2007 News Archives

Longtime USPPA member Michael O'Daniel has made motoring/soaring flights in Peru with the dedicated couple that runs Perufly. The recent earthquake and tsunami have deeply impacted this couple and many other locals.

Michael writes: "Our paragliding brothers and sisters in Peru are in a bad way after the devastating earthquake that recently struck Peru. Jose and Katia Rosas of Perufly were hit hard. They are the people that also make the great Perufly flightsuits. Their business and home in Paracas have been destroyed and Katia is pregnant and now bedridden due to fear of miscarraige. Jeff Hamann, Jack Kimble, Phil Russman, Andy McAvin and myself recently went flying with them in Peru last February and enjoyed their wonderful hospitality and friendship."

If you are willing to help in any way, they would greatly appreciate it. Michael is acting as a collection point and will periodically wire donations by bank transfer.

Donations can be sent to:

Dani Martinez is getting ready to attempt breaking the PPG World distance record.

Any day between the 15 and the 30th of June could be the launch date of a new Paramotor challenge: To fly over 1500 km and +20 hours along Sweden, taking advantage of the long summer days to complete the longest distance by powered-paraglider. Dani Martinez, former Spanish and European PPG champion is ready for the “X-Sweden 1500” expedition. He'll be flying a Black Devil powered Fly Products “Special Edition” under a Paramania Revolution, the same glider used in the recent PPG flight over the Everest. This motor uses a high hang-point for better stability with the high load of the gear: nearly 150 kilograms, including +100 litres of fuel. And he is also considering to take off on roller-skates, to help him with the start run.

If everything goes as planned, Dani would beat the distance record set by Ramon Morillas in April, 1105 km from south Spain to the Canary Islands. Not surprising, as Dani and Ramon have known each other for many years, share the same passion for paramotoring and also similar ideas about what could be done to push the limits of the sport. “I had the idea of this flight for a long time in my mind, way before I knew that Ramon would do the flight to Canary, knowing that the long summer days in the North of Europe were perfect for flying big distances. Sweden is the perfect scenario, with favorable winds and flatlands”, says Dani.

He will not be alone during this long flight. Spanish para-trike expert Paco Diaz will be piloting a tandem trike Eco 2 (Fly Products) with a cameraman to take images of the flight, and at the same time he will attempt to set a distance record in tandem powered-paraglider landplane (PL2). So, 2 records on the same day and place; that’s the goal!

“I feel confident about this record attempt. I have a very good gear and support from a lot of people, I only need good weather conditions and I will make it! It seems more probable to find better winds blowing from south to north, which is good as the sun sets even later in the north, which would give me more time”, explains Dani. About the roller-skates, he says that if he has to launch in no wind with such a heavy load it would be better to do it on wheels. The load will be anyway supported by his back and legs so it is still considered ‘foot-launched’ (RPF1) by the FAI.

And landing with the roller-skates on? “No problem, I can skate almost better than I walk - and these have all-terrain wheels. I’ll be fine”.

For security reasons and also to be followed online by PPG lovers around the world, Dani will carry GPS tracking systems and also a GPRS mobile phone system that will allow him to send live pictures and short videos of the record flight as it is being done. The images will be uploaded almost immediately to the ‘X-Sweden 1500’ website, so that anybody can see what Dani sees from the Swedish skies as he crosses the country towards a new world record.

Our website has been hosted since the beginning on a server that two years ago was replaced by another at Yahoo. They didn't require anybody move but increasing traffic at USPPA and other sites caused it to start slowing. The upgrade will not cost the organization any more money, in fact, it lowered the cost by 5%, but has enhanced the speed and bandwidth available.

The previous service also did not have spam protection on the email which rendered our primary address useless. New addresses will be added that will come with spam protection although we'll still continue using the email address that we have been (see left sidebar).

This nearly all-day process had some glitches that appear to have been solved. After much time with tech support and use of the word "funky" to describe our unusual problems, it seems to be working normally and much faster.

Enjoy!

Organizers of the recently completed 2007 National Convention are gathering input from attendees in an effort to improve the 2008 event. If you attended the event, please let them know via a survey they've put up on the convention website.

The survey is at www.southfloridappg.com/2007convention/registration.htm

According to www.ElectricPPG.com there is an electric paramotor being offered for sale for the first time. At present there is no independent pilot reports from those not connected with the company, U-Turn USA but, if true, will be the first electric paramotor actually sold commercially.

Membership cards rarely have a use beyond proving a rating or scraping crumbs from the table. We decided to change that.

For one thing, they're laminated now that USUA is processing memberships. More importantly, we decided to put the three most basic memory checklists on the back. There are, of course, others such as for landing but these are the most important items.

Members who have joined or renewed in December and beyond should start receiving the new card.

Lastly, member packets now include a copy of the information brochure so you can offer friends a quick glance at the sport. These brochures are available from USPPA for $15 per hundred plus shipping for those planning on handing them out.

We're pleased to welcome new USPPA schools in Florida where pilots can train. In addition to Aerolight and South Florida PPG, pilots can now train in southwest, FL near Cape Coral using experienced, qualified instructors that provide their students with industry standard training materials and programs. They will be offering PPG1 and PPG2 ratings to those who complete the respective course. Welcome www.UCanFly2.com.

See the complete schools list here.

We are closer to establishing an insurance program than we have ever been before. Of course things can change but it looks promising. The underwriters, through the efforts of First Flight Insurance, have now indicated that they are willing to write the policy based on a proposal by the USPPA that will guarantee a minimum number of participants. We will be staking a large percentage of our bank balance in order "seed" this program so as to give the sport two years to establish a viable participation rate. Many of the details remain to be worked out and the start date is tentatively planned for March 1, 2007. 

The insurance is similar to USHPA's including an allowance for clubs or individuals to have their site owners listed as additional insureds. Since it would be a part of USPPA membership, the processing would be done by USUA which is now processing ratings and membership applications. A minimum of a PPG1 rating or instructor supervision would be required.

In order for a program to be developed, we must balance the need for the insurance company to make a profit and our desire to have a useful program that helps pilots. Most importantly, the insurance will help open up new sites by allaying the property owners' fears. We will keep you posted as it develops.

After over a year of effort, the USPPA has been granted status as a 501c(3) Public Charity. The IRS recognizes our effort to benefit the public by providing training materials and information for participants in the sport of powered paragliding, both members and non-members. We will, of course, work hard to carry out our mandate.

This means that tax-deductible donations can be made although we are not currently soliciting for these.

We will also continue to work closely with the USUA in ways that improve our collective ability to improve this beloved activity and preserve it for generations to come.

Beginning with memberships submitted on or after Sept 12, USUA will be doing member processing. materials and questions should still be sent to our current addresses (physical and email) but member packets will be coming from Pennsylvania. The number of memberships and especially ratings have grown enough to warrant the change and USUA has been a leader in this area for years. 

This will free up our volunteers to better respond to member needs and concentrate on generating helpful material and services for the powered paragliding community.

USPPA Testing Goes Online! Aug 21, 2006