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Flat Top Ninja Paramotor #1 Powered Paraglider Safety & Performance Paragliding
Estimated price for orientation: 5 800 $
Category: Paragliding
Class:
Description Condition: Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitions- opens in a new window or tab ... Read moreabout the condition Brand: Flat Top Model: Ninja
For more info just call 800-707-2525 in the USA or 801-631-1731 globally.You are bidding on a USED Flat Top Ninja that has about 80 hours on it. It has minor cosmetic scuffs & scratches & possible dings but no real notable damage and is in perfect working order having been gone through by our staff. These pictures are of a new unit and not these particular used units. We have quite a few of these units but ebay won't allow duplicate ads so just call us and we can give you specifics on the different used units we have in stock. 800-707-2525The Flat Top Ninja is THE best paramotor on the market. Lots of people make this claim about a lot of units but not a single one can explain in detail why theirs is the best. So lets start with performance. The Flat Top Ninja has THE best power to weight ratio. It weighs only 54 lbs but will carry over 600 lbs. The 3 most powerful paramotors on the market are the Flat Top Ninja, Flat Top SUPER and Parajet Rotron. The Flat Top Ninja weighs only 54 lbs, the Flat Top SUPER weighs 65 lbs and the Rotron weighs 104 lbs!!! So yes there are a couple other units with similar power but NONE as lightweight as the Flat Top Ninja. Talk is cheap though so here are some videos of the Flat Top setting a tandem altitude record climbing to 14,700 with with a 185 lb pilot and 120 lb passenger and then another world altitude record set with a paramotor trike at 16,145 ft:
The power is obvious as you can see from this video. Weights are a bit harder to find because most companies out there flat out lie. Nirvana has claimed their Rodeo paramotor is 51 lbs. On a scale it is 68 lbs. Blackhawk has claimed 50 lbs. On a scale it showed 75 lbs. EC Extreme claimed 49 lbs but again the reality on a scale was 59 lbs. The Flat Top Ninja really is 54 lbs dry. It is logically easy to see why it is so much lighter than the other units as the Flat Top is the ONLY unit on earth with a spectra cloth harness & carbon composite seatboard. The Flat Top harness weighs only 3 lbs while units like the Nirvana, just their harness alone is 10 lbs. The Flat Top is made by the oldest ultralight manufacturer in the world in the USA and they use the absolute best materials on the market.Strength and durability is another HUGE factor when looking for paramotors. Running around with weight on your back you WILL fall down now and then. The Flat Top is literally 100 times stronger than most other paramotors. 100 times!!! Sounds like a ridiculously outrageous claim but it is a fact. With most paramotors it takes only a couple lbs of pressure to flex the netting and prop together to where they touch. With the Flat Top you can literally stand on the netting without it flexing into the prop. In this video you can watch the Flat Top smashing through reeds going over the top of the pilots head. He flew around for about 45 minutes smashing through weeds without any damage at all to the Flat Top. With most units if you clipped those weeds the unit would completely self destruct. In the second video you can actually watch him STAND on the netting and stand on the engine without it flexing into the cage:
This is a gigantic factor because WHEN you trip and fall down, most paramotors will have what's called a prop strike. That means the cage flexes backwards into the propeller and when the propeller going 300+ mph hits the cage & frame the whole unit explodes causing $2500 + in damage. The Flat Top is so incredibly durable and tuff that it is extremely rare to damage one without crashing reaaaaaally hard. One oops on other paramotors and you are $2500 in damage. With the Flat Top you can fall down all you like and the odds are slim it will cost you anything at all. Now keep in mind you are not going to have just one oops. Running around with weight on your back with a glider pulling you around can be rather awkward. Those who purchased Fresh Breeze, Nirvana, Black Hawks and others have reported to have spent over $10,000 in repairs!!! So don't think a slightly lower price on a super flimsy unit like an EC Extreme is in reality a lower price as it isn't. Every single little oops and you are out another $2500 replacing the frame, cage & prop. With a Flat Top you have the absolute lowest cost of ownership of any other paramotor on earth. They are so durable that if you take SUPER training from U-Turn USA they even guarantee you won't damage any equipment during your training. If you do then THEY will pay for it. SUPER training from U-Turn USA is the ONLY training in the world where they both provide the gear you train on and guarantee their training is so good and the gear is so durable that if you damage it you pay nothing. So durability is a huge cost, safety and inconvenience factor. There is nothing worse than a simple slip and fall ending your day of flying with a $2500 repair bill.Ease of use is another big factor and again the Flat Top is THE ultimate. Power to weight ratio plays a big part and then design is another big factor. The Flat Top is so lightweight and so powerful and so easy to run with that even little kids can launch them. Several competitors have put out videos suggesting the Flat Top is "super heavy and nearly impossible to launch". Yes they literally said that. Then they showed adult guys struggling like they could hardly pick it up. Others let the shoulder straps all the way out to pretend the unit hangs off your back and bangs you in the back of the legs. These are flat out lies and completely absurd one's at that. In fact the opposite is true. Almost all of the youngest pilots in the world fly Flat Top paramotors because they are the lightest, easiest to launch, safest and most durable. To completely humiliate those out there who are totally lying about these FACTS here are some videos of little kids launching the full size Flat Tops:
