Aerial photographer, Christophe Charon, is mounting an exhibition of his most recent aerial photographs of the Golfe du Morbihan area of Brittany. Since his last exhibition, a year ago, he has amassed a huge collection of images of the coastal area, taken from his paramotor.

The exhibition takes place at the casino, Port-Crouesty, from 14 July - 17 August 2008.

For a snippet of his work, go to http://image.air.free.fr or for more information on the exhibition in Brittany, visit http://image.air.free.fr/Annonce-expo/communique-casino08.htm (in French).

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Contact : 06 86 73 01 63

The German Open 2008 took place from 3rd - 8th June at Ballenstedt airfield as part of the “Deutscher Motorschirm Pokal”, a DULV organised event including a paramotor trade fair, fly in and evening bonfire parties as well as the comp itself.

The German Champion in the footlaunch category is Peter Schulz, flying a Naja 21 with FB Simonini motor. Armin Appel took second place (Speedmax, FB Simonini) and Thomas Keller third (Naja 21, FB Simonini).  In the Open results, Polish pilot Piotr Trzynski (Reaction 27, Simonini) takes second place between Schulz and Appel.

In the trike (solo) category, Richard Krüger-Sprengel won (Naja 23, Rüter Trike/Briggs & Stratten) ahead of Jens Hicken (Revolution, FB Flyke/Briggs & Stratten) and Ronny Seidel (Speedmax 19, Evo 2 S/FB Simonini). In the Open, three Czech pilots took the podium places: Petr Matousek, Michal Krivanek and Krzysztof Romicki. Czechs Milos Vaclav and Verca Brychtova also won the tandem trike category.

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The twelfth Spanish Paramotor Championship took place from 22 to 25 May in Lebrija in Sevilla area and welcomed pilots from the whole country. In the PF category (foot launch) the winner was the current world champion, Ramon Morillas, who won aboard his ADVANCE Epsilon 5 and PAP Top 80 engine.

This is Ramon’s eighth time of winning the title of Spanish Paramotor Champion! Second and third places in the general ranking went to Juan José Garcia and César Maldonado. (more…)

Airwave’s sport 4 has received the thumbs up for use as a paramotor wing: George Macak, a professional test pilot for paramotor wings, has test flown the Sport 4 with a paramotor and found the launch to be smooth and steady, the climb rate very good and the overall handling very nice. The glide and sink rate hands up with throttle down is said to be exceptionally good.

The production of this wing has now been increased to keep up with its high demand, and orders are now being dispatched twice weekly.

More information and tech specs are available at www.airwave-gliders.com

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Swing say that the excellent launch and handling features of the Mistral 5 were what made them decide to have it type-tested for paramotor use (also with trimmers and with the extended take-off weight ranges).

The DULV test flights have been carried out, and the following are the maximum take-off weights:
Mistral 5.24: up to 130 kg
Mistral 5.26: up to 155 kg
Mistral 5.28: up to 170 kg
A paramotor harness with trimmers will be available shortly from SWING for use with these models.

www.swing.de

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There will be a Paramotor Freestyle Open comp in Spain during the El Yelmo Festival, July 3 - 5. This is a qualification comp to determine the Spanish team for the World Air Games of Turin 2009, but is also open to pilots from foreign national teams, with 1500 Euros in cash prizes.

This is a spectacular Freestyle comp with precision ground tasks including slalom, clover leaf, 8 and dragon, where speed counts! The pilots will have 3 days to show who the fastest are.

If you want to enjoy flying freestyle with some of the best Spanish and international pilots of the world while you earn qualification points for Turin 2009, don’t miss the El Yelmo Freestyle Open!

www.fiaelyelmo.com
www.ojovolador.com

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KobraPPG brings to the market a tiny new RPM meter and timer for paramotorists.

The unit is chip controlled, fully programmable, and is suitable for both two and four stroke engines. It keeps in memory the max RPM and the time the engine has been running. Its two small batteries last for two years before needing to be replaced, and the unit comes with a two year warranty.

For more info, see www.kobrappg.com

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The XContest trial for paramotor pilots has started! It began on 1/5 and ends 30/9.

Created by the Czech Republic’s Michaela Machartova, Frantisek Salava and Karel Vejchodsky of PGWeb team, the Paramotor XContest is run in the same vein as its free flying counterpart, a simple, on-line, cross country competition. All you need to join in is a GPS and a paramotor. It makes no difference what equipment you use or how much fuel, as the only categories are Open and National team scoring in the trial season.

You can register (for free in the trial season) now at http://paramotors.xcontest.org/world/en/ and start logging flights by uploading your IGC files. If you are already a registered user of the free flying XContest, your username and password will also get you into this site. (more…)

Tony Gibson is very pleased with the results of his ongoing training for paramotor comps. Most recently he has helped pilots to achieve personal bests and possibly also world record times (for himself and Paul Jackson) in the low-level-flying Clover Leaf  and Japanese Slalom disciplines.

Flying Unlimited’s website is www.ppg.co.za

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French pilots Jean-Francois Gilbaud and Renaud Van der Meeren are offering up to 10 pilots the opportunity to fly in the amazing surroundings of the American wild west, in late September and early October this year, when conditions are at their most favourable.

For more information, see their website, here, or contact guilbaud.jf@free.fr

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Arriving in LOS ANGELES on Saturday September 27

Departure from LOS ANGELES on Saturday October 11