There are times when you must decide whether to stay in your comfort zone or step up and take controlled risks on the way to becoming a better pilot. That was the case today in Villa Pesquera Isabela.
Since the early hours of the morning, the wind conditions in Isabela were over 22 mph with gusts of 25 mph+. Instructor Luis Ruiz’s first reaction after giving a morning flight was to suspend the activity while waiting for better conditions on other day.
Cancelling the Activity But…
But…, then Mario Muñiz and his wife Ivonne and nephew Betuel arrived, and a little later the pilots Edgardo Rivera and Darwin Hernández, and the student Wilkins Torres with his wife Brenda and son Wilkins Jr. also arrived from Villalba, so we would also be assisting him in his first paraglider inflation practices. So, the plans changed… Yes… everyone present were willing to leave their comfort zone on the day. So we are going to do it… 😒💪
In the case of Edgardo, Darwin and Luis, they were using the latest generation of fast paragliders. Both Darwin and Edgardo used the 17 meter Flow RPM and Luis used the 18 meter BGD Luna 2. These three paragliders can fly these types of wind conditions without much problem. But Mario‘s case was different. He uses a modern Flow Cosmos Power paraglider, but 24 meters. Which made it too big to fly in these conditions.
Mario’s Challenge… (King Kong Balls!!!!)
Despite the Advice and Recommendations that we gave Mario to use a smaller paraglider, he wanted to experience and venture out and fly with his noble and faithful paraglider. His takeoff and eventual landings weren’t the best, but Mario managed to fly in these conditions with the rest of the pilots. As he himself said, after the scolding he received, he was happy to have achieved that feat 💪.
It is important to point out that Jessica, Luis’s wife along with little Noah Enrique, Wilnelia, Edgardo’s wife and also Ricardo González and his wife Ermelinda had also come to the activity. Although this time Ricardo preferred not to fly.
We end the story by indicating that Luis, Edgardo and Darwin flew repeatedly at different times in these windy conditions of 22 to 25 mph+. Luis, after the flights, picked up his equipment early, but Darwin and Edgardo continued flying all afternoon until they literally used up all the gasoline in their paramotors.
And who would say that this was a flight activity were already canceled during the morning… God Bless!
Photos…