The Flat Top is the easiest, safest, most durable and most reliable paramotor. The best pilot in the world doesn't put people's kids on anything less than the very best. So while you can see the Flat Top Ninja is the most powerful lightest unit on the market you can also watch little kids launch the exact same powerful unit used to make world altitude records. Safety is the #1 reason to buy a Flat Top. ZERO pilots have ever died or even been permanently injured on a Flat Top paramotor. ZERO! The US importer for Nirvana died on a Nirvana paramotor, the owner of Paratoys Black Hawk posted a video claiming the Flat Top was the worst and most dangerous unit on the market and claimed the Black Hawk was the "safest" but then incidentally he died as well. Lists and lists of serious injuries & deaths are all over the internet but not one single death or permanent injury to a Flat Top pilot despite being the most popular brand in the USA and flown by all the craziest pilots. The WPPGA Paramotor World Champion doing things nobody else in the sport can even do has over 11,000 flights but has never even been seriously injured. He flies a Flat Top and uses them exclusively for training students. Below is a list of safety recommendations from the WPPGA. The Flat Top is the ONLY paramotor on the market up to date with every single one of the recommended safety features. ZERO people have ever died on WPPGA Approved gear. So even if you fly like a freaking moron your odds of dying are currently zero IF you get a Flat Top paramotor, certified wing in your skill level and a reserve. Take a look at the details to look for on paramotor safety:1) Crumple Zone: Crumple zone is the most important safety factor in the sport. Because a certified paraglider only descends about 20 fps in a full stall, if you have 14-18 inches of crumple zone under you then the odds of getting seriously injured or killed in the sport are drastically reduced. Twenty fps is approximately equivalent to jumping off a garage roof. If you jump off your garage roof and land flat on your bottom, the odds are not in your favor. You will probably find yourself seriously injured or killed. If however, you have 14-18 inches of properly designed impact protection under your spine, the odds of serious injury or death are extremely low. Less than 14 inches of crumple zone imparts a greater risk of injury, but more than 18 inches and it becomes difficult, if not impossible to launch. All new automobiles sold in the US are required by law to have crumple zones and so should your paramotor. If you come across a paramotor where your bottom is the very lowest part of the unit, we suggest you to not fly it.2) Pilot Restraint System: Properly restraining the pilot inside a roll cage is what makes crumple zone work. Even if there is 14-18 inches of aluminum crumple zone under the pilots butt, it doesn’t do any good if the pilot is slung from flimsy arms protruding out from a frame that will flex or break in an accident. This will allow the pilot to impact the ground without crumple zone doing its job. Just like a properly designed car seat with a seat belt, the pilot needs to be properly restrained inside the roll cage to force the roll cage to absorb an impact before it hits the pilot. The pilot needs to be cradled from between their armpit to hip in order to distribute the surface area along as much of the body as possible. The bar that holds the harness is important as well. If it’s a single bar, an off angle impact will throw the pilot onto that small surface area, causing a potentially life threatening injury. If these bars are next to the pilot’s head, their head will take the impact. Look for a well supported harness that cradles you securely from within the roll cage. It must be stronger than the crumple zone to force the crumple zone to function before the pilot hits the ground.3) Sufficient Cage & Netting Strength:
Proper strength of the cage and netting is extremely important to paramotor safety. Numerous injuries have occurred when pilots have lost control of their unit while warming it up, fallen down, or crashed. This has resulted in the pilot coming in contact with a spinning prop. Sometimes a forward launch will put enough pressure on a weak cage that the pilot’s arms come dangerously near (and sometimes in) the prop. To protect yourself from these types of injuries, it takes a paramotor with a strong enough cage and netting, along with a big enough gap between the prop and the cage to undoubtedly keep the pilot out of the prop arc in all the most common scenarios. Not only does the cage need to be able to withstand hundreds of pounds of pressure, but the netting needs to be able to prevent a pilots hand, arm, shoulder, or head from pushing the netting back into the prop.4) Quick Release Harness: A quick release harness system could have saved countless lives in drowning and dragging incidents. Make sure your paramotor is designed with a way to quickly get out of the unit in the event of a water landing, fire or being dragged. A unit that floats or that comes with flotation as standard equipment is another must have.5) Certified Fixed Height And Width Hang Points: The exact height placement of the glider hook in point above the seat is extremely important. Certified gliders are designed to have specific brake lengths. If the point is above the height certified by glider manufacturers, the glider can go from extremely safe (stall and spin resistant) to very dangerous and prone to spin or stall. From years of experience, we