They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words…
October 24, 2007 on 9:33 am | In Paragliding | 1 Comment
Well the photo composite images may not be made of a 1,000 images and while it is just a very small snapshot of some of the flying and training our members have enjoyed so far this year, I hope it helps to inspire many more Scots & visitors to Scotland to take up the branch of ‘free flight’ aviation I am passionate about, that is of course Paragliding!
When not flying I take commercial photographs all over Scotland, any of images taken while we are out flying & training, are available FOC to anyone wishing PG photo’s, be it for press use or in their own advertising to promote Visiting Scotland, simply contact me at PBM Photographic.
The club, ESP (East Scotland Paragliding Club) linked with training provided at Precision Paragliding sees the members out flying on well over 200 days most years and students typically flying around 19 out of every 20 days they come out to train, in a large part thanks to the fantastic work of the MET office aviation forecast and of course greatly helped by having many 100’s of flying sites many of which are ‘Top Drivable’ in the clubs 4×4 pickup.
So far in 2007 (with still a couple of months to go!) I’ve personally flown almost 600 hours while some of the students are getting close to making 100 hours in their first year from starting training/re-training!
While the flying in Scotland does tends to slow down a bit as the nights draw in over the winter season this Blog and the club/training video clips on YouTube (www.ParaVideo.co.uk) I will be posting, will keep the Blog visitors up to date on our of winter flying in Scotland and Fly/Ski days, as well as looking back to some of the UK and abroad flying trips members have had in 2007.
Murray Hay @ Precision Paragliding & ESP Club
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!
September Paragliding
September 30, 2007 on 11:27 am | In Paragliding | No Comments
September was a bit wetter than we would of liked, some of the high pressures we had were full of moist tropical air that condensed into rain as it passed over the hills. Despite this we had a few good days in between weather systems.
We had a few people starting their elementary pilot courses, Harry, Merrick , Micheal, Maria and Ian. Sandy and Stuart came for some more flights. We flew a few tandems at Bennan and Catacol. Sarahs grin was huge after her flight at Bennan.
Lee had his first days paragliding whilst his brother Damion and father John Mitchell who have just qualified club pilot picked up some extra tips and practised different techniques. John runs a hotel in Pokhara www.hotelgardennepal.co.uk he and Damion will be flying with us at in Pokhara for some more advanced training.
In strong winds on a flat field we practise rear riser control - not clipping into the harness. Two front risers held evenly in one hand and the other grasping the two back risers. Launch and collapse the wing to gain control and learn how to use your body weight.
We have our tickets for Nepal and head out mid Nov to mid Feb for our fifth season in Nepal. We are running joint courses with Blue Sky paragliding for beginners and advanced pilots. More details on www.flyingfever.net
Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.
Arran Paragliding Competition
September 5, 2007 on 2:04 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments
Arran Paragliding Competition 1st + 2nd Sept 2007
Arran Paragliding Competition - Part of the Paragliding Scottish Nationals
Ian Wallace joint second with Kenny Cooper and Gordon Smyth goes for the spot landing.
The Arran Paragliding competition was held this weekend. Twenty pilots from all over the UK, a Brazilian and our locally trained South African pilot all joined in to compete in a round of the Scottish Paragliding Nationals.
The forcast was not good but the skies cleared and perfect soarable conditions allowed pilots to soar along the cliffs at Drumadoon, using the Kings caves as one turnpoint and another turnpoint on the cliff, A third turnpoint of a tent on the shore brought a lot of pilots down as the lift did not extend so far out. They could admire the strange rock sculptures that are all over the shore as they walked back up. There was a final spot landing back on top of take off for those with enough hieght. Pilots enjoyed the challenge and ballasted up with an evening meal at the Ormidale Hotel.
Neil Cruickshank from Northern Paragliding escaped the office and came flying. Bringing a bunch of Skywalk demos for us to try. He has left with us an extra small and a Small size chilli skywalk gliders if any qualified pilots would like a shot.
Sunday the winds were right for Catacol and pilots gained lots of hieght in thermals and wave lift exploring the Catacol glen. Winds were strengthening so the task was set of a turn point along the coast to Lochranza then an open xcountry task following the road to the south to keep the pilots from flying into the high hills, incase they were blown backwards.
Scottish pilot David Thomson who learnt with flying fever many moons ago won the Arran Cup. He has been leading the UK cross country league for a lot of this season with flights of over 100km. 
Donald enjoys soaring at Drumadoon
Kenny continues his tandem training
The previous week we did lots of training at Ballygown fields
Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.
The Walking Man comes Flying
August 23, 2007 on 10:48 am | In Paragliding | No Comments
Ground handling up the string with DHV 1 Mescal Skywalker.
8th Aug SW Catacol - Janie (67yrs old) flew tandem with Maurice raising money for charity and fulfilling her desire to fly.
Marek and Maude (visiting pilot from Canada) practised small flights. Aaran and David began their training in the big field with Trevor moving onto small flights at the end of the day. Jamie swapped wings with Paul. Jamie stayed up for a bit but missed the thermal he stood watching his wing skying out in a cracking thermal above the cliffs.
