Flying is almost every child’s dream, and paramotoring is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to do it. In this Guy in Dubai episode, Paris starts the course with Sky School UAE in Ras Al Khaimah, which trains pilots for the internationally recognised APPI PPG licence.
The first job is ground handling: learning to raise the wing, turn into the wind and steer with the toggles while the instructors call out each move. Once he has the hang of it, he is towed into the air on a line to practise controlling the wing before trying it with the engine.
The kit is compact, with the engine and everything else fitting in the back of a car, and the course describes paramotoring as statistically one of the safest ways to fly. After driving 45 minutes into the desert to find flat ground, Paris makes his flights. He hears nothing but the wind and sees the Burj Khalifa as a pinprick on the horizon at sunset.
He completes three flights in his first week, a strong start on the 15 flights the course requires before a licence.
Key moments
- 0:00 Introduction to paramotoring
- 1:34 Ground handling training
- 3:41 Preparing for flight
- 6:46 The first flight
- 10:45 Reflections on flying
Adventures like this one feed directly into The Grit Code, Paris’s keynote on grit, resilience and high performance. Planning an event? See Paris as a keynote speaker in the UAE. Browse more episodes on the Adventure TV shows page.
Full transcript
Read the full transcript
We have been traveling now for 45 minutes straight into the desert. I didn't hear anything he said Wooooh ha hoooooo [Theme Music] Good morning and welcome to another episode of Guy in Dubai, and we are on our way out of Dubai right now to Ras al Khaimah. Now I've been researching what is the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to learn how to fly. And I've come across powermotoring. So we're coming to Ras Al Khaimah to meet with Alex Ledger, who is a professional instructor and runs Sky School UAE in Ras al Khaimah, which trains people in powermotoring. Now powermotoring, if you don't know what that is, it's very similar to paragliding where you have a wing over your head, but you also have a motor on your back and that allows you to take off
on flat ground so you don't have to just take off on mountains and hills. So it's a five day course. By the end of it we should be flying and should be licensed to fly paramotors. So I'm excited. I'm a little bit nervous about flying in the air but it should be a lot of fun. [Action Music] I'm just going to say spin, then you're going to run into wind, you're going to run towards the wall over there. It's going to come up. Give us your hands. Left toggle. Look at the wing. Hands up now And move backwards. Right. Good, now left toggle. Move left. Pull hands down. Good. Hands up. Relax a bit more. Right toggle. Just gently. Now left toggle off to the right. Just left. Just the left. More and move left
a bit more. Hands up. Right toggel. Have the palms facing forward a bit. Give your hands and off this line. Forward. Move backwards, move backwards. Good. Left. Right. Good. You ready to turn? Hands up and turn, and now just run. Don't look at the wing. Hands out a bit. Don't touch the risers. I go to my left. Right. OK. So I just had my first attempt at some ground handling. Now we do ground handling in order to imitate how to handle the canopy without a motor. You know, it's the first step basically before you attempt to actually go in the air. So the key is that we've got to do lots and lots and lots of ground handling. Just so we've got the the wing under control. Now we have essentially a left break and
a right break and they act like steering as well, so you tap the left break, the canopy turns left. You tap the right break, it goes right. You also have to position your body to be directly underneath the wing as you're going forward so you've got that forward momentum, which imitates basically the motor. So we'll put motor on now shall we. Yeah, I think you're good to go. [Soothing Music] So we're on day three of the powermotoring course, and we have progressed quite quickly into it. So Alex, I said, could be a good chance we could do our first flight today. Weather conditions are perfect. The sky is blue. A little bit of wind. Now another great thing about powermotoring is your engine and everything else all fits in the back of the Grandvia, so
it's easy to transport. It's also statistically one of the safest ways to fly. Now, this is the propeller in the engine. We're going to go speak with Alex Your progression is just being great. I'm really happy, and I'm confident to tow you into the air. Hence why I got a rope -wrapped around my neck. -Right. That sounds fun. I'm going to attach to you. I've got a nice willing and able assistance. What we're going to do is launch the wing, you can control it on the ground. And then when the wing is stable and into wind, we're going to pull you. -And that's going to lift me up? -Lift you up. That's the closest thing we can do to simulate the takeoff of the paramotor. Right break. Hands up and run. Ok and break. Good.
And flare. Hands up and spin. Well done. - How was that? -That was good. Got control of it somewhat until the end, and it feels like I'm 20 meters in the air You're only about three or four. Right break, right, right, right. Let it fly. Left break, left, left, left, left. Other left. Slight, left and right problem there. OK. This is the last demonstration we're going to have before I give it a go myself So I'm absolutely petrified, so I'm keeping my eyes glued to him, trying to take notice of everything he does so that I don't make any mistakes -because in a minute. Yeah. [Voice Morphed by engine noises] [Paramotor Engine Noise] I didn't hear anything he said I come in. I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait. And I flare -Really easy,
isn't it? -You make it look easy. It's very simple if you know where the wind's coming from and you do everything correctly, you see on controlling the wing. Here it is. If I had the engine, I'd just stand up straight power and off I'd go. And that's exactly what we're going to do [Arabic Music] We've been travelling now for 45 minutes straight into the desert, haven't seen any civilization, so we're really in the depths of it now. But we've found a plane here, which is nice and flat. It's a little bit windy right now, this is a lot more wind than we've had in the previous days. We've been very lucky to be flying so quickly. We've had two flights and we're on day five now. So this is the last chance for us to
get some flight action, and then hopefully this will put us through all of the practical and theory that are needed for the qualification. What are we doing now and what have you brought us? Well, I've brought you to the middle of the desert. Stunning area, really nice open place and winds quite strong, so just going to do a little bit ground handling. Freshen up your skills again, and then winds will drop hopefully, get you in the air [Action Music] Exactly same as him. I launch, you turn, you control, bit of break -Out of the wind? -Into wind. -Right. -Yeah. And then I start the engine up. Off you go, keep running. On landing, it wants to go left, so you put a bit of right brake on once you kill the engine. One, two, three,
four, five, six. Happy? -Happy days -Good left toggle, right toggle, let's go. Turn and control. Move forward, move forward, don't look up. Clear prop [Loud Engine Noise] Woooohhhhh!! [Paramotor Engine Noise] Decelerates for us, let us know how you feel What's it look like flying over the desert? Wahoooooo. I can see the Burj Khalifa from up here. [Paramotor Engine Noise] Get on the radio and just give us a little bit of feedback. You don't need to shout. It's very clear. This is bliss. I can't here anything other than the wind [Wind Noise] Now come straight to us. Get out the seat you're going to land a bit short, bit of right brake, not the left you see? [Wind Noise] Look at me, look at me. That's it. Bit of both breaks now. Flare hard. [Sound of
feet landing hard on ground] Wow. You wouldn't believe the view from up there You can literally see the sunset through the Burj Khalifa, and it's like a tiny little pinprick all the way over there. Yeah. Awesome. Amazing. Thank you so much for everything and teaching me how to paramotor. It's really one of the best things I think I've ever done. It's amazing. So that's my last flight for today. The sun's going down and there's certainly no more paramotoring going on. We've got to make sure we get out the desert while we've still got a little bit left of sun and then get back to Dubai. [Theme Music]