know a significant percentage of pilots will inadvertently pull as much brake as they are physically able, especially in tense situations. If they can possibly stall the glider by burying the brakes, it will happen. Certified gliders help prevent this serious risk by making their brakes an exact length in accordance with certified height hang points so that even if a pilot were to bury the brakes, the glider will be nowhere near as likely to spin or stall. Likewise, if the hang points are too low, the unit can become unstable or the pilot might not be able to pull enough brakes to properly control the aircraft. The width of the hang points is also extremely important to be within the certified limits of a certified paraglider. Because of torque affect, p-factor and gyroscopic precession, it is important to ensure the hang points can’t easily come together which can allow the pilot to easily twist up in the risers and possibly vector thrust in the opposite direction the glider is going. To prevent these catastrophic issues, ensure that the hang points are solidly fixed in positions within the certified width of the glider. If the hang points can easily come together, it takes very little force to twist the aircraft up into the lines causing a potentially life threatening situation.6) Handless Seating: Being able to get into your seat after launch without having to let go of your controls to pull yourself into the seat is another serious safety consideration. Many incidents have happened when pilots let go of their controls immediately after launch to pull themselves into their seats. Letting go of your brake toggles and leaning forward can put the cage and prop right next to the risers where a brake toggle could possibly get into the prop. Also, without hands on the controls, you cannot actively pilot your aircraft leaving yourself vulnerable to a plethora of potentially lethal incidents. Some try to reduce this risk by adding a “kick strap”; a bar hanging on straps from the harness which would allow you to push on the bar in order to lift yourself up into the seat. These create their own lists of problems as they can trip the pilot, tangle up with important controls, deploy reserve, get caught in the prop… For the best possible safety, look for a unit where you are able to lift your feet and easily slide into your seat without ever having to take your hands off of the controls.7) Face Plant Protection: Simply falling down can be extremely dangerous without a properly designed paramotor. With a paramotor producing 100-200 lbs of thrust that weighs anywhere from 50-100 lbs, a fall will result in an upwards of 300 lbs plus your own body weight smashing you face first into the ground. If you want to be able to launch without this immense danger, look for a unit with bars that extend well out in front of the pilot that will catch both the impact of the unit and preferably a bit of the pilots weight as well. These bars should be rounded enough that they won’t stick into the ground and flick the pilot even more violently face first. The cage should also extend above the pilots head far enough that if the unit were to rock forward to the top of the cage, the pilots head will be safely protected under the unit. Rounded skids are another big key to protecting yourself. If the bottom front of the unit is squared off with a sharp corner and the pilot falls down, it can stick into the ground, quickly stop the bottom of the unit, and catapult the pilot onto their head. A low center of gravity is another significant factor to your safety. If the weight of the paramotor rides high on your back, a fall is more likely to be towards your face than units with a low center of gravity. In case of a slip or trip while running during launch/landing, a paramotor with a low center of gravity is far more likely to land the pilot in a seated position. Without proper protection for your head and neck, all of these factors work in your favor. A slip, trip or fall could easily put you face first into the ground hard enough to cause serious injury or death.8) Trigger Throttle: In conjunction with the face plant protection, extensive experience has shown that large throttle handles or bicycle brake style throttle controls have a very high chance of throttling up the engine in a fall. It is a natural reaction to put your hands out to catch yourself when you fall and very often the big throttle controls are the first thing to hit. The only thing worse than crashing to the ground is falling and ending up with an engine running at full throttle on top of you. In addition, there have been numerous instances where the bicycle brake style throttles have snagged on lines and become tangled while launching, in flight and during landing. Make sure the throttle has a small and simple trigger which is not going to be easily actuated or snagged accidentally, but will allow precise control in use. Also, ensure that the start and kill switches are at your finger tips and can be engaged instantly without fumbling with and without gloves. Another throttle system to be aware of are those that securely attaches the throttle to your hand. An elastic or any other sort of break free strap will keep the throttle in your hand but will help prevent your hand from being yanked into the prop if the throttle cable were to ever become lodged in the prop or reduction belt.Each and every one of these design features work in your favor and are designed to keep you safe. If you come across a paramotor that doesn’t utilize any or all of these design features, we strongly encourage you to search for one that does.For more information from the most experienced paramotor pilots in the world who can explain in exact detail all the differences between all the different brands & models on the market just call 800-707-2525 in the USA or 801-631-1731 globally.
