Hey all,
I pulled the trigger before researching my area for flying sites. Turns out the nearest flying site is 1 1/2 hours away, and it’s ugly as sin there so it would suck to fly there anyway. I’m going to have to give up on my openPPG dream and settle for a fixed wing ultralight that my local airport will allow me to use.
So I’ve paid Paul/Zach for a Batch 3 kit + 8 Bonka batts. Of course they haven’t been delivered yet so we would communicate with them to have it all delivered to you. I also have a brand new PPG trike (Grazhopper from Airparamo.com) that’s been modified to fit the OpenPPG and hasn’t even been assembled yet. I got 8 batts because I knew I’d be flying a trike. I also have a Paramania Revo tandem wing suitable for trike flying. I have 2 Turnigy TQ4 4x6S chargers that will allow you to charge all 8 batts at once. I’ll throw those in for free as part of the package deal. Email me at solar-flight@earthlink.net to talk pricing, etc.
Yeah, they only allow fixed wings that can get on the runway quickly, track straight down the paved runway for takeoff and landing and then taxi off immediately. Lotta ill will toward light aircraft around here. A lot of wind too, maybe why they balk at parawing type aircraft.
No. I thought for sure I could find something. Everything is either private fenced land or overgrown with star thistle weeds (tear a wing right up, not to mention your skin). When I first thought there would be no problem I didn’t realize everything was private land. When I got up closer to the ground I was surprised at the viciousness of the weeds too (possibly due to the prolonged drought here in California). There’s no grass fields available here either. There’s a soccer field but it’s under lock and key and is privately owned. I went to the high school to kite my wing and was tersely told within 20 minutes of arriving to leave because of insurance issues. The airport was the only public use facility and they don’t want this type of aircraft flying there. Maybe this is why I’ve never seen a ppg fly here in the 18 years I’ve lived here.
I KNOW RIGHT!!! This is a very aerospace heavy area, very traditional aircraft mentality. I’m amazed the people I’ve talked to here can be so prejudiced against an aircraft type.
I’ll keep you in mind if I need to sell off some batts.
