Great Introduction to PPC's

[Over the top]

My first ride was almost my last. After very limited ground school our instructor said to meet him at feild to fly off a paved runway. Before that our total time in the air was about 5 minutes on a test ride. After that test ride my buddy and me bought a new plane together. The dealer that sold us the plane would not teach us and had this instructor teach us. MY buddy gets in the plane first and went up and kept saying in the radio to my on the ground instructor that the plane will not turn left and wants to keep going right. Some how he got it back on the ground without damaging himself or the plane but he was shaking. The instructor looked at the lines said all is well and for me to get in. The plane was ideling and the instructor did a radio check, all was OK. I get in and on the take off the chute got off to the side and the pavement grabbed the tires and almost rolled me, I eased off the power and got the chute over head and hit full throttle. At anything over idle I could not hear a word the instructor was saying and he was behind me so I could not see him either. The plane got up ten feet and did a quick right turn to which I applied even more right turn because instinct took over. Everything that moves I have ever been on from skies, bikes, quads, sleds,dirt bikes and more all work that if you want to go left you push hard on your right foot. This right turn would not have been a problem had a large building not been sitting there, in an instant I had to decide do I back off the throttle and smack the building low or do I go full throttle and try to out climb the pointed roof line. I went full and smacked the nose wheel at the peak of the roof causing the front wheel to come off the prop go in a thousand pieces and stall the plane. I started falling backward and to my left looking and the ground from about 55 feet up thinking this is going to hurt. Ten feet from the ground my chute reinflated turning my hard smack into a semihard smack and with some luck I landed on the grass instead of the pavement which was 8 feet away. I got out of the plane pissed off that I had just made our beautiful plane a piece of junk but then I realized I was still alive and just got real lucky with just a badly sprained ankle.
Needless to say my first flight did not make the promotional sales video.
What needed to be done different:
#1-I have talked to instructors that say they have their student in the back seat for at lease four to six flights before they ever let the student in the front just to get used to the feeling of being up there. I think this is big, fear can make you forget everything.
#2- I later learned both my instructor and the dealer both owned duel control two seat machines that for some strange reason they did not tell us about. An Instructor in the back would have save me lots of grief and pain.
#3- When instructing make sure a novice can hear you at full throttle and stand down field in front of the student so they can see you and your hand motions.
#4- Flying off pavement for a novice is not a good idea.
#5- If someone tells you the plane has a problem don't be a dumb ass like me and get in and try to fly it.
#6- Make sure novices do not have things they can quickly hit near the runway like buildings, trees or other things that hurt.
Well I am still with this sport and I love it more than ever and I am glad I gave it a second chance after my 30 seconds of terror first flight.
Hope this helps someone.
JT

[Joe Pires]

I am astounded by their lack of professionalism. It borders on criminal...very definitely civil.

[Bruce Brown]

This is pretty unbelievable.

Paved runways are great but things happen so much faster because the rolling resistance is so much less. You get to speed much faster and you cannot use the same type of throttle input as you would on the grass.

I'm glad you are okay and I'm glad you didn't give up. We don't know what we don't know, and it sucks to have to learn the way you did.

[Snoopy_One]

How long did it take you to get back in the pilot's seat? Also, did you ever find out what was making it turn? Glad it worked out no worse than it did, how long have you been flying now?

[Rubbernecker]

JT,

I too was stuck in a right hand turn one time and it turned out to be that the control cable guide ring was on the rear rapid link instead of the front one. Once the chute got loaded, the control cable got between the front and rear rapid link and it squeezed the contol cable and it wouldn't return. The scaredest 7 minutes of my life. I too learned to fly in a single place. My instructor was great. Take care and fly safe.

John

[Joe Hines]

JT,
Glad you lived through it. I talked with Bill Gargano of Quantum Parachutes about using a paved runway. He told me that even one time on pavement could ruin a parachute. The rough surface wears holes through the nylon in just a few feet of dragging.
I think you learned 6 valuable lessons. Shame you had to live them instead of the instructor telling you. Hope your sharing them here keeps someone else from living it too.

[Dennis Garrett]

If you're not used to a paved runway, be very carefull about taxing in a line with other PPC's. You can eat somebody's propeller if you don't have brakes. They roll extremely easy, and want to coast forever, even if you switch the engine off. Brakes are a good idea, and I just installed one last month. (only took me three years to decide it was a good idea)

[Over the top]

Snoopy,
It took about 3 months to get my plane rebuilt and sorted out. My first ride after that was a real mind game. We never found out why it turned right,
I'm guessing the steering line was a little short and I know I made it worse by pushing hard right when I panicked. Now I have about 50 hours under my belt and I have gone through quite a bit of learning on my own. This sport has amazed me in the way there are huge differences on how instructors teach. I have heard instructors say "Well people for years have been learning from one place machines with no on board instuctor". To that I think "well there are better ways to learn now that there are two place machines with dual controls". I know this accident has influenced me but for any new comers to the sport I would recomend if the instructor will not teach you from the back seat with dual controls find one that will. It just has to make it much easier and safer for the novice to learn. It does also seem to me it is your first half a dozen flights that are the most tricky, just knowing there is help in the backseat would make you fear level 90% less and let you concentrate on flying. Plus the instructor in the backseat has instant imput to how you are flying and can help you correct things much better than an instructor a half mile away on the ground.
Anyway these forums are great and I have learned a lot from you guys and I thank you all for it.
JT