Description
| Condition: | Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitions- opens in a new window or tab ... Read moreabout the condition | Brand: | Flat Top |
| Model: | Ninja |
For more info just call 800-707-2525 in the USA or 801-631-1731 globally.You are bidding on a USED Flat Top Ninja that has about 80 hours on it. It has minor cosmetic scuffs & scratches & possible dings but no real notable damage and is in perfect working order having been gone through by our staff. These pictures are of a new unit and not these particular used units. We have quite a few of these units but ebay won't allow duplicate ads so just call us and we can give you specifics on the different used units we have in stock. 800-707-2525The Flat Top Ninja is THE best paramotor on the market. Lots of people make this claim about a lot of units but not a single one can explain in detail why theirs is the best. So lets start with performance. The Flat Top Ninja has THE best power to weight ratio. It weighs only 54 lbs but will carry over 600 lbs. The 3 most powerful paramotors on the market are the Flat Top Ninja, Flat Top SUPER and Parajet Rotron. The Flat Top Ninja weighs only 54 lbs, the Flat Top SUPER weighs 65 lbs and the Rotron weighs 104 lbs!!! So yes there are a couple other units with similar power but NONE as lightweight as the Flat Top Ninja. Talk is cheap though so here are some videos of the Flat Top setting a tandem altitude record climbing to 14,700 with with a 185 lb pilot and 120 lb passenger and then another world altitude record set with a paramotor trike at 16,145 ft:
The power is obvious as you can see from this video. Weights are a bit harder to find because most companies out there flat out lie. Nirvana has claimed their Rodeo paramotor is 51 lbs. On a scale it is 68 lbs. Blackhawk has claimed 50 lbs. On a scale it showed 75 lbs. EC Extreme claimed 49 lbs but again the reality on a scale was 59 lbs. The Flat Top Ninja really is 54 lbs dry. It is logically easy to see why it is so much lighter than the other units as the Flat Top is the ONLY unit on earth with a spectra cloth harness & carbon composite seatboard. The Flat Top harness weighs only 3 lbs while units like the Nirvana, just their harness alone is 10 lbs. The Flat Top is made by the oldest ultralight manufacturer in the world in the USA and they use the absolute best materials on the market.Strength and durability is another HUGE factor when looking for paramotors. Running around with weight on your back you WILL fall down now and then. The Flat Top is literally 100 times stronger than most other paramotors. 100 times!!! Sounds like a ridiculously outrageous claim but it is a fact. With most paramotors it takes only a couple lbs of pressure to flex the netting and prop together to where they touch. With the Flat Top you can literally stand on the netting without it flexing into the prop. In this video you can watch the Flat Top smashing through reeds going over the top of the pilots head. He flew around for about 45 minutes smashing through weeds without any damage at all to the Flat Top. With most units if you clipped those weeds the unit would completely self destruct. In the second video you can actually watch him STAND on the netting and stand on the engine without it flexing into the cage:
This is a gigantic factor because WHEN you trip and fall down, most paramotors will have what's called a prop strike. That means the cage flexes backwards into the propeller and when the propeller going 300+ mph hits the cage & frame the whole unit explodes causing $2500 + in damage. The Flat Top is so incredibly durable and tuff that it is extremely rare to damage one without crashing reaaaaaally hard. One oops on other paramotors and you are $2500 in damage. With the Flat Top you can fall down all you like and the odds are slim it will cost you anything at all. Now keep in mind you are not going to have just one oops. Running around with weight on your back with a glider pulling you around can be rather awkward. Those who purchased Fresh Breeze, Nirvana, Black Hawks and others have reported to have spent over $10,000 in repairs!!! So don't think a slightly lower price on a super flimsy unit like an EC Extreme is in reality a lower price as it isn't. Every single little oops and you are out another $2500 replacing the frame, cage & prop. With a Flat Top you have the absolute lowest cost of ownership of any other paramotor on earth. They are so durable that if you take SUPER training from U-Turn USA they even guarantee you won't damage any equipment during your training. If you do then THEY will pay for it. SUPER training from U-Turn USA is the ONLY training in the world where they both provide the gear you train on and guarantee their training is so good and the gear is so durable that if you damage it you pay nothing. So durability is a huge cost, safety and inconvenience factor. There is nothing worse than a simple slip and fall ending your day of flying with a $2500 repair bill.Ease of use is another big factor and again the Flat Top is THE ultimate. Power to weight ratio plays a big part and then design is another big factor. The Flat Top is so lightweight and so powerful and so easy to run with that even little kids can launch them. Several competitors have put out videos suggesting the Flat Top is "super heavy and nearly impossible to launch". Yes they literally said that. Then they showed adult guys struggling like they could hardly pick it up. Others let the shoulder straps all the way out to pretend the unit hangs off your back and bangs you in the back of the legs. These are flat out lies and completely absurd one's at that. In fact the opposite is true. Almost all of the youngest pilots in the world fly Flat Top paramotors because they are the lightest, easiest to launch, safest and most durable. To completely humiliate those out there who are totally lying about these FACTS here are some videos of little kids launching the full size Flat Tops:
