Great video - I always look forward to these! Personally, I hope Lauri's 1,133km record is never broken - he was certainly in my thoughts yesterday when I flew 560km (and 456km in 4hrs 36min) on my Boxer 220
Estonian paramotor pilot Lauri Kadakas has claimed a new paramotor distance world record, flying a straight-line distance of 1,132.7km in Australia on 9 March 2019. It stands to beat Ramon Morillas’s long-standing 1,105km record from 2007 by 27.7km. (Cross Country Magazine) ;)
Lauri Kadakas was a very good pilot and - what is important: he had an amateur airplane pilot license. When I asked him how he managed to fly his record during the daylight - in Australia, he said he flew well beyond the sunset, because he had the amateur pilot license. It is not clear if his record (a tremendous achievement by all means! ) will count as the record because of flying partly in the dark time. Lauri died in an accident testing new gear. RIP dear friend!
The FAI records can be a bit vague on the requirements. I’m working toward the closed circuit record, seen no mention of not being able to refuel air to air but always assumed it would be a no go.
@@turkeyphant yep, you are correct. For anyone interested in records see the most up to date FAI Section 10 microlights and paramotors document - www.fai.org/sites/default/files/documents/s10_-_2023.pdf
@@turkeyphant to get a 1000 km triangle or ‘closed circuit’ record you’d need outstanding rare conditions to give you a tail wind on all legs. Note that the closed circuit record doesn’t have to be a triangle, it can be up to 6 legs but have to still be equal. Current close circuit record sits at 504km (I assume, the FAI records page isn’t very good. For example it’s got speed records against distance titles etc) the 504km is marked as ‘distance over closed circuit with limited fuel’ but then the exact same record title is against a 170km distance. Both ratified. Straight line is easier to achieve longer distances because you pick the direction with a very strong tail wind.
I would love to try it with my Zero Zeno 2 combination. I have less than 2 liters per minute fuel burn with that and could carry 24 liters of fuel resulting in 12 hours flight time. In air refueling could be done by exchanging the fuel bladders. But I fear that this would not count since the Zero is not officially certified yet and the Zeno 2 is not a paramotor wing.
@@SCOUTaviation Yessss! Ok, I will start planning for that. Maybe we can discuss details and strategie in our innovator team WhatsApp group and do it in a joined effort with multiple Zeros. Looking forward to that, Jan.
@@KentTexas Yes, I do that too, but not with a conventional paramotor harness. As part of the Scout innovator team I was testing and optimizing the new paramotor pod harness "Zero" for the last two years. Meanwhile it is available for purchase. It is a completely different concept compared to the classical rigid paramotor harness. It feels almost like a normal XC pod harness. In combination with a high level wing like the Zeno or Zeno 2 the potential for long XC flighttime here in the flatlands of the northern part of germany is huge - even in autumn as you can climb directly to the cloudbase with the assistance of the engine. The only issue is that you are not allowed to fly it legally in germany...
