I have already discussed by email with Jim and Le during December.
I recently (yesterday 10:00 pm) arrived in US, at Hagerstown MD and plan to stay there during one or two years for work.
I have been paragliding in France since 2008 and am currently flying an Ozone Delta2.
If some of you have time on their hand, here is a short video of what I like in paragliding
Is your current rating with FFVL or do you have an IPPI rating? If you have an IPPI rating you should be able to fly with coordination of a site observer no problem. please see this excerpt from the USHPA website:
12-03.02 Operation by Foreign Pilots Holding IPPI Ratings
Foreign pilots holding IPPI cards may operate in the US as if they held the equivalent USHPA rating provided that the pilot presents him/herself to the site director at all sites to be flown and receives the local and national regulations, and obtains a USHPA membership. Thirty (30) day temporary USHPA memberships are acceptable for this purpose. Pilots operating with an IPPI card will not be issued a USHPA rating. Foreign pilots wanting a USHPA rating should apply using the procedure outlined in 12- 03.01.
Awesome way to show what kind of flying you've done! Definitely come out with us this weekend if we go. This weekend the forecast is for strong winds at 3k feet. Saturday might be a day to go hiking instead. Sunday looks possible.
Matt Ingram
CHGPA President
P4 Observer
804.399.5155 mingram@vt.edu
Thanks all for your welcome. It seems to be a dynamic forum!
That's a great news Rod, I have actually my IPPI5 card, which should fit (if I am right) with the P4 US rating.
See you tomorrow Matt if it's confirmed.
Olivier
I've got to ask.... What equipment and/or software did you use to produce that video? The clarity is exceptional, very little wide-angle distortion, excellent white-balance and focus... Just super stuff!
Is there a practical way to transmit these videos (including the lower resolution ones) in real time so they can be viewed by the public on the internet. If so can they be combined with the real time track display software that is being used in many of the competitions these days?
I have a (no so) hidden agenda for asking these questions. There a state park on the Woodstock side of the ridge about half way between our launch site and the Edinburg Gap. It's called the Seven Bends State Park. A few months back I got an inquiry from the Virginia Parks people seeking on input for uses for the park. It occurred to me that if we could get them to provide sufficient open space to permit us to land there, and we could display our actual flights via a web cam of sorts, we could draw a lot of spectators to witness us race up and down the ridge during the summer festivals that could be held there.
Couple a state park supported LZ with the improvements that Patrick Terry is about to make to the launch with the USFS's support, and a way to engage the locals so that they can actually see us fly from our own perspective as well as from on the ground and we could have world class HG/PG destination site. In my dreams (perhaps) I'd like to see us develop a partnership with the community that can support a festival like the big ones we see being held in Europe. It would be great for tourism, the local economy, and increasing the visibility and hopefully the participation in our sport. Am I just dreaming?
It's certainly possible to stream live telemetry to the internet. You would need to carry a battery powered transmitter to send the video down to a ground station, which in turn could relay data to the internet. It's actually a pretty common hobby project for the RC airplane crowd and I actually do some similar stuff at work.
