7 ms·

Paramotorists soar across remote Peru desert to collect threatened plants

69 points by wglb 2y ago

bbor 2y ago
I clicked because "collect threatened plants" sounds like a humorously ironic undertaking, but wow, I was not at all prepared to be this impressed. I've been behind the times! This company promotes it pretty convincingly ('the cheapest form of powered flight', 'fair weather aircraft', 'backpack sized'): https://parajet.com/us/new-pilots/what-is-paramotoring/ https://parajet.com/us/new-pilots/what-is-paramotoring/ And has this seemingly on-point guidance: Yes! Do not believe anyone who tells you that you do not need paramotor training, or only just a couple of days. Paramotoring, like any extreme sport, has its inherent risks and can easily lead to injury or death if used incorrectly. To learn to fly a paramotor we believe that there are no shortcuts. Proper training and responsible flying is imperative. It isn’t as easy as guys like Tucker Gott and Anthony Vella make it look on YouTube. If you decide to do this sport – get training from a reputable paramotor school, follow the rules, and don’t blow it for everyone else. These scientists used them to travel up to 28km and cite a max range of 300km, which is just incredible. They cite an archaeologist from 2005 as pioneering it for scientific usage, but they were just doing aerial photographs, a usecase that has obviously been completely overtaken by drones. Overall I'm trying to think how the tech might improve to mitigate the discussed safety concerns -- they couldn't fly during the day because of wind speed, they had to plan extensively for potential crashes, they couldn't do tandem flights, and AFAICT only people who do Paramotoring as a hobby/profession were actually in the air for this study. Could some amount of computer-assistance help make all this a little more predictable...? The best part, by far, is this little nugget of an idea they didn't try, hidden in a table halfway down: Inflight sampling (using a scoop attached to the foot of the pilot) Now that would be a compelling paper! Thanks for sharing, OP. Will live rent-free in my mind for a while, I have no doubt about it. Oh, and for the curious about my initial sentence: they were just surveying plants via taking samples and setting up static sensors, not trying to, like, propagate endangered plants to safety.
- kristopherkane 2y ago
  "Overall I'm trying to think how the tech might improve to mitigate the discussed safety concerns" Make the power to weight ratio of a 4 stroke equal to a 2 stroke or make a reliable 2 stroke engine. Anthony Vella had a life altering crash this year and stated he will never fly again. ParaJet might need to revisit their marketing. They make good equipment though.
  - nolist_policy 2y ago
    Hmm plastic engines anyone? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_automotive_engine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_automotive_engine
olliej 2y ago
I re-read this title (which to be clear, is perfectly reasonable) and my brain read it as being about - in various stages of failing to read it correctly: * Commuting via parachute attached cars??? * Paraplegic motorists (a plausible subject) * Paraplegics paragliding to collect plants (behold my brain linking incorrect reading to subsequent reading) sigh I'd be curious how frequently folk misread titles and have to re-read them, and what words trigger it for them (maybe common associations?)
- dylan604 2y ago
  > I'd be curious how frequently folk misread titles and have to re-read them many times a day. usually from reading too fast, but sometimes, it's just an oddly worded phrase.
mettamage 2y ago
Tangent: paramotors are the real jetpacks of the world. It’d be so cool to have a traffic system where one could just take a paramotor to work
- deepsun 2y ago
  There is such a system. In most places (i.e. not near controlled airports) everything below 700ft or 1200ft is uncontrolled. Basically look around and fly.
- itishappy 2y ago
  A brief search shows paramotors are regulated as ultralight vehicles, and therefore do not require a license to operate. You're not allowed to fly at night or in restricted airspaces, and as far as I can tell that's about it for regulations. (Although I am far from an expert in the area.) In other words... We may already have a traffic system you can just take a paramotor to work!
  - alwa 2y ago
    You also may not fly over populated areas, and you require a nontrivial amount of open space to take off and land. And the weather needs to be clear and calm. But if you can pull that off…
  - pqdbr 2y ago
    There's one extra rule that you must abide by when Paramotoring in almost any country I've been: you can't fly over densely populated areas. That's what prevents you to fly to work (at least in most work locations :) You probably wouldn't want to do so... flying amongst buildings is terrible: they create a lot of turbulence; flying would be not confortable at all, and in extreme cases the gusts can induce a wing collapse.
    - jajko 2y ago
      I've ended up with both legs broken in basic paragliding accident 2 months ago in Chamonix, France when trying to reach official landing spot quite close to the buildings... guess what, a simple newly formed completely unseen turbulence can fuck up your plans, and what worked 5 times in a row before (2x at the same day, 3x a day before) ended up with pretty bad accident 6th time. A mere milliseconds more or less and on top of both legs broken I could have ended up literally with knee torn off from leg (amputation or complete knee replacement), or hitting a massive stone with my head or neck at speed where even good helmet just wouldn't cut it. Don't get me wrong - those are amazing sports and experiencing flying on your own is a sensation that makes life (also) worth living. But safe it isn't, basically all senior paragliders I've talked to have stories of broken wrists, legs, nasty scars along the spine etc. But nobody likes to talk about it, which then may give you wrong impression on safety. And those are people that you can still meet out there. I've seen people being taken by choppers straight from launching zones after messing up something, or disappearing into thick forest canopy. Suffice to say, with 2 small kids I gave up on this sport for good after what happened. I'll stick to rock climbing, hiking, skiing, ski touring, diving, touch of alpinism and maybe will pick up some surfing variant like kite or wind ones. That is, if all heals well which is still an open question for next few months. And maybe it won't and I'll have to abandon half of those. Paramotoring is even more dangerous than this from what I've heard. For commute its insane to even suggest it, death or paralysis would be pretty common news in urban areas.
dylan604 2y ago
It is mildly shocking/surprising there are parts of the surface we just haven't really visited yet.
- throwup238 2y ago
  Large swaths of Canada are similarly unexplored except by aerial survey. There was a story about the world’s largest beaver dam on HN earlier this year [1] and how remote it was. Since it’s mostly bogs, peatlands, and boreal swamps, it’s practically impassible to humans except occasionally when the water level rises enough to support a boat but even then the dam was only accessible by luck. The water is just too cold for humans to survive going deep into the wilderness, even with modern clothing and tech. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38606804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38606804
- kristopolous 2y ago
  They were protecting it probably because people had
kristopherkane 2y ago
That glider is looking... well used.
helpfulContrib 2y ago
[dead]
melenaboija 2y ago
The more I think about it, the more I see how fucked up this world is and how unfair and imbalanced life can be for different human beings. Some people risk their lives to save a few plants, while others (including myself) don’t give a damn about the consequences of our western lifestyle. Depressing...

