Intro from a Powered Hangglider pilot

[Guest gasdive]

Hi All,

 

Stumbled upon this forum and thought I should say hello!

 

My name is Jason. I mostly freefly hang gliders but got a power harness 6 months ago so I'm now a motor glider of sorts.

 

Hang out at Port Macquarie and mostly fly from beaches or Camden Haven airfield.

 

Cheers Jason =:)

 

 

[winsor68]

Welcome Gasdive... I really dig the light stuff such as you fly... it seems a lot of the other members here do to. Do you have any photos...

 

Don't be shy about dropping into the chat room... usually a bit of activity as the evening goes on.

 

Winsor

 

 

[dazza 38]

Hi Gasdrive, how did you stumble here, were in all the Papers. LOL.I hope you enjoy mate.

 

 

[Guest gasdive]

Do I have photos!

 

It's like a new baby except the joy never ends in a dirty nappy.

 

 

Cheers Jason =:)

 

 

[winsor68]

Great stuff GasDive!!!

 

Videos? :rilla:

 

 

[bushpilot]

Hi Jason,

 

Are there any makes of power harnesses sold in OZ these days? The only OZ manufacturer went out of business some years ago; driven out by insurance costs I think..

 

 

[Guest gasdive]

Yes videos too!

 

Here's one during training. Sorry the aspect ratio went funny

 

 

There's a very good manufacturer here in Oz, trading under the same name as the old one but a revised product and now in Victoria.

 

Airtime Products - Explorer LD

 

But I got the swedish aerosports one because I liked the internal tank and the controls seemed simpler.

 

Swedish Aerosport - Mosquito Motor Harness

 

And I trained with this guy

 

Adventure Airsports - Home Page

 

At the time it all seemed a bit haphazard but now I realise that I soaked up an *amazing* amount of information in a very relaxed environment. I'd strongly recommend Rob for training.

 

Cheers Jason =:)

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Looks great. Welcome aboard.

[blueshed]

Hi Jason Welcome great to see what you are talking about, thought the first looked a bit of a challenge! Second really good, thanks for the look. How many horse power pushes you along, and once you switch it off, does it create much drag or do you have to keep it running?

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

Nice to say hello Gasdive- good to get some more fabric in the threads! Also a long term hangie, triker and glass ship go faster. We've got a couple of doodle buggers up here too. Welcome aboard.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Where the manufacturers who went out of Biz the guys from Proserpine in nth Qld?

 

 

[Guest gasdive]

Hi Jason Welcome great to see what you are talking about, thought the first looked a bit of a challenge! Second really good, thanks for the look. How many horse power pushes you along, and once you switch it off, does it create much drag or do you have to keep it running?

It's been a warm welcome from everyone, despite the fact that I'm a bit of an interloper here! The motor makes around 14 hp and makes somewhere around 45 kg of static thrust. When you shut down or drop to idle a clutch disengages and lets it windmill. That creates a lot of drag and is good if you want to go down. If you want to glide or thermal there is a prop brake that you pull that stops the prop spinning. I've got the optional folding prop, so as soon as it stops the wind folds it back and it creates very little drag. At cruise the internal tank lasts about 3 hours when there's no lift around. Full power creates about 500 foot per minute climb. I've taken it to 7500 amsl on a day with no lift and it was still climbing strongly at about 200 fpm. It's a little different to Hang Gliding because of the thrust. Unlike most aircraft you can vector the thrust and that changes the way it responds to turns. Also the glider is designed to work in glide (obviously) and when it's climbing it tends to be a bit spirally unstable. Nothing mad, you just need to stay on top of the situation and actively fly the aircraft.

 

I'm not exactly sure where the people who built the old "Explorer" were based. Just know it was "Queensland".

 

Cheers Jason =:)