GKN Mission Everest Paramotoring over the roof of the world

This is probably the most ambitious paramotoring expedition planned in the history of our sport. This spring (May 2007), two British pilots will attempt to fly over the highest mountain in the world, the Everest, to an altitude of +10,000m (33,000 feet) using their powered paragliders. The flight will take the athletes from a base camp at about 3500m and some 30 km south of Everest, all the way up over the Himalayas and to their goal, for at least 4 hours of flight. The GKN team will use Paramania Action GT gliders (36 m2) and special Parajet paramotors designed for extreme-altitude flying. The machines carry a single rotor, four-stroke rotary engine capable of delivering 85 horsepower (150% more than a conventional two-stroke engine) and with a fuel capacity of 30 litres. The units will incorporate ultra-lightweight carbon fibre winglets (designed by Mike Cambell-Jones and Pete Searl) fitted into the underside of the PPG harness, “which effectively give the pilot wings – the attitude of which can be controlled independently in flight” explain at the GKN expedition. The winglets may be used to help the pilots climb faster for Mission Everest and cut through turbulent air more efficiently. In the thin Everest air and with a total weight of gear at around 100kg, the GKN Mission Everest machines will fly at up to 160km/h! Once airborne and at altitude, they will utilise a special predictive fuel injection system to deliver exactly the correct volume of fuel for any speed or altitude. Each paramotor will be equipped with the latest flight information computer which updates five times per second with fuel consumption, engine data, wind speed, wind direction, aircraft airspeed and ground speed, current altitude and climb and sink rates and, crucially, the aircraft’s flight range in any given direction in relation to fuel capacity. For safety reasons –considering the risky conditions the pilots will fly in- their harnesses have special quick release systems and each pilot will carry an emergency skydiving rig, to skydive down thousands of feet and land in the lower valleys in the case of a serious emergency. They will also carry a basic survival kit. The training of the pilots for this demanding adventure include skydiving, SIV courses, mountain climbing and even the use of special re-breathers called Hypoxicators to pre-acclimatise before leaving the UK. The Pilots Bear Grylls became known in 1998 as the youngest British climber (23) ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest and return alive –and this, only 3 years after suffering a serious parachute accident. His book on this extraordinary story, Facing Up, soared into the Top 10 Bestseller List. In 2003, Bear led the first team to cross the frozen North Atlantic unassisted, travelling just below the Arctic Circle in a small, open rigid inflatable boat. He has also been involved in TV series about adventures and survival. Gilo Cardozo is an aviation-engineering specialist, a pioneer in the field of personal aviation and founder and Managing Director of Parajet, manufacturer of paramotors. He is personally devoted to the development of the machines that the GKN Mission Everest will use. Gilo managed the flight technology of Bear Grylls's most recent expedition: Paramotoring deep into the Venezuelan jungle for a TV series. +Info: www.gknmissioneverest.com

 

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