The Ocotillo Wells fly-in was held between Febr 1-3 2002, in a desert in California, not very far from San Diego.
Organized and hosted by Bob Armand of www.paratoys.com, it turned out to be among the most attended PPG conventions.
Because of the limited space, we will only mention a few details. The rest of the convention will be illustrated by pictures.
The event was attended by 22 vendors/sponsors: Paralite USA, Aerolite USA, Paraborne (as sponsor), "Apco Aviation" as sponsor), MoJo's Gear, Bill Walsh for Adventure Paramotors, TX Flysports for Mac ParaTechnologies, Critter Mountain (apparel), Southern Skies (Fresh Breeze paramotors), ITV paragliders,
Beresh&Hirsh Propellers, Wills Wing, American Flier, Paratour,
Ohio Powered Paragliders (AIRFER paramotors), Air Borne (Miniplane), Cloud Nine (paraglider/paramotors), Walkerjet, Superfly Paragliders, Bandit Paramotors, Kevin Lee Paramotor Accessories and Newve Paramotors.
Registered PPG pilots: 111Total pilots (incl. ultralight pilots): 167
Total prizes given away: 63
Major prizes: Sky Cruiser paramotor won by Richard Good
Apco paraglider won by Quinn Mc Laughklin
Ranger paraglider- unclaimed
Safety Director: Eric Dufour of Paratour
Assistant Safety Directors: Richard Good, Ken Ward and Bob
Armond
Clinics: "Reserves" by Alan Chuculate," Radios" by Nick
Scholtes
"PPG Thermalling" by Scott Johnson
Competitions held: "Kitting Wars" Steve Meyer winner
"Cone Knock Down" Jeff Goin winner
"Thrust Wars" -no winner
Favorite food given away: Smittys Jerky
Video crew: "HOOK Productions"
Most helpful and fantastic couple: Rusty& Montine Blevins
Free barbeque launch: cooked and served by Manny Machado
Celebrity on site: William Shatner - AKA Cpt. Kirk
New products:
Paralite USA: Soft gas tanks, Simonini Clutch, Two Piece Prop, Folding Frames, Weight Shift Bars
FreshBreeze: Silex 2 paraglider and Simonini based paramotor
Ohio Powered Paragliding: improved "Airfer Bimax" Tandem machine and AIRFER Tornado paramotor
Aerlolight USA: Gold 130 Simonini based paramotor
New Wings: MISTRAL and Mac Para EDEN II
Let the pictures tell the rest.....
Here is one of the many tandem flights performed by a few instructors.
This one shows Bruce Brown from Ohio Powered Paragliding www.flyohio.com with Maurice Sheldon (Mo) from Phoenix AZ. as passenger.
There were a few new paragliders presented. Among them, the MISTRAL
..and the Mac Para EDEN II
During the convention, veteran pilot "Turbo" Bob Ryan demonstrated high precision trike flying:
The next two pictures show the dangers of performing touch and go's in the desert, close to other pilots.
The first picture represents "yours truly" close to my friend Mickey Canella. He was ready to inflate..until I did not touch down and added power...blasting him with dust.
The second picture shows me (yours truly) in a "very dusty" but much safer situation....
Until next year!
