This weekend on Saturday March 14, 2015 in San Antonio, my son-in-law Brendan Herrera and I were out looking for a place to fly RC helicopters and quads. We stopped by the Kitty Hawk ultra-light field which was listed as a good place. The field is located north east of San Antonio just north of I-35 off FM 3009. It was getting late in the day and the winds were almost calm. There we met Marvin and Ron who are motor paraglider enthusiasts. Marvin and Ron were kind enough to explain how it all worked and gave us lots of technical details. The motor unit consists of a two cycle gas engine (think overgrown weed whacker!), propeller / clutch, fan shroud and harness. The harness incorporates a seat for the pilot. The whole thing weighs in at between 50 and 80 lbs depending on the power rating. All of this let up to some flying which we recorded. The "wing" is a lightweight material that seems to jump into the air with only a small amount of forward motion by the pilot. Marvin was up and away on his 1st attempt. Ron was working with some new rigging and made several attempts but wasn't comfortable enough to fly. Below are the videos. Enjoy!

Marvin's take-off.

Ron's attempts.