Ringelberg seen flying his paramotor (Nico Ringelberg on Facebook)

By Justin Goulet

Flying the southern Alberta sky on a paramotor

Sep 7, 2020 | 8:00 AM

COALDALE, AB – If it’s a calm evening in southern Alberta, you might spot Nico Ringelberg flying above Coaldale and the surrounding area.

Ringelberg is a paramotorist.

Paramotoring, or powered paragliding, is a form of ultralight aviation. Ringelberg explained that he straps into a harness attached to a motor, which is in turn connected to a wing.

From there, he runs down an open rampway and takes to the skies.

“It’s very enjoyable. It’s hard to describe. You’re just in the air [and] you’re your own pilot. You do whatever you want to do. Every now and then, you get the sense that [oh no] I’m in the air, so I have to be careful still, but it’s quite insane just going up there and flying, just on an average night, right? It’s after work and you just go for a fly. I just love that,” Ringelberg told Lethbridge News Now.

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He said he’s been flying for a year and a half. Prior to this endeavor, he had skydived and decided to try something new. Ringelberg took his paramotoring lessons in Invermere, British Columbia.

“Don’t do it if you’re not going to take lessons. At the end of the day, you’re in the air and anything can happen, so you want to know how to properly – you know, if you’re wing collapses, you want to properly be able to know what to do and how to save it,” he said.

Ringelberg tends to avoid areas like the city of Lethbridge, because of the local airport.

“That’s a no-fly zone [by the airport], so you’re not technically allowed to fly there. I try to veer away from airplanes as much as I can because if I get caught in the gust if an airplane then that’s a no-go for me, then I go down pretty quickly if I get a gust of their wind.”

He said his ideal flying condition is a day with light to preferably no wind.

“I just take off from one of my buddy’s fields, or wherever I can find a 100 foot area that’s flat and the grass is cut down, where there’s the least amount of trees and stuff like that and power lines, I like to stay away from those things. Wherever I can find a spot; if it’s in a corner of a field then I take off in the corner of a field.”

He said for him, landing is the easiest part, but it’s the take-off that can lead to some stress.

“You can never see what your wing is doing [because] it’s always behind you when you take off and so you just have to have a feeling for it,” Ringelberg said.

He added that common sense is very important when flying.

“Don’t fly near a thunderstorm or something like that. If there’s a thunderstorm watch out, that’s when winds are weird, and you just need a bit of your common sense and that will get you a long ways.”

As for any safety equipment, Ringelberg said he always wears a helmet and ear protection. He added that he knows of a few other people in the area that have paramotors.

“I highly recommend it. It’s a cheap way to be your own pilot, that’s what I think.”

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