight lid
closing by Turbo (pictured 2nd left just before closing the lid). The
challenging aspect of the closing was that the lid had to kicked backwards.
OK, that's not bad. The obvious risk here is that a downdraft would smack him
into the side of the trailer.
This sort of flying involves enormous risk particularly if
done prior to gaining the appropriate training and skills.
 Some
others showed up later but the flying came to an end as the gusts picked up. It
was good hanging out with everyone though and we wound up doing some creative
kiting. Pictured Right is Chris doing a pull-up while kiting.
 Neal
Stubbs, an accomplished Orthodontist from near Tampa came by dressed up as a
pilot. He didn't fly but talked about it with the best of them. This statement,
born of Neal's own humor, is better appreciate hearing him say it. Neal does
indeed fly and has flown many things besides powered paragliders.
Pictured left, the late-staying morning crew. Wayne, Susan,
Bill & Betty all had obligations at Sun-N-Fun and left soon after the test
flight.
That afternoon was a blow-out. We went to Sun-N-Fun but nobody
flew there. That's ok, it's not likely we would flown anywhere else...this
weather system was blowing gales on the entire state.
Wanting to be in position for beach flying the next day, Alan,
Turbo and I headed for the East coast. Initially Melbourne was the destination
but a wrong turn on my part turned into a new destination: Cocoa Beach. That
oops proved beneficial both in good flying conditions and way less driving.
Apr 9, 2002
Cocoa Beach, FL - Cocoa Beach, FL
We expected a blowout and indeed the dawning howl was
significant but smooth. It's the kind of condition where if you can kite the
glider you'll do ok. Flight Service indicated steady increase but nothing
dramatic. After meeting my obligation to tell them it was flyable I headed out.
It was fabulous!
There was nobody around and I found a volleyball pole to stand
on. With the steady wind it was possible but I couldn't do it for more than
about 20 seconds. It sure is a cool skill to practice and few opportunities come
up. Going up the beach a couple miles soaked up most of an hour and the return
trip a few minutes.
By that time Alan and Turbo emerged wanting a piece of the
action. That also wanted to use my small silex (understandably). Alan flew his
Meduim and Turbo my small.
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