Powered Paragliding & Other Articles

Also visit Cool Places to Fly under the new Chapter 34. 

I've seen the good, the biased and the BS around this sport for many years now. It is my good fortune not to sell anything besides information and so I share my relatively unbiased observations and other knowledge here. 

Bias

Everyone is biased to some degree. For example, as a free-flyer and photographer, I like paramotors more if they have weight shift. As one who likes to play around on the ground, landing, standing, prancing and such, I like them to be well balanced on the ground. Such biases are  relatively easy to avoid since I know about them. Another easily avoided bias is the profit motive—I make no money from selling equipment. 

The hardest bias is personalities. There are people whose obnoxious behavior makes it hard to recommend anything they're involved with. That's not fair, of course, and I try hard to look past it or make it clear why the bias is there. The opposite is true when it may be a good friend who's selling something that I'm not so fond of. Gotta take the good with the bad if you're gonna be credible. I'll try my darndest to be credible.

Being Good Neighbors

This article appeared on Indianapolis TV: not the kind of publicity you want! It's a reminder that a) some people just don't know how to let others have fun and b) we don't operate in a vaccum. There are more of "them" than there are uf "us" so we must be good neighbors as best we can.

Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners
FAA Laws On Paragliders Ambiguous

POSTED: 6:39 pm EDT July 26, 2011
[DELICIOUS: Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners] [DIGG: Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners] [FACEBOOK: Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners] [REDDIT: Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners] [RSS] [PRINT: Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners] [EMAIL: Low-Flying Paragliders Irk Some Homeowners]
INDIANAPOLIS -- Some homeowners in Franklin Township are fed up with motorized paragliders that they claim fly too close to their properties, disrupting their peace and quiet.

Joe and Virginia Harris have complained for years about the noise the low-flying aircraft create, 6News' Joanna Massee reported.

"It gets very annoying and stuff when you're trying to do yard work or anything like that and these things come in. They're very loud," Virginia Harris said. "They will descend and more or less kind of buzz you in a way."

"It's kind of like an invasion of privacy. You want to feel safe and secure in your own property," Joe Harris said.

Neighbors Harold and Cora Beasley echoed the Harrises' concerns.

"You're afraid to go out in your back yard. I was out there with my grand kids and here they come. You never know when they're going to come over," Cora Beasley said. "It's irritating."

Federal aviation rules ban paragliders from flying over congested areas, but the definition of the term is determined on an individual basis, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro told 6News via email.

"The determination must take into consideration all circumstances, not only the size of an area and the number of homes or structures, but for example, whether the buildings are occupied or people are otherwise present, such as on roads," Molinaro wrote.

State Rep. Mike Speedy, R-Indianapolis, said he has now been researching the law governing gliders in response to the concerns.

"Constituents have made several calls to me and then followed up with emails," Speedy said.

Speedy said he is sensitive to the property owners' right to enjoy their own back yard.

But other neighbors said they don’t mind the paragliders. Michael Karpinski said he and his children enjoy watching them fly over their house.

"We see them every day and it's kind of neat,” he said. “My kids have grown up with them flying overhead.”