Legal issues with training/flying

You can go to the BHPA, the BMAA or an independant instructor.

Insurance will cost you about £70 a year from On Risk. (3rd party cover)

The BHPA is £110 per year and has a mag each month.

Not sure about the BMAA cost.

I am sure that Francis can fill you in a little more on this or indeed point you at a conversation that was had a short while back about this very subject.

For simple answer.

No Licence needed, No insurance needed, but training by whatever route and insurance are a good idea.

SW

One person from the south east (I think)

Enter restricted air space and was followed by a helicopter ALL his kit was taken and had a £6000 fine

DON'T DO IT

Pete b

Hi all,

I have a few q's that need clearing up.

I know that ppg in the uk is unregulated but what exactly does this mean for us?

No need for a formal licence such as ppl or similar and no test/exam to sit?

No CAA license required - correct

So in theory, but not a good idea, could someone who has no formal instructor training but can fly a pm teach somebody to pmotor?

Legally yes but in my opinion no. It would not be "teaching to paramotor" it would be the blind leading the stupid. (my opinion)

I have also heard of people self-teaching themselves by running around a field, not recommended but is this also legal?

perfectly legal yes.

plenty of things are legal but stupid! (again my opinion)

Getting trained by a BHPA school and having the FLPA endorsement on your membership card is not a legal requirement, is it?

No it is not - unless you want to fly in Ireland or the continent. We are out of step with Europe on this one. People do fly in Europe without a license but it IS a legal requirement there, and in Ireland you musty apply for an exemption to their ANO which needs proof of "recognised" training.

Could i just have had a couple of days shown the basic methods etc then binned the school, set up in my field and go flying?

yes you could. You could learn basic canoeing then bin canoe school after a couple of lessons and go shoot the grand canyon rapids - perfectly legal

I realise the insurance implications (i wouldn't have any) and if i crashed and damaged someones property then i either pay out of my pocket or get sued to oblivion.

You can get third party risk cover even if you have no proof of training.

This is where personal responsibility comes in. The person who makes sure that there is funds available to put right the damage they could cause (insurance) is the sort of person who would probably stay in school and learn everything. the sort of person who would risk other peoples stuff with no concern for the consequences .... well I have an opinion on that also.

What if i crash and hurt myself, had no formal training, ambulance and police turn up, police say 'have you got a licence/third party insurance for that' i say 'no i dont need it' police say 'dont know what the fook it is your flying/dont believe what you tell me, i am taking this off you until i find out'

what would you do in this situation?

any aircrfat (paramotor is an aircraft under the law) can be impounded following a crash. They have the power to do that, irrespective of what license or insurance you may or may not have. If you did that in Europe the very first thing they would ask for is your insurance and if you could not produce it you would be in very serious trouble. In other countries the ambulance would simply drive off again if you did not produce medical insurance proofs.

Then there is the issue of navigation and airspace. If its unregged and nothing stopping anyone from getting on a pm and flying about, have no idea about airspace restrictions etc, then stray into restricted airspace, upset CAA and others are they going to be able to trace and prosecute you? Has this ever happened?

Yes they can and yes it has. Most airspace infringements the pilot has got away with a severe letting off but they have quite wide reaching powers and the law allows for long prison stretches and big fines for offenders. Endangerment of a passenger liner or some such offence I seem to recall, or reckless endangerment. The sort of trouble Mr Toad of Toad Hall got into!

Navigation and air law is fundamental to any frorm of pilot training. Flying a PM is as easy as taking a dump but all the stuff you need to do it responsibly applies just the same as if it was a 747

I am sure i and others can think of more q's but that'll do for now.

Anyone have any answers...?

Thanks

The answer is to approach the sport responsibly as a thoughtful, caring citizen and be fully aware of your responsibilities and your duty of care to everyone around you.

(all just my opinion)

Anyone giving any form of guidance without any recognised specific training qualification needs to seriously understand the liability aspects.