The Flat Top is the easiest, safest, most durable and most reliable paramotor. The best pilot in the world doesn't put people's kids on anything less than the very best. So while you can see the Flat Top Ninja is the most powerful lightest unit on the market you can also watch little kids launch the exact same powerful unit used to make world altitude records. Safety is the #1 reason to buy a Flat Top. ZERO pilots have ever died or even been permanently injured on a Flat Top paramotor. ZERO! The US importer for Nirvana died on a Nirvana paramotor, the owner of Paratoys Black Hawk posted a video claiming the Flat Top was the worst and most dangerous unit on the market and claimed the Black Hawk was the "safest" but then incidentally he died as well. Lists and lists of serious injuries & deaths are all over the internet but not one single death or permanent injury to a Flat Top pilot despite being the most popular brand in the USA and flown by all the craziest pilots. The WPPGA Paramotor World Champion doing things nobody else in the sport can even do has over 11,000 flights but has never even been seriously injured. He flies a Flat Top and uses them exclusively for training students. Below is a list of safety recommendations from the WPPGA. The Flat Top is the ONLY paramotor on the market up to date with every single one of the recommended safety features. ZERO people have ever died on WPPGA Approved gear. So even if you fly like a freaking moron your odds of dying are currently zero IF you get a Flat Top paramotor, certified wing in your skill level and a reserve. Take a look at the details to look for on paramotor safety:1) Crumple Zone: Crumple zone is the most important safety factor in the sport. Because a certified paraglider only descends about 20 fps in a full stall, if you have 14-18 inches of crumple zone under you then the odds of getting seriously injured or killed in the sport are drastically reduced. Twenty fps is approximately equivalent to jumping off a garage roof. If you jump off your garage roof and land flat on your bottom, the odds are not in your favor. You will probably find yourself seriously injured or killed. If however, you have 14-18 inches of properly designed impact protection under your spine, the odds of serious injury or death are extremely low. Less than 14 inches of crumple zone imparts a greater risk of injury, but more than 18 inches and it becomes difficult, if not impossible to launch. All new automobiles sold in the US are required by law to have crumple zones and so should your paramotor. If you come across a paramotor where your bottom is the very lowest part of the unit, we suggest you to not fly it.2) Pilot Restraint System: Properly restraining the pilot inside a roll cage is what makes crumple zone work. Even if there is 14-18 inches of aluminum crumple zone under the pilots butt, it doesn’t do any good if the pilot is slung from flimsy arms protruding out from a frame that will flex or break in an accident. This will allow the pilot to impact the ground without crumple zone doing its job. Just like a properly designed car seat with a seat belt, the pilot needs to be properly restrained inside the roll cage to force the roll cage to absorb an impact before it hits the pilot. The pilot needs to be cradled from between their armpit to hip in order to distribute the surface area along as much of the body as possible. The bar that holds the harness is important as well. If it’s a single bar, an off angle impact will throw the pilot onto that small surface area, causing a potentially life threatening injury. If these bars are next to the pilot’s head, their head will take the impact. Look for a well supported harness that cradles you securely from within the roll cage. It must be stronger than the crumple zone to force the crumple zone to function before the pilot hits the ground.3) Sufficient Cage & Netting Strength:
Proper strength of the cage and netting is extremely important to paramotor safety. Numerous injuries have occurred when pilots have lost control of their unit while warming it up, fallen down, or crashed. This has resulted in the pilot coming in contact with a spinning prop. Sometimes a forward launch will put enough pressure on a weak cage that the pilot’s arms come dangerously near (and sometimes in) the prop. To protect yourself from these types of injuries, it takes a paramotor with a strong enough cage and netting, along with a big enough gap between the prop and the cage to undoubtedly keep the pilot out of the prop arc in all the most common scenarios. Not only does the cage need to be able to withstand hundreds of pounds of pressure, but the netting needs to be able to prevent a pilots hand, arm, shoulder, or head from pushing the netting back into the prop.4) Quick Release Harness: A quick release harness system could have saved countless lives in drowning and dragging incidents. Make sure your paramotor is designed with a way to quickly get out of the unit in the event of a water landing, fire or being dragged. A unit that floats or that comes with flotation as standard equipment is another must have.5) Certified Fixed Height And Width Hang Points: The exact height placement of the glider hook in point above the seat is extremely important. Certified gliders are designed to have specific brake lengths. If the point is above the height certified by glider manufacturers, the glider can go from extremely safe (stall and spin resistant) to very dangerous and prone to spin or stall. From years of experience, we know a significant percentage of pilots will inadvertently pull as much brake as they are physically able, especially in tense situations. If they can possibly stall the glider by burying the brakes, it will happen. Certified gliders help prevent this serious risk by making their brakes an exact length in accordance with certified height hang points so that even if a pilot were to bury the brakes, the glider will be nowhere near as likely to spin or stall. Likewise, if the hang points are too low, the unit can become unstable or the pilot might not be able to pull enough brakes to properly control the aircraft. The width of the hang points is also extremely important to be within the certified limits of a certified paraglider. Because of torque affect, p-factor and gyroscopic precession, it is important to ensure the hang points can’t easily come together which can allow the pilot to easily twist up in the risers and possibly vector thrust in the opposite direction the glider is going. To prevent these catastrophic issues, ensure that the hang points are solidly fixed in positions within the certified width of the glider. If the hang points can easily come together, it takes very little force to twist the aircraft up into the lines causing a potentially life threatening situation.6) Handless Seating: Being able to get into your seat after launch without having to let go of your controls to pull yourself into the seat is another serious safety consideration. Many incidents have happened when pilots let go of their controls immediately after launch to pull themselves into their seats. Letting go of your brake toggles and leaning forward can put the cage and prop right next to the risers where a brake toggle could possibly get into