Glenn Tupper Team Parajet Pilot
Name :: Glenn Tupper
DOB :: 23 March
Hometown :: Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
Paramotor :: Volution Custom with Polini Thor 100
Wing :: Paramania GTR
Year's flying :: Since 2009
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Phil Jennings Team Parajet Pilot
Name :: Phil Jennings
DOB :: 20 November 1976
Hometown :: Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Paramotor :: Volution Custom with Top80
Wing :: Dudek Hadron
Year's flying :: Since 2009
Phil Jennings has had a good couple of years since he started flying in 2009. He accomplished some pretty good performances with some podiums on the British League tour.
Before training in Spain Phil had no flying background but was and still is keen to tinker with anything mechanical. Couple that with a passion for flying - always choosing the window seat on flights and keen to see the world below – it was inevitable that after seeing a picture of Ray McMahon (Dudek Dealer) behind the bar of his local pub, Phil became interested in the sport.
It was while training in Spain that Phil met fellow team pilot Dean Eldridge, and a friendship grew. Two months after returning from Spain, the pair attended the 2009 Paramotor British Open. While not competing Phil helped Dean with his preparation and the experience got him interested in the competition scene. Little did he know that the following year he would finish third in the British League and earning himself Best Newcomer.
In 2011 Phil finished second overall in the British League, culminating in a third place finish in the British Open – the final event of three held throughout the year – making him the highest placed British pilot. Phil also competed in the French Open finishing third in the non-French class and finishing ninth in the Belgian Open.
Other highlights in Phil’s paramotoring career include flying the Severn Bore back in March 2010, the accompanying video he made having been viewed by over 65,000 visitors on YouTube.
When not flying, Phil works as a prototype fitter tester for Land Rover and loves manufacturing and engineering, so can always be found making or modifying something in his workshop at home.
Kester Haynes Team Parajet Pilot
Name :: Kester Haynes
DOB :: 25 December 1983
Hometown :: Lynton, UK
Paramotor :: Custom-made Volution 2 Macro
Wing :: Paramania Action GT 23m
Year's flying :: Since October 2007
Since making his first paramotor flight above the rolling Catalonian countryside in north-eastern Spain, Kester has been fortunate enough to indulge his passion for flying with his passion for travel; honing his skills and technique while taking the opportunity to make a living out of something he loves. His journey has been a fantastic tale of enthusiasm and a constant strive to keep flying.
By the end of 2008 Kester was well on his way to fulfilling his ambition. Having learnt to paramotor in October 2007 he swapped his day-job to start working full-time as a trainee instructor at the school that taught him. Shortly after, he made the natural progression to paragliding; making his first flight at Coupe Icare, the famous International Free Flying Festival held in France.
During the winter of 2008 Kester teamed up with fellow Parajet pilot Dean Eldridge, spending three months paramotoring the Western Ghats in India. The expedition took the pair across urban, jungle and coastal landscapes which made for some of the best flying and elevated Kester to becoming a seasoned pilot.
In the years that followed Kester continued to progress with his flying, spending time with Jocky Sanderson at Lake Annecy in France and David Arrufat in Napal learning the latest recovery and handling techniques and acro moves. More recently Kester has become a Chief Flying Instructor and has qualified as a Tandem Paragliding Pilot.
As part of his role at Parajet, Kester is spearheading the development and fabrication of a new lightweight, competition paramotor. As a precursor to this project, Kester designed,built and flew his own custom paramotor achieving a top speed of 110kph during the 100km flight from the Parajet factory to his hometown in Exmoor, and completing the journey in an hour and twenty minutes.
Apart from paramotoring, Kester enjoys adrenaline-fuelled sports in general; riding motorcross bikes and racing 4x4s. He likes nothing more than combining these past times with his travelling. He feels very fortunate to have such a lifestyle and it is his passion and enthusiasm that makes him one of Parajet’s most loved characters.
Alexander (Xandi) Meschuh Team Parajet Pilot
Name :: Alexander (Xandi) Meschuh
DOB :: 10 Jan 1976
Hometown :: Klagenfurt, Austria
Paramotor :: Custom-made Volution 2 Macro
Wing :: Icaro
Year's flying :: Since 1995
Alexander Meschuh, "Xandi" as he's known to his peers, was born in the Austrian region of Carinthia, where he still lives today. A natural instinct and quick reflexes combined with a style honed over many years of flying and you have the ingredients for success.
Xandi started paragliding in his early twenties and quickly moved on to fly acro; at the time a new wave in the paragliding scene. Leaving his previous vacations behind him, including a job as a primary school teacher, Xandi became a professional acro pilot in 2003.
Today, Xandi is also an instructor, test pilot for Icaro, Profly and JN-Kites as well as the author of the book “Acrobatics”. He also is an organiser for the Acro World Cup Competition.
Success in Acro Worldcup competitions since 2003
1st Weltcup (inoff. WC) Schweiz, Villeneuve / Genfersee, 2007
1st Weltcup Italien, Omegna / Lago di Orta, 2009
1st Worldcup Italy / Lago di garda
2nd Weltcup Argentinien, Salta, 2006
2nd Weltcup Norwegen, Voss, 2006
3rd World Air Games (Olympiade der Flugsportarten) Italien, Turin, 2009
3rd Weltmeisterschaft, Villeneuve / Genfersee, 2006
3rd Weltcup Italien, Omegna / Lago di Orta, 2008
3rd Weltcup Türkei, Ölüdeniz, 2008
3rd Weltcup Italien, Omegna / Lago di Orta, 2