9th Aug: South strong wind. Students ground handling at Torrylin shore whilst visiting Flying Fever pilots Ian, Graham and Bill who had trained with us before flew along the coast. Graham going XC to land near Kildonan.
A very wet few days followed which luckily coincided with the Weavefest at the Burnside Gallery. I had been asked to help as I was the last person left on the Island who knew how to set up the four shaft floor loom. I had done a years spinning and weaving apprenticeship when I was 16. From the depths of my memory the knowledge resurfaced and it was fun to be spinning again. It felt like a real community with everyone coming in for a go.
My brother Tim and dog Pip admire Lilly Savage’s new kittens
Luckily I had taken a photo of my mums half drawn picture of my niece Natasha as she left her art folder out in the rain. www.patsykeen.com She draws commissioned portraits from photos.
17 Aug: Harry enjoyed his first qualified soaring flight and gained 45 mins airtime. 
Pam enjoyed a tandem with Maurice whilst her family watched.
19th Aug: North and North West flying at Newton and practising at Catacol field.
Nick and Jill have a tandem as son Grant watches.
20th Aug: North - ground training Catacol scout field, Johnny has a funday and Kenny starts Tandem training. Ground handling in the field.
21st Aug: South East bowl at the String - Great fun skimming about it feels more like flying when you are a foot above the ground.
Lousie has a tandem flight and carries the glider.
We met the walking man pushing his adapted 3 wheel baby carriage over the Bougille and Maurice reversed for a chat and offered him a tandem flight. Brendan flew him tandem up at Newton Shore in Lochranza. www.walkingman.org
Zabdi takes the choice of a flight and avoids changing a nappy.
Flying Fever sticker on the walking mans buggy. Email for FREE stickers.
Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.
Carl Loses the red Ribbon
August 3, 2007 on 12:33 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments
Carl qualified with us last Autumn and back over to Arran for some soaring at Bennan. He passed his 10hrs and cut the red ribbon. You wear a red ribbon tied to your harness for the first 10hrs of flying after your club pilot license. It warns other pilots to keep clear!
Carl and David have a soaring competition at Cleats (a 20foot hill) The kids have a stop watch - David manages 2 minutes to Carls 28 seconds! You must turn the paraglider flat, use weight shift away from the hill.
31.7.07
Strong Southerly winds ground training and small flights at Cleats then soaring at Bennan.
Tom and Wil after their tandem flight at Bennan, they are from Australia visiting Uncle Kenny who owns one of our flying sites.
30.7.07
Northwesterly soaring at Thunderguy.
Zabdi and Kieth fly X-country to Catacol. Keith is just starting his Elementary pilot this week with his friend Angus who flew with Maurice.
Angus is 6ft 6 so a very tall passenger! 
It’s quite windy with good height in the wave from Kintyre. Visiting pilots Bill, Ian and Graham enjoy soaring way down the coast they qualified with us last year.
2nd August
Ian finished all his club pilot tasks and qualified CP in 8 days flying within the last two weeks. He will come back and fly with us to consolidate his knowledge and join the Aberdeen club and fly under the guidance of the club coaches whilst building up his airtime.
Graham a pilot who qualified with us last year soaring at Drumadoon before going to land on the beach by the golf course. He miss read the strength of the wind and on turning in to his final approach at the end of the beach found himself blown backwards and crossing powerlines (too low) went to land in somebodys garden.
When you are paragliding and expanding your knowledge you always need a large margin for error!
When its windy always check penetration by turning into wind early and choosing a large area to be blown back over without obstacles then you can reverse into your landing. When your feet touch the ground you want to collapse the glider using rear risers or c-risers so it doesn’t produce lift. Then run towards it and round the side , if you fall over collapse it by pulliing on one riser only and keep reeling it in.
We headed off to Ballygown to practise ground control and small flights with Angus, Keith, Josh and Ian.
Angus going for take off - good body position
Keith after getting a collapse from jumping on takeoff - DON’T JUMP - that’s why we practise low down. This is not how to carry a paraglider!
Rhiannon helping light a fire in the rain. The pilots walked back down at Catacol.
Kenny heads off on a west Coast tour with his paraglider, camping gear and climing kit in the paniers of his new motorbike. He is hoping to fly at least once on every Island - Good Luck!
Flying Fever is sponsoring Ulric Jessop and Aidean Toase in the Red Bull X-Alps challenge an 850km race that starts in Austria and finishes in Monaco. 30 international athletes compete by air and on foot follow the race on www.redbullxalps.com
Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.
Arran gets the dry slot between the weather fronts
July 26, 2007 on 12:38 am | In Paragliding | No Comments
The Sunday Post took to the skies.
A good weeks flying on Arran luckily escaping the rest of the UK’s extreme weather.
Fortunately the flyable conditions coincided with a group of students going through their club pilots licenses, whilst some others had just begun their training.
19th, 20th and 21st July an Easterly soaring wind up the String road on the higher hill.
Small flights practising, take-off technique and slope landings. Vicki did her first phase of training before rain stopped play on the 20th.