the prop. Also, without hands on the controls, you cannot actively pilot your aircraft leaving yourself vulnerable to a plethora of potentially lethal incidents. Some try to reduce this risk by adding a “kick strap”; a bar hanging on straps from the harness which would allow you to push on the bar in order to lift yourself up into the seat. These create their own lists of problems as they can trip the pilot, tangle up with important controls, deploy reserve, get caught in the prop… For the best possible safety, look for a unit where you are able to lift your feet and easily slide into your seat without ever having to take your hands off of the controls.7) Face Plant Protection: Simply falling down can be extremely dangerous without a properly designed paramotor. With a paramotor producing 100-200 lbs of thrust that weighs anywhere from 50-100 lbs, a fall will result in an upwards of 300 lbs plus your own body weight smashing you face first into the ground. If you want to be able to launch without this immense danger, look for a unit with bars that extend well out in front of the pilot that will catch both the impact of the unit and preferably a bit of the pilots weight as well. These bars should be rounded enough that they won’t stick into the ground and flick the pilot even more violently face first. The cage should also extend above the pilots head far enough that if the unit were to rock forward to the top of the cage, the pilots head will be safely protected under the unit. Rounded skids are another big key to protecting yourself. If the bottom front of the unit is squared off with a sharp corner and the pilot falls down, it can stick into the ground, quickly stop the bottom of the unit, and catapult the pilot onto their head. A low center of gravity is another significant factor to your safety. If the weight of the paramotor rides high on your back, a fall is more likely to be towards your face than units with a low center of gravity. In case of a slip or trip while running during launch/landing, a paramotor with a low center of gravity is far more likely to land the pilot in a seated position. Without proper protection for your head and neck, all of these factors work in your favor. A slip, trip or fall could easily put you face first into the ground hard enough to cause serious injury or death.8) Trigger Throttle: In conjunction with the face plant protection, extensive experience has shown that large throttle handles or bicycle brake style throttle controls have a very high chance of throttling up the engine in a fall. It is a natural reaction to put your hands out to catch yourself when you fall and very often the big throttle controls are the first thing to hit. The only thing worse than crashing to the ground is falling and ending up with an engine running at full throttle on top of you. In addition, there have been numerous instances where the bicycle brake style throttles have snagged on lines and become tangled while launching, in flight and during landing. Make sure the throttle has a small and simple trigger which is not going to be easily actuated or snagged accidentally, but will allow precise control in use. Also, ensure that the start and kill switches are at your finger tips and can be engaged instantly without fumbling with and without gloves. Another throttle system to be aware of are those that securely attaches the throttle to your hand. An elastic or any other sort of break free strap will keep the throttle in your hand but will help prevent your hand from being yanked into the prop if the throttle cable were to ever become lodged in the prop or reduction belt.Each and every one of these design features work in your favor and are designed to keep you safe. If you come across a paramotor that doesn’t utilize any or all of these design features, we strongly encourage you to search for one that does.For more information from the most experienced paramotor pilots in the world who can explain in exact detail all the differences between all the different brands & models on the market just call 800-707-2525 in the USA or 801-631-1731 globally.
The power is obvious as you can see from this video. Weights are a bit harder to find because most companies out there flat out lie. Nirvana has claimed their Rodeo paramotor is 51 lbs. On a scale it is 68 lbs. Blackhawk has claimed 50 lbs. On a scale it showed 75 lbs. EC Extreme claimed 49 lbs but again the reality on a scale was 59 lbs. The Flat Top Ninja really is 54 lbs dry. It is logically easy to see why it is so much lighter than the other units as the Flat Top is the ONLY unit on earth with a spectra cloth harness & carbon composite seatboard. The Flat Top harness weighs only 3 lbs while units like the Nirvana, just their harness alone is 10 lbs. The Flat Top is made by the oldest ultralight manufacturer in the world in the USA and they use the absolute best materials on the market.Strength and durability is another HUGE factor when looking for paramotors. Running around with weight on your back you WILL fall down now and then. The Flat Top is literally 100 times stronger than most other paramotors. 100 times!!! Sounds like a ridiculously outrageous claim but it is a fact. With most paramotors it takes only a couple lbs of pressure to flex the netting and prop together to where they touch. With the Flat Top you can literally stand on the netting without it flexing into the prop. In this video you can watch the Flat Top smashing through reeds going over the top of the pilots head. He flew around for about 45 minutes smashing through weeds without any damage at all to the Flat Top. With most units if you clipped those weeds the unit would completely self destruct. In the second video you can actually watch him STAND on the netting and stand on the engine without it flexing into the cage:
