Pilot Profile: Niall Paterson

Photo Credit: Alec Proudfoot

Niall Paterson resides in Cumbria, U.K., and has been flying HPAs since 2016. He is the winner of the 2017 Icarus Cup, the 2018 Icarus Cup, and in 2018, he became the first winner of the Jacobson Figure of Eight Prize. He was also a member of the Aerocycle team which took the Team Prize at the 2017 and 2018 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competitions.


Age: 42

Occupation: Commissioning Engineer

Weight: 68 kg

Power/weight ratio: 330 watts/68 kg

HPAs flown: Aerocycle 3

# of flights: 25-30

First flight: Sywell Aerodrome, 2016

Longest duration flight: just under 3 minutes

Longest distance flight: just under 1500m

Most challenging flight: Distance around a Triangular Course

Awards: 2018 Icarus Cup, 2018 Jacobson Figure of Eight Prize, 2017 Icarus Cup, 2017 & 2018 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competition Team Prize (Aerocycle)

The HPA Notebook recently spoke with Niall, following his 2018 wins at the BHPFC Icarus Cup Competition held at Sywell Aerodrome.


THN: What is your cycling experience?

NP: I started out racing mountain bikes as soon as I could drive (17), switched to the road in 2009. I'm currently second category on the road, and I do a lot of time trialing as well.


THN: What is your piloting experience? Was it helpful to flying HPAs?

NP: I started learning in 2002, but I've always been around aircraft. I've been in the Air Cadets, my father was in the Air Cadets; the family has been in the RAF Cadets ever since I was a kid so I've always had airplanes around me and had that fascination with anything that flies. I got my pilot license in 2005 (single engine piston airplane), and I've been actively flying ever since. I started out renting from flying clubs and flying once/twice a month, but about 3 years ago, I got invited into a Microlite group (Ikarus C42) and now I get a lot more flying in with lower costs. I was also gliding for a few years and had a glider share for 4 years before switching to the Microlite.

Flying was definitely helpful for flying HPAs, but I'd say the gliding experience was probably more relevant, probably a better way of learning an HPA.


THN: How did you get involved with HPAs?

NP: My first year was 2016. I got into it [because] there was an article in a piloting magazine that Roger Warren (co-owner of Airglow) had put in and ... I sent an off-the-cuff email asking if they were looking for any pilots. He got back to me straight away [about the Sywell 2016 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competition] but unfortunately, that year, Airglow was out of action, so I ended up talking with John Edgley and flying Aerocycle. I did an uphill first takeoff and I didn't get very far, but it was just a wonderful feeling to be up in the air for a few seconds.


THN: Was it hard to learn to fly an HPA?

NP: No, it was surprisingly easy. I was surprised at how responsive the HPA is to your input on the controls. It's very intuitive to fly; it's quite simple. I've also got a lot of simulator experience as well. Going back to what do you think is a good way to fly an HPA, I don't think there's any reason why a person couldn't jump into a [simulator] and get a lot of time doing that, and then jump in [an HPA] quite easily.


THN: What is it like flying an HPA?

NP: You feel like a naughty kid, really, like you're doing something you shouldn't be doing, or something that shouldn't be possible. It's almost that kind of feeling, like a naughty kid getting away with something. And once I've landed, and everyone comes and helps you out of the airplane, and helps you push the airplane back, it's also a feeling of guilt as well for the people that have made it possible, and I know would love to have a go themselves, but don't get to have a go. I sort of feel a bit of guilt as I'm really enjoying myself, but everybody else isn't having a go.

Another way I've described it, the first year, I described it a bit like in a dream where you levitate. It isn't like flying an airplane at first, it's like a dream-like state, like a dream of levitation. I think because there's that much going on, your brain isn't quite keeping up with the airplane [because] you're taking it all in, there's a few seconds of wonder ...


THN: Does that happen every single time?

NP: Yes, pretty much! But I'm easily distracted!

Photo Credit: Elanor Andreassen

THN: We've watched the video of the Figure of Eight a few times now and when you get past that first turn, the plane does a huge waggle. That wasn't a control input, right? You were basically flying through your wake?

NP: Definitely not, I didn't intentionally do that with the airplane. And I honestly don't really remember it yawing as much as appears on the video. It was only when I saw it on the video that I noticed it, so I might have automatically put some inputs in to correct it, but I don't recall it in flight at all.


THN: What's the hardest/easiest/most surprising part of being an HPA pilot?

NP: The hardest part is hanging on at the end, just trying to get those last few pedal strokes in the end when you know that everything's fading. I think everyone struggles with that. You're really pushing yourself when your legs just want to stop, and just trying to push through that and get that extra few yards or extra few seconds of duration. I think that's the hardest part, trying not to listen to your legs. The easiest thing is how controllable it (Aerocycle) was. I expected it to be very uncontrollable and just kind of go where it wanted to go itself, but I find that it's actually very easy to direct, and it goes where you tell it to go. That was the most surprising thing as well.


THN: What advice do you have for someone that is interested in becoming an HPA pilot?

NP: Simulator experience. I can tell that I'm lacking in recumbent time, and I'm losing power because of that. I'm definitely going to pursue building one myself. I'll get some recumbent training time which is something I think I'm lacking in because there's a clear reduction in wattage in what I should be able to put out for that duration of flight. I think being able to fly the simulator and cycle hard at the same time, and putting the two together, I think that's the key to success for flying an HPA. It's a very unique skill set to be able to fly an HPA.


THN: What do you see for the future of HPAs?

NP: Seeing some of the Japanese machines, and seeing what has been done, if we can get a hybrid of these long distance record-breaking HPAs and our general purpose planes, somewhere in the middle, with efficiencies as well, combining the designs to make a really good one, the wattage requirements to fly these things will go down and be within the reach of more people and it will become more of a skill challenge than an athletic challenge.


THN: Do you see it as possible that this could become a sport? An Olympic sport?

NP: I think so. And certainly if you look at the size of the airfield required, it's not massive and you can do a lot of stuff there. I think we can get into the realm of big stadiums and make it feasible to fly in a big stadium.


THN: Tell us something fun about yourself that doesn't have anything to do with HPAs.

NP: Well ... the one thing probably didn't know about me is that I do a lot of singing. So I sing in a band, I've always been a musician so I do sing in a rock band, a covers band, we sing in pubs and things like that. We're called Weathered Rock and we do a lot of classic rock - things like Guns & Roses, AC/DC, Queen, Bon Jovi ... classic rock stuff so that's why we're called Weathered Rock.


Below is video of Niall's Jacobson Figure of Eight Prize winning flight from the 2018 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competition:

Below is a video of Niall's attempt at Distance around a Triangular Course from the 2018 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competion. 

And finally, a video of Weathered Rock's cover of Aerosmith's Walk This Way. Enjoy!