69 points by wglb 2y ago

bbor 2y ago

I clicked because "collect threatened plants" sounds like a humorously ironic undertaking, but wow, I was not at all prepared to be this impressed. I've been behind the times! This company promotes it pretty convincingly ('the cheapest form of powered flight', 'fair weather aircraft', 'backpack sized'): https://parajet.com/us/new-pilots/what-is-paramotoring/ https://parajet.com/us/new-pilots/what-is-paramotoring/ And has this seemingly on-point guidance: Yes! Do not believe anyone who tells you that you do not need paramotor training, or only just a couple of days. Paramotoring, like any extreme sport, has its inherent risks and can easily lead to injury or death if used incorrectly. To learn to fly a paramotor we believe that there are no shortcuts. Proper training and responsible flying is imperative. It isn’t as easy as guys like Tucker Gott and Anthony Vella make it look on YouTube. If you decide to do this sport – get training from a reputable paramotor school, follow the rules, and don’t blow it for everyone else. These scientists used them to travel up to 28km and cite a max range of 300km, which is just incredible. They cite an archaeologist from 2005 as pioneering it for scientific usage, but they were just doing aerial photographs, a usecase that has obviously been completely overtaken by drones. Overall I'm trying to think how the tech might improve to mitigate the discussed safety concerns -- they couldn't fly during the day because of wind speed, they had to plan extensively for potential crashes, they couldn't do tandem flights, and AFAICT only people who do Paramotoring as a hobby/profession were actually in the air for this study. Could some amount of computer-assistance help make all this a little more predictable...? The best part, by far, is this little nugget of an idea they didn't try, hidden in a table halfway down: Inflight sampling (using a scoop attached to the foot of the pilot) Now that would be a compelling paper! Thanks for sharing, OP. Will live rent-free in my mind for a while, I have no doubt about it. Oh, and for the curious about my initial sentence: they were just surveying plants via taking samples and setting up static sensors, not trying to, like, propagate endangered plants to safety.

