We all have, or we all should have, a passion or hobby where, we can escape from all the stress of daily life for a while.
For me, this passion is flying.
A month ago, I shared with you in my first ever post on #hive how I learnt paragliding and started flying on my own.
This ended up being my way to, almost every weekend, escape the stress I accumulated during the week at my work.
Paragliding is within reach of everyone as long as you are physically fit enough to control your glider before take off. It is also one of the cheapest ways to get into the air and experience that feeling of freedom.
At the time I completed my training course, I lived in the United Arab Emirates and unfortunately there are only 2 good locations for paragliding in the country. On weekends, and whenever the winds were favorable, I would drive down to one of those 2 places. Most of the time I wouldn't be alone, there would be other fellow paragliders. I would set up my gears on the ground, strap up and take off. For the next hour or two, I would soar along the ridge of the hill or mountain and be in my own thoughts admiring the landscape under me. The only noise I would hear would be the wind blowing in my ears.
After a couple of years, I started to get bored of those 2 paragliding locations. They were quite far from my house (I would drive 3 to 4 hours back and forth to go there) and I needed a change of scenery. This is when I decided to really get into paramotoring.
Paramotoring also called powered paragliding (PPG) is the same thing as paragliding, except that you carry a "big fan" (paramotor) on your back which would allow you to take off from any flat area and fly anywhere you'd like, even with still air conditions. You don't need that hill or mountain anymore.
After some research online, I was able to find a person who taught paramotoring not too far from where I lived. I contacted him and after discussing the training course in length, I signed up. I was very much excited.
I had an advantage over some of his students in the sense that I was already experienced with the glider and so I didn't have to go through the ground handling part again. The main thing for me was to learn how to be safe around the paramotor, how to strap it on and how to take off with it. That thing weighs around 25kg and produces a lot of thrust so you want to be sure you do things right and don't end up face-planting on the ground or injuring yourself with the propeller.
It only took me a few hours of training before I did my first take off and man was it a lot of fun. Once up in the air, a little bit of pressure on the throttle in my right hand and I was able to go up and steadily fly in any direction I pleased. That was the start of a new chapter for me.
Even though I very much enjoyed paragliding, I was hooked on the paramotor. There were a few reasons to that:
it has a few drawback though:
For me, the pros outweighed the cons and I decided to move away from paragliding and do more paramotoring instead. Every Friday morning, before the sunrise, I would make my way with my equipment to an open area where some fellow paramotorists and I would meet.
After quick chats, we would all prepare our gears and get ready for take off. One by one, we took to the air before flying together side by side in some kind of a convoy to explore our surrounding.
I've had many memorable paramotor flights but I had to give it up a few years back when I decided to get my Gyrocopter License.
Since then, whenever I see some paramotorists in the sky or when I visit a beautiful place, I wish I still had my own equipment so that I could enjoy it from the air too. Hopefully, one day, I'll be able to get back into it. The Philippines, where I live now, could be the right place for me having beautiful landscapes and a small paramotor community.
The Gyrocopter is another fun way of flying which I'll talk about in one of my future posts.
Until then, fly safe and blue sky everyone.
P.S.: All the pictures where taken by my wife on one of those Friday mornings' escape.
