1997-2007, Precision Paragliding ten years of innovation in aviation.
January 2, 2008 on 8:11 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments
The start of 2008 brings to the end of the first decade of Scottish (plus some English & Welsh!) training by Precision Paragliding. Time to review/rewind!
Back in the late 1990’s I was looking for a new challenge that would combine the best mix of my interest in both science and activity sports combined with the enjoyment of the Scottish landscape, in all its seasons and variety. With a life long love of sailing and wind sports and a desire to be in the hills and mountains of Scotland, and not just when the ski centers are open, but restricted by the demands of a job that kept me ‘on call’ so in need of being able to get off the hills and back to work with only an hour or two notice the then still developing/growing sport of paragliding looked to be the ideal choice.
Picture: Holding in a parachutal stall (1997). My Mk1 ‘glass’ Wayfarer “Pamoja”, 3rd in class ’Tay Week’ (1970’s)
With light weight (relatively!) and certainly highly portable equipment, and living in a part of Scotland absolutely ‘hoaching’ with flyable hills & cliffs, the choice of sports was almost inevitable, not to mention the amount of very low hours, inexpensive second hand kit available! Something guaranteed to appeal to the heart (wallet!) of a Scotsman….!
Having a general background in science and having already read (and rejected) most of the theory & much of the practice commonly taught in paragliding, I went back to the core science stated by Bernoulli & Newton in the 16th and 17th century and looked at how the various physical Law’s and Theorem’s would be correctly applied to the structure and flight of ‘soft wing’ aircraft, i.e. paragliders. As a result of this study in just over a year after starting to self train I was on 100 hours and soon flying a ‘comp’ rated Nova wing…. at only TWO hours old and 2 thousand pounds off list price the wing was perfect for me!
Ten years later and over 3,000+ hours airtime my early choice to self train is now paying dividends for others in/coming into the sport as they get similar results from using the theories I’ve developed/polished over the last decade, resulting in these days almost 75% of my students being pilots re-training to the alternative that Precision Paragliding is unique in the world in providing.
By ‘98 I was modifying/test flying wings, steadily increasing the knowledge and understanding of the true aerodynamic principles involved in this branch of aviation. Ten years on and I’ve written and had published a number of technical & safety articles in the leading US paragliding magazine as well as being a regular guest presenter on “Paraglider Radio” a internet talk show for a number of years, the show being hosted by David & Gabe Jebb who run Torrey Pines Glider Port, San Deigo, CA.
As to the last year… while many in the sport have been bemoaning the weather especially English pilots, in Scotland at our club sites we have had almost 400 ‘pilot days’, with members out flying on well over 150 separate days, and these statistics don’t include the days some of the Scottish members spent flying abroad!
Keeping track of the total flying hours at the club is a near impossible task but it looks like 2007 saw somewhere in the region of 1,500-2,000 UK hours been flown at the club.
Looking forward to 2008, and with more members now getting towards flying 100 hours a year and also a slow but steady growth in membership, this year/the next decade is looking good for the club and paragliding in Scotland!
Spin off’s from paragliding at the club now include paramotoring, with the first test flight of Ian Archers PPG on the 30th of December (up on YouTube… but turn down the volume!) and possibly finaly the long awaited start of some limited hang glider flying/training in the coming summer if there is enough demand..
So please keep coming back to the Visit Scotland Blog to read about what is going on in the air over Scotland amongst both BHPC and the BHPA paraglider pilots, and of course those visiting to fly in Scotland, don’t forget you can also watch the YouTube clips of members flying & training at www.ParaVideo.co.uk
Murray Hay, 3,000+ hours and counting! (BHPC Pilot)
Murray Hay
http://www.paraglidingscotland.co.uk
Born in Kenya from Scottish parents, 'full time' job is commercial photography but the last ten plus years has seen me fly well over 4,500 hours, paragliding all over Scotland!