This is a gigantic factor because WHEN you trip and fall down, most paramotors will have what's called a prop strike. That means the cage flexes backwards into the propeller and when the propeller going 300+ mph hits the cage & frame the whole unit explodes causing $2500 + in damage. The Flat Top is so incredibly durable and tuff that it is extremely rare to damage one without crashing reaaaaaally hard. One oops on other paramotors and you are $2500 in damage. With the Flat Top you can fall down all you like and the odds are slim it will cost you anything at all. Now keep in mind you are not going to have just one oops. Running around with weight on your back with a glider pulling you around can be rather awkward. Those who purchased Fresh Breeze, Nirvana, Black Hawks and others have reported to have spent over $10,000 in repairs!!! So don't think a slightly lower price on a super flimsy unit like an EC Extreme is in reality a lower price as it isn't. Every single little oops and you are out another $2500 replacing the frame, cage & prop. With a Flat Top you have the absolute lowest cost of ownership of any other paramotor on earth. They are so durable that if you take SUPER training from U-Turn USA they even guarantee you won't damage any equipment during your training. If you do then THEY will pay for it. SUPER training from U-Turn USA is the ONLY training in the world where they both provide the gear you train on and guarantee their training is so good and the gear is so durable that if you damage it you pay nothing. So durability is a huge cost, safety and inconvenience factor. There is nothing worse than a simple slip and fall ending your day of flying with a $2500 repair bill.Ease of use is another big factor and again the Flat Top is THE ultimate. Power to weight ratio plays a big part and then design is another big factor. The Flat Top is so lightweight and so powerful and so easy to run with that even little kids can launch them. Several competitors have put out videos suggesting the Flat Top is "super heavy and nearly impossible to launch". Yes they literally said that. Then they showed adult guys struggling like they could hardly pick it up. Others let the shoulder straps all the way out to pretend the unit hangs off your back and bangs you in the back of the legs. These are flat out lies and completely absurd one's at that. In fact the opposite is true. Almost all of the youngest pilots in the world fly Flat Top paramotors because they are the lightest, easiest to launch, safest and most durable. To completely humiliate those out there who are totally lying about these FACTS here are some videos of little kids launching the full size Flat Tops:
The Flat Top is the easiest, safest, most durable and most reliable paramotor. The best pilot in the world doesn't put people's kids on anything less than the very best. So while you can see the Flat Top Ninja is the most powerful lightest unit on the market you can also watch little kids launch the exact same powerful unit used to make world altitude records. Safety is the #1 reason to buy a Flat Top. ZERO pilots have ever died or even been permanently injured on a Flat Top paramotor. ZERO! The US importer for Nirvana died on a Nirvana paramotor, the owner of Paratoys Black Hawk posted a video claiming the Flat Top was the worst and most dangerous unit on the market and claimed the Black Hawk was the "safest" but then incidentally he died as well. Lists and lists of serious injuries & deaths are all over the internet but not one single death or permanent injury to a Flat Top pilot despite being the most popular brand in the USA and flown by all the craziest pilots. The WPPGA Paramotor World Champion doing things nobody else in the sport can even do has over 11,000 flights but has never even been seriously injured. He flies a Flat Top and uses them exclusively for training students. Below is a list of safety recommendations from the WPPGA. The Flat Top is the ONLY paramotor on the market up to date with every single one of the recommended safety features. ZERO people have ever died on WPPGA Approved gear. So even if you fly like a freaking moron your odds of dying are currently zero IF you get a Flat Top paramotor, certified wing in your skill level and a reserve. Take a look at the details to look for on paramotor safety:1) Crumple Zone: Crumple zone is the most important safety factor in the sport. Because a certified paraglider only descends about 20 fps in a full stall, if you have 14-18 inches of crumple zone under you then the odds of getting seriously injured or killed in the sport are drastically reduced. Twenty fps is approximately equivalent to jumping off a garage roof. If you jump off your garage roof and land flat on your bottom, the odds are not in your favor. You will probably find yourself seriously injured or killed. If however, you have 14-18 inches of properly designed impact protection under your spine, the odds of serious injury or death are extremely low. Less than 14 inches of crumple zone imparts a greater risk of injury, but more than 18 inches and it becomes difficult, if not impossible to launch. All new automobiles sold in the US are required by law to have crumple zones and so should your paramotor. If you come across a paramotor where your bottom is the very lowest part of the unit, we suggest you to not fly it.2) Pilot Restraint System: Properly restraining the pilot inside a roll cage is what makes crumple zone work. Even if there is 14-18 inches of aluminum crumple zone under the pilots butt, it doesn’t do any good if the pilot is slung from flimsy arms protruding out from a frame that will flex or break in an accident. This will allow the pilot to impact the ground without crumple zone doing its job. Just like a properly designed car seat with a seat belt, the pilot needs to be properly restrained inside the roll cage to force the roll cage to absorb an impact before it hits the pilot. The pilot needs to be cradled from between their armpit to hip in order to distribute the surface area along as much of the body as possible. The bar that holds the harness is important as well. If it’s a single bar, an off angle impact will throw the pilot onto that small surface area, causing a potentially life threatening injury. If these bars are next to the pilot’s head, their head will take the impact. Look for a well supported harness that cradles you securely from within the roll cage. It must be stronger than the crumple zone to force the crumple zone to function before the pilot hits the ground.3) Sufficient Cage & Netting Strength:
Proper strength of the cage and netting is extremely important to paramotor safety. Numerous injuries have occurred when pilots have lost control of their unit while warming it up, fallen down, or crashed. This has resulted in the pilot coming in contact with a spinning prop. Sometimes a forward launch will put enough pressure on a weak cage that the pilot’s arms come dangerously near (and sometimes in) the prop. To protect yourself from these types of injuries, it takes a paramotor with a strong enough cage and netting, along with a big enough gap between the prop and the cage to undoubtedly keep the pilot out of the prop arc in all the most common scenarios. Not only does the cage need to be able to withstand hundreds of pounds of pressure, but the netting needs to be able to prevent a pilots hand, arm, shoulder, or head from pushing the netting back into the prop.4) Quick Release Harness: A quick release harness system could have saved countless lives in drowning and dragging incidents. Make sure your paramotor is designed with a way to quickly get out of the unit in the event of a water landing, fire or being dragged. A unit that floats or that comes with flotation as standard equipment is another must have.5) Certified Fixed Height And Width Hang Points: The exact height placement of the glider hook in point above the seat is extremely important. Certified gliders are designed to have specific brake lengths. If the point is above the height certified by glider manufacturers, the glider can go from extremely safe (stall and spin resistant) to very dangerous and prone to spin or stall. From years of experience, we know a significant percentage of pilots will inadvertently pull as much brake as they are physically able, especially in tense situations. If they can possibly stall the glider by burying the brakes, it will happen. Certified gliders help prevent this serious risk by making their brakes an exact length in accordance with certified height hang points so that even if a pilot were to bury the brakes, the glider will be nowhere near as likely to spin or stall. Likewise, if the hang points are too low, the unit can become unstable or the pilot might not be able to pull enough brakes to properly control the aircraft. The width of the hang points is also extremely important to be within the certified limits of a certified paraglider. Because of torque affect, p-factor and gyroscopic precession, it is important to ensure the hang points can’t easily come together which can allow the pilot to easily twist up in the risers and possibly vector thrust in the opposite direction the glider is going. To prevent these catastrophic issues, ensure that the hang points are solidly fixed in positions within the certified width of the glider. If the hang points can easily come together, it takes very little force to twist the aircraft up into the lines causing a potentially life threatening situation.6) Handless Seating: Being able to get into your seat after launch without having to let go of your controls to pull yourself into the seat is another serious safety consideration. Many incidents have happened when pilots let go of their controls immediately after launch to pull themselves into their seats. Letting go of your brake toggles and leaning forward can put the cage and prop right next to the risers where a brake toggle could possibly get into the prop. Also, without hands on the controls, you cannot actively pilot your aircraft leaving yourself vulnerable to a plethora of potentially lethal incidents. Some try to reduce this risk by adding a “kick strap”; a bar hanging on straps from the harness which would allow you to push on the bar in order to lift yourself up into the seat. These create their own lists of problems as they can trip the pilot, tangle up with important controls, deploy reserve, get caught in the prop… For the best possible safety, look for a unit where you are able to lift your feet and easily slide into your seat without ever having to take your hands off of the controls.7) Face Plant Protection: Simply falling down can be extremely dangerous without a properly designed paramotor. With a paramotor producing 100-200 lbs of thrust that weighs anywhere from 50-100 lbs, a fall will result in an upwards of 300 lbs plus your own body weight smashing you face first into the ground. If you want to be able to launch without this immense danger, look for a unit with bars that extend well out in front of the pilot that will catch both the impact of the unit and preferably a bit of the pilots weight as well. These bars should be rounded enough that they won’t stick into the ground and flick the pilot even more violently face first. The cage should also extend above the pilots head far enough that if the unit were to rock forward to the top of the cage, the pilots head will be safely protected under the unit. Rounded skids are another big key to protecting yourself. If the bottom front of the unit is squared off with a sharp corner and the pilot falls down, it can stick into the ground, quickly stop the bottom of the unit, and catapult the pilot onto their head. A low center of gravity is another significant factor to your safety. If the weight of the paramotor rides high on your back, a fall is more likely to be towards your face than units with a low center of gravity. In case of a slip or trip while running during launch/landing, a paramotor with a low center of gravity is far more likely to land the pilot in a seated position. Without proper protection for your head and neck, all of these factors work in your favor. A slip, trip or fall could easily put you face first into the ground hard enough to cause serious injury or death.8) Trigger Throttle: In conjunction with the face plant protection, extensive experience has shown that large throttle handles or bicycle brake style throttle controls have a very high chance of throttling up the engine in a fall. It is a natural reaction to put your hands out to catch yourself when you fall and very often the big throttle controls are the first thing to hit. The only thing worse than crashing to the ground is falling and ending up with an engine running at full throttle on top of you. In addition, there have been numerous instances where the bicycle brake style throttles have snagged on lines and become tangled while launching, in flight and during landing. Make sure the throttle has a small and simple trigger which is not going to be easily actuated or snagged accidentally, but will allow precise control in use. Also, ensure that the start and kill switches are at your finger tips and can be engaged instantly without fumbling with and without gloves. Another throttle system to be aware of are those that securely attaches the throttle to your hand. An elastic or any other sort of break free strap will keep the throttle in your hand but will help prevent your hand from being yanked into the prop if the throttle cable were to ever become lodged in the prop or reduction belt.Each and every one of these design features work in your favor and are designed to keep you safe. If you come across a paramotor that doesn’t utilize any or all of these design features, we strongly encourage you to search for one that does.For more information from the most experienced paramotor pilots in the world who can explain in exact detail all the differences between all the different brands & models on the market just call 800-707-2525 in the USA or 801-631-1731 globally.