Life Lesson 01 While Paramotoring:
The Hassle for The Grand View
As I pushed aside the struggles and the annoyances I had experienced while doing my best to fit in with the team, I realized that the GRAND view from my Paramotor front seat was worth the hassle. Despite all the negative talk behind my back, the joy of witnessing the best landscape view during sunsets and sunrises overruled the obstacle. A priceless experience and I am glad that I stubbornly decided to stick around.
The mistakes, the nuisance and the inconvenience mature me.
After 7 years (2015 to 2022) of photographing my fellow PPG pilot friends paramotoring around Malaysia, I decided to slow down and focus more on exploring my other passions. And, to ensure I won’t miss the “floating on air feeling’ I bought myself a Dji Mini drone to accompany my travel journey. Years of paramotoring with them had taught me a significant number of life lessons that worth sharing with others.
Every journey has a starting point and an ending point.
Starting as a curiosity, I learned paramotoring and successfully solo airborne on foot launched a few times before I decided to join team Janjifly as their photographer. And the adventure continued for 7 years.
The 360° panoramic view from my paramotor front seat was unbeatably gorgeous.
As we travelled from various locations around peninsular Malaysia, different types of landscapes contributed to distinct paramotoring experiences. Hovering around the airspace in the city, in some small towns, at the beach, up on the mountain, along the river, or above the forest offered different challenges and experiences.
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
Those who had tasted the joy of flying would understand the adrenaline addiction experienced by the PPG pilots. And for me the photographer, this is the best opportunity to witness the view of our earth from above without to master flying on my own, the bird’s eye view.
During my early flying years, drone technologies were not as cheap (as today) and not easily available to the public yet. A curious mind like mine decided to fly solo with a paramotor to have a peek at the aerial view around Pulau Indah.
I need a generous amount of flying hours to master paramotoring.
Due to some circumstances, I could not commit.
My body was not strong enough to carry the 24kg weight of the paramotor engine during each pre-flight preparation. I find it hard to handle my camera and at the same time focus on my Paramotor engine throttle. Given the opportunity to tandem ride along with an experienced PPG pilot as the personal photographer was a good excuse for me to experience paramotoring at its best.
I have seen beautiful landscapes, golden sunsets and gorgeous sunrises while paramotoring around peninsular Malaysia.
I bought my own drone early this year.
The view from my paramotor seat up on air and the view from my drone control panel might look the same but the experience was totally different. The excitement, the thrill and the adrenaline rush while physically manoeuvring in the air was the additional catalyst that flying the drone could not re-create.
Despite all the hustles I had to endure, I have no regrets.
Cheers
MM
MATSUDA MASHIMARU 