Paramotors vs drones

[Marty Markoe]

I had a video come up on my recommended, had a look.
This guy took his paramotor up to 17,500' and I was thinking what the heck rules do these large parasail type motor propelled aircraft have to follow ??!

17,500'??? Remember being at 14,000 on Pikes Peak years ago in youth. Could hardly breathe as air (oxygen) so thin. How's this guy talking/breathing at 17,500?

 

[Zbip57]

In piloted fight, you fly at 500 foot intervals based on compass. Since these guys were flying in near opposite directions, one of them wasn't obeying establish rules.

In general aviation it's 1000 foot intervals, no? Odd thousands when flying East, even thousands when flying West.

Human eyes are pretty good at spotting moving objects. But it's really difficult to detect another plane if it's on a converging course. Then the other object doesn't move across your field of vision. It's just another bug spot on your window, steadily growing larger.

If the other plane is above the horizon, it's easier to spot it against the empty sky background. But when it's at or below the horizon it's near impossible to detect a converging plane against any background clutter.

Watching the video again and again, and even knowing exactly where the plane is coming from, I still can't spot it more than ten seconds before the near collision. It only becomes really obvious after you can see it's actually not on a collision course. If neither had reacted the Cessna would have passed below the trike anyway.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Yes, if post #9 as mentioned in my post is a trike pilot, that's the one I was referring to.
There are only 1 page thus far, and 2 videos.

Whatever they are flying, any type of glider or motorised wing type aircraft like that is going to mix very poorly with a regular light aircraft or heli.

Actually, the trikes or Flexwing aircraft mix perfectly well with GA aircraft such as Cessnas etc. The trike pictured in the video, is now in a new category of flying machine in the USA called Light Sport Aircraft, though they have been mixing well for decades in the UK and Europe, as well as Australia, with all GA aircraft.

Outside of USA they are called Microlights but you still need a pilot's license to fly them. Well, I say new because it has only been in the last 12-15 years, so that is new or newish for a new FAA category of flying machines. In fact, this new category encompasses all single and 2 seat aircraft up to around 1,250lbs though I believe this has just increased in weight limit.

Therefore, even the old Piper Cubs and Aeroncas and Taylor Craft now fall in this new classification, which no longer requires a standard aviation medical exam to fly them. If you are medically fit enough to hold a car driver's license you are okay to fly and of course you need to have passed the FAA Sport Pilot's License as well because it is not like an ultralight.

The trikes can fly just over 100mph so have no problem mixing with other GA aircraft in the traffic pattern at airports. Other than that, anything that can carry a person can mix well in the sky, as long as all pilots know what the rules and regs are and fly accordingly in a safe manner.

 

[Cymruflyer]

17,500'??? Remember being at 14,000 on Pikes Peak years ago in youth. Could hardly breathe as air (oxygen) so thin. How's this guy talking/breathing at 17,500?

It depends on what you are doing. I used to live at 8,500ft and our runway was 8,200ft and I was a flight instructor and daily spent time at around 12,000ft plus with no problems. It's the flat landers that have the problem at altitude. As for flying in an open environment at such altitude, you get a sort of ram air effect that helps you get more oxygen into your lungs when flying in an open cockpit.

There is also a technique that you can also apply when flying higher with no oxygen, to help. You sort of take gulps of air and then compress that in your lungs, by sort of straining. By doing that you get more oxygen into your system than if you just breathed normally.

I once took off at 8,200ft and took my open cockpit plane up to just over 20,000ft by about a hundred and a bit, feet, before heading right back down. Yes, it was a bit difficult to breath but by forcing the lungs like I explained, I had no problem. Naturally you don't want to stay up at that altitude with no oxygen, but it is doable for a short period. Of course that would not be doable for someone who lived at or took off at sea level. When I lived just outside of Breckenridge, I was living at just over 10,000ft and we used to consider Denver as sea level, for us!

Another strange thing is that skiing at 11-12,000ft does not seem to be too much of a problem, but just bending over to do up your boots or climbing a few stairs at 11,000,ft seems to take all the wind right out of you.

 

[Zbip57]

We once drove to Yellowstone Park via the Beartooth Pass, which has an elevation just short of 11,000 ft. We went to the scenic lookout at the top, just a short distance from the parking lot. There was an icy cold wind blowing. So after snapping some quick photos I ran back to the car. I had to sit down beside the car because I nearly passed out. (Flat lander )

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

17,500'??? Remember being at 14,000 on Pikes Peak years ago in youth. Could hardly breathe as air (oxygen) so thin. How's this guy talking/breathing at 17,500?

Good point, going from ground level to altitudes even as low as ~ 8200' (2500m) sees some get mild altitude sickness symptoms it they aren't used to it.

Your 14000' was about 4265m, so I know what you went through, I did a climb of a peak in PNG in 2008, went from a base camp at 2500m straight to 4510m over about 5 hrs, and yeah I was feeling pretty bad until summit adrenaline hit, and then felt amazing on the descent.
Went to 5700m once, but walked in from a low altitude over some 12 days, and had no issues at all.

Interesting to read the air ram breathing technique by @Cymruflyer . . . future trips I might try turning to the wind to breath !! I wish.

 

[snowghost]

Agreed, the will to survive is a big safety feature.
The cloud separation rules are obviously aimed at giving visibility from the paramotor for situational awareness, and for other aircraft to have a decent view of them.

I wondered too though, the noise of his motor right behind his head would easily eliminate the ability hear any sort of other aircraft engine or turbine sound approaching, leaving just visual means of the surrounding airspace.
Mucking about making YouTube content sure takes your mind off keeping a good watch.

Just fly in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Bingo no noise. LOL

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Just fly in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Bingo no noise. LOL

Real life it has happened, just like the movie.

 

[eEridani]

In general aviation it's 1000 foot intervals, no? Odd thousands when flying East, even thousands when flying West.

Dooh!! I've been out of the cockpit way too long. Somewhere in my brain there's a 500 foot interval, maybe it's IFR. But this tells me my memory is broken.

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/atc_html/chap4_section_5.html