kristopherkane 2y ago
"Overall I'm trying to think how the tech might improve to mitigate the discussed safety concerns" Make the power to weight ratio of a 4 stroke equal to a 2 stroke or make a reliable 2 stroke engine. Anthony Vella had a life altering crash this year and stated he will never fly again. ParaJet might need to revisit their marketing. They make good equipment though.
- nolist_policy 2y ago
  Hmm plastic engines anyone? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_automotive_engine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_automotive_engine

olliej 2y ago

I re-read this title (which to be clear, is perfectly reasonable) and my brain read it as being about - in various stages of failing to read it correctly: * Commuting via parachute attached cars??? * Paraplegic motorists (a plausible subject) * Paraplegics paragliding to collect plants (behold my brain linking incorrect reading to subsequent reading) sigh I'd be curious how frequently folk misread titles and have to re-read them, and what words trigger it for them (maybe common associations?)

dylan604 2y ago
> I'd be curious how frequently folk misread titles and have to re-read them many times a day. usually from reading too fast, but sometimes, it's just an oddly worded phrase.

mettamage 2y ago

Tangent: paramotors are the real jetpacks of the world. It’d be so cool to have a traffic system where one could just take a paramotor to work

deepsun 2y ago
There is such a system. In most places (i.e. not near controlled airports) everything below 700ft or 1200ft is uncontrolled. Basically look around and fly.
itishappy 2y ago
A brief search shows paramotors are regulated as ultralight vehicles, and therefore do not require a license to operate. You're not allowed to fly at night or in restricted airspaces, and as far as I can tell that's about it for regulations. (Although I am far from an expert in the area.) In other words... We may already have a traffic system you can just take a paramotor to work!
- alwa 2y ago
  You also may not fly over populated areas, and you require a nontrivial amount of open space to take off and land. And the weather needs to be clear and calm. But if you can pull that off…
- pqdbr 2y ago
  There's one extra rule that you must abide by when Paramotoring in almost any country I've been: you can't fly over densely populated areas. That's what prevents you to fly to work (at least in most work locations :) You probably wouldn't want to do so... flying amongst buildings is terrible: they create a lot of turbulence; flying would be not confortable at all, and in extreme cases the gusts can induce a wing collapse.
  - jajko 2y ago
    I've ended up with both legs broken in basic paragliding accident 2 months ago in Chamonix, France when trying to reach official landing spot quite close to the buildings... guess what, a simple newly formed completely unseen turbulence can fuck up your plans, and what worked 5 times in a row before (2x at the same day, 3x a day before) ended up with pretty bad accident 6th time. A mere milliseconds more or less and on top of both legs broken I could have ended up literally with knee torn off from leg (amputation or complete knee replacement), or hitting a massive stone with my head or neck at speed where even good helmet just wouldn't cut it. Don't get me wrong - those are amazing sports and experiencing flying on your own is a sensation that makes life (also) worth living. But safe it isn't, basically all senior paragliders I've talked to have stories of broken wrists, legs, nasty scars along the spine etc. But nobody likes to talk about it, which then may give you wrong impression on safety. And those are people that you can still meet out there. I've seen people being taken by choppers straight from launching zones after messing up something, or disappearing into thick forest canopy. Suffice to say, with 2 small kids I gave up on this sport for good after what happened. I'll stick to rock climbing, hiking, skiing, ski touring, diving, touch of alpinism and maybe will pick up some surfing variant like kite or wind ones. That is, if all heals well which is still an open question for next few months. And maybe it won't and I'll have to abandon half of those. Paramotoring is even more dangerous than this from what I've heard. For commute its insane to even suggest it, death or paralysis would be pretty common news in urban areas.

dylan604 2y ago

It is mildly shocking/surprising there are parts of the surface we just haven't really visited yet.

throwup238 2y ago
Large swaths of Canada are similarly unexplored except by aerial survey. There was a story about the world’s largest beaver dam on HN earlier this year [1] and how remote it was. Since it’s mostly bogs, peatlands, and boreal swamps, it’s practically impassible to humans except occasionally when the water level rises enough to support a boat but even then the dam was only accessible by luck. The water is just too cold for humans to survive going deep into the wilderness, even with modern clothing and tech. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38606804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38606804
kristopolous 2y ago
They were protecting it probably because people had

kristopherkane 2y ago

That glider is looking... well used.

helpfulContrib 2y ago

[dead]

melenaboija 2y ago

The more I think about it, the more I see how fucked up this world is and how unfair and imbalanced life can be for different human beings. Some people risk their lives to save a few plants, while others (including myself) don’t give a damn about the consequences of our western lifestyle. Depressing...