Nebraska Paramotor

I departed North Dakota at 09:30 after a hearty breakfast thanks to Wade. The 400+ mile trip took around 7 hours and included one stop for fuel in South Dakota which I plan to fly after Nebraska.

The Field of Dreams is situated south of Springfield which is about 30 miles from Omaha. Water on board and the generator running, and early dinner and I soon tucked in for the night.

Nebraska Paramotor Field of Dreams

Friday morning brought sunshine and but plenty of wind. Monitoring the weather closely the earliest window looked to be around 8 pm. Josh arrived mid-afternoon and as paramotor pilots do, we got to know each other over a few stories.

As predicted, the weather started calming down around 7 pm and around 7.30 I took my first flight on a Gin Carve 18m. Next, I flew a Dudek Warp 18m which comes up really fast before finally flying my Snake 1.2 18m.

The conditions had gradually improved through the evening, but I still got a pretty good comparison going. I definitely like all three wings and there are a number of factors that I liked better about the different wings.

Some of these factors included the risers (how busy and easy to adjust), brake toggle position, ease to launch, flare authority, sharp turns, speed, oscillation, and a few more considerations.

I honestly like flying all of them and there are things I like better on each of them. I like my break toggles most on my Snake, but the risers are exceptionally busy. The Carve is by far the easiest to launch and huge flare authority on the landings. I think the Warp is faster than the Carve and the wingovers I tried are instant – make sure you have altitude and plenty of power to come out of a dive which happens very fast. I’m obviously most comfortable on the Snake because of the hours I have flown on it, but I think if I flew the Carve & and Wrap more, I would like them even more.

If I was hard-pressed, I would probably select the Carve because of the all-round experience though I really do like Dudek gliders and my Snake. I feel healthy respect is needed for the Warp and plenty of kiting in low and high winds to get used to how quickly the glider comes up and develop good glider control.

The evening came quickly and with some beer and whiskey came a mini celebration of sorts having now completed 45 states.

The next morning brought sunshine and I think flyable weather, but since we hadn’t got to sleep until after 3 am I decided to sleep in a little before finishing up the videos showing the amazing sunset flight I had in North Dakota.

The afternoon brought some strong winds and rain, and while there was a window right at sunset another front was on its way in. Dinner and a relaxing evening and the end of a movie became my plan.

We flew again Monday and that’s were the remaining footage came for my videos from the two flights.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *