@@davecrowhurst5569 thanks Dave, i think its same place , Gene Paul used to have this DZ and it was home to Golden Knights. I remember some good training camps here :)
Yes this was pre Paragliding, and was very well run, by the 60 or so clubs in the UK all BAPC, then they formed a joint assoc. with the umma lumpas the Hang Gliding Assoc. to make the BHPA, it was then very money oriented and rule inventors, which completely over ruled the free sport.Luckily, Waterbird Sportlight, Custom Chutes, now have the European Professional Parasports Association, which now has over 300 Instructors, worldwide. And is a non profit making assoc, with min8mum rules and regs, - worth contacting them if you want Contact EPPA at flyhighskysports.com
When I worked for Pioneer Parachute Company in the early 1980s a co-worker, Jim Mowrey, and I traveled to the UK to learn how to parascend, both as parascender, vehicle driver, and tension gauge monitor. The purpose was to determine the suitability of our parachutes for the sport based on information that our chief competitor was getting involved in the sport. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the name of our primary instructor but he was an interesting, talkative, elderly Brit. I also don't recall the exact location but it was at a former WWII airfield with Vulcan bombers and Nimrod patrol planes supporting the Falklands War. The buildings and hangars were still were painted in WWII camouflage. We were allowed to take videos of our training and flights but the video had to be viewed and approved by security personnel. Sadly, the video has been lost. We used various Pioneer parachutes as well as a 360 Parafoil belonging to parascending club. Upon returning to the US we did it a few more times at Orange, MA but for the life of my I don't remember doing that at all, but the parascends are in my log book. I made a total of 10 ascents, with one with a passenger strapped to my harness while under the Parafoil. My highest altitude achieved was 1,400 feet.
Hello to whom it may concern can somebody please fill me in on what this is for. is this to practice landings? I don't understand it I'm a skydiver and never seen this before thanks blue skies
Hi Brian, This post was just about different launches as filmed to show others good and bad launches. These are all 'Classic' canopies mostly parachute canopies and the group I started with are all skydivers who do accuracy and use this as a means of getting more flights and therefore accuracy landings in. All done through the BHPA. I personally find it a great benefit and that it helped me to become the BPA accuracy champion this year. DC
There were some parascending canopy manufacturers such as Harley & Sportlite. I flew mostly Harley P9 288’s & P11 454’s. We also did test flying for sportlite at West Malling, near Maidstone, in Kent, England. We did do target accuracy and I was fortunate to be taught by some of the best pilots I’ve ever met. Charlie, Mick, Andy, 2 Dave’s, Barry & many more. Happy times.......
If you mean Andy Shaw, I flew with him and another guy called Rob on the UK B squad in Chantilly, France for a competition. Late 80s. I flew mostly with Merv Turners club in Middle Wallop. They were indeed good times. My canopy was a P288. Got a DC with P11 one time on Thorney Island. I'll never forget that.
@@simonhurst5491 Mervin was the examiner for my round & wing instructor licences. I still have a Sportlite 324 (Flags) in my garage loft as well as two 288’s & two 454’s plus my own Black Magic !
