PPG
Bible Review
Jeff Goin and Dennis Pagen contribute
to the community, again.
The Powered Paragliding Bible is the most
comprehensive, and practical reference ever written for the
sport, produced with quality rivaling coffee table picture
books and encyclopedias. How, or more appropriately,
who would put that much production value into a book for
such a minuscule market? Read on.
In a few short weeks since its release,
the PPG Bible has become the essential standard issue text
at PPG schools around the globe. Pilots with years
of experience are amazed by what they didn’t know. Jeff
Goin, the author, writes with a fresh clear style that is
surpassed only by his 100 magnificent full color photos and
illustrations.
The editor/publisher of the PPG Bible,
Dennis Pagen, requires no introduction. For over thirty
years, he has authored a library of excellent reference books,
which have made the name Dennis Pagen synonymous with expert
knowledge in the foot launched and ultralight communities.
About a year ago, Dennis was approached
by Jeff with the idea of collaborating on a new book for
PPG. As president of the United States Powered Paragliding
Association (USPPA.org), Jeff was building an incident database,
and was concerned by number of serious cases, in particular
those that occurred to students under instructor supervision.
Jeff had already made enormous progress
towards educating the PPG community through USPPA’s
Risk and Reward DVD, hosted by William Shatner. However,
Jeff felt that greater breadth and depth coverage of emergency
situations would further improve safety. The trick
was to get the information into the community in a way that
would be accepted and utilized.
Jeff’s idea was to package the safety
information into a full-blown reference guide for starting
and succeeding in powered paragliding, thus creating an essential
tool for schools and a very powerful value proposition for
existing pilots. Dennis’s response was concise
as ever, “Great idea, Jeff. You write it, I’ll
edit.”
So Jeff went to work. Uniquely qualified,
Jeff is an airline captain for Southwest with all the discipline
and sophisticated training, along with years of PPG flight
time in almost every wing and paramotor ever manufactured,
in flight environments ranging from foot drags in Chicago
snow to free flight thermaling in the California mountains.
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However, Jeff’s most important
resource was his circle of friends in the powered paragliding
and free flight community, the flight instructors. For
months, chapters of the book bounced back and forth
between Jeff and more than twenty experts on towing,
engine maintenance, aerodynamics, triking, ground handling,
and more, searching for the absolute latest and definitive
information.
Meanwhile, the visual content needed
to be created. Fortunately, Jeff is an avid photographer. If
you want to find Jeff in the sky, look for a pilot
with a brake in one hand and a camera in the other. Actually
it’s usually no brakes and two hands on the camera. For
the many unique photos he could not shoot himself,
Jeff put the word out and hundreds of photos poured
in ranging from amazing crashes to pets going tandem.
The key to a good reference book
is illustrations that clearly support the text. Jeff
stretched his abilities with Photoshop to the limit
to produce a unique blend of graphics and photos that
create a real life yet instructive perspective.
Finally, it was time to edit. Jeff’s
informal writing style put Dennis Pagen’s skill,
and probably his patience, to the test. It was
imperative to Jeff that all the information was practical,
tidbits that you could easily take out into the field
with you and actually use them. In fact, Jeff
personally tested every bit of knowledge out in the
field to make sure it was correct AND clear. |
As a newbie, getting the PPG Bible is a
no-brainer. From choosing equipment, your first
solo, or the thought process in an emergency, this book has
it all and more. Even for experienced pilots, just
one tip from this book can save you a lot of hassle and money
and pain. Free flight pilots transitioning to powered
will find the Bible very valuable. Because the book
is well organized by subject, PG pilots will be able to quickly
find and brush up on subjects like airspace, engine maintenance,
and an entire chapter dedicated to PG to PPG transition.
Veteran PPG pilot Michael Purdy of World
Talk Radio’s Powered Paragliding Show summed up his
read of the PPG Bible, “I didn’t know what I
didn’t know.” Great job, Jeff, Dennis,
and all those who contributed to this amazing work. |