Marrick from Poland and Katarina from Latvia had their first small flights on the 21st.
Pilots worked on technique. It is important to load your weight on the harness.
Lean forward and put your centre of gravity outside your body balancing the brakes with your arms back and relaxed. Control is very important. The wing must be stabilised and checked with the pilot feeling the wing. Looking ahead and staying on the wind line during takeoff.
Ian’s new Bolero 3 wing and Plus Max helmet (Certified for air sports and skiing/snowboarding.)
Andi and David discuss.
22nd and 23rd July - westerly wind, good thermals soaring at Dereneach. The students climbed in their first thermals.
Scott from Aberdeenshire on his new Airwave Sport 3
Tuesday 23rd July : Catacol wind West/South West thermic and soarable all day.
Richie the photographer and Euan the Journalist came, they both had a Tandem flight Euan said it felt like stepping into a dream. The flying fever story should either be in this or next weekends edition.
Harry and the two Ians completed lots of tasks, top landings, assymetric tucks and big ears. Visiting pilots Scot from Aberdeenshire’s club and Donald an Arran regular from London who plays Cello in the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
David flew around on the new Mescal Skywalk wing. The second hand wing he was planning to buy from another pilot has been sent down to Aerofix to test the porosity of the wing and strength of the lines. (they purposely brake a line and replace it to test the strength.) They have said the porosity of the fabric is down to 6 seconds and at 5 seconds they advise not to fly it. One set of main lines needs replaced but they think its not worth spending the money on it as it is near the end of its flyable life. I waited till the end of the day to tell him so as not to spoil his flight.
All second hand equipment should be tested before you buy it (Or have a test certificate that is within the year) or the bargain you pick up may cost you either financially or with equipment failure.
Another wing I had had for a while an extra light weight one failed its airworthyness test. It had hardly any hours on it but it was old in years the fabric can deteriorate even in the cupboard.- another wing for groundhandling only on the beach.
Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.
Soaring at Catacol, Isle of Arran 11.7.07
July 18, 2007 on 11:58 pm | In Paragliding | 2 Comments
The skies looked a bit grey but we had seen from the satellite pictures the cloud was clear to the west. So we told folk to get on the ferry and come over and give it a go and we would see what the wind would bring us.
The forcast was for a West/ South West wind so we headed up to Catacol at the North end of the Island. With paragliding you have to take off into the wind so Arran gives us an ideal training ground with hills facing all directions.
Out with Flying Fever school we had David who was doing his club pilot course, he is from South Africa and is staying the summer on the Island working in a hotel doing split shifts and paragliding in between. He had decided to stay here and fly, turning down a higher paid job in London.
He started his paragliding training this year in June, he fininished his Elementary pilot in 5 days and continued with his club pilot, this was his 10th day flying of his CP. We had been working through his pilot task book of the British Hang glding and Paragliding Association we needed a good days soaring to get certain tasks signed off and this was it. David soared about for 3 hours completing 7 top landings,
Big ears (collapsing the wing tips to make a smaller wing and come down quicker) Assymetric tucks (you collapse one side to simulate turbulance and prevent the wing from turning by weight shifting away from the deflation whilst you recover it)
Pitch and Roll (simulating turbulance and how to recover)
Speed bar (altering the angle of attack to make the paraglider go faster)
He had done some of these excersises before but this day consolidated them and he completed all the practical tasks needed for his license and showed good control, he passed the theory exam the next day. He will still come out and fly with us as a club member whilst on the Island but he can also go out without an instructor present, it’s wise to continue flying with more experienced pilots while building up airtime.
Andi was also out today she is an air traffic controller at Prestwick and has been training with us in Nepal and Bulgaria the last two years but has not managed many days training in Scotland, because her training has been sporadic then each time currency is lost and we need to go over the tasks again and build up confidence and ability. It was her first days flying since last October.
She went a flight with Maurice to gain confidence and go through some of the tasks on the Tandem. Then she was up solo flying and did very well as we used the conditions to run through the tasks. According to the book she is up to club pilot level but because of the lack of currency, ground control and confidence she will continue flying with the school to build up her hours and proficiency.
Sandy from Inverurie was out on his second day of an Elementary pilot course he had been on Arran for a few days and had only managed one days flying because of the weather. We had persuaded him to stay for today in the hopes of getting him some decent flying. Maurice took him up for two soaring flights on the tandem talking him through his excercises.
The kids were with us and were running ferrel on the hill enjoying their summer holidays tumbling in the heather. Baby Kieran had his first ride up in his mac pack rucksack.
Air acts like water, a smooth breeze was blowing from the West with a wave forming from Kintyre that produced superb lift out from the hill. It was so good that Diogo (a visiting pilot from Brazil who is working as an Italian chef in Glasgow.) who was test flying a second hand wing started flying well out to sea and not descending - we were starting to get nervous watching him but he turned and came back in fast with the wind behind him.
When he landed he asked “How much is the wing?” “£400″ he turned away and came back and handed me a wad of cash with a grin! Then grabbed his helmet and took off again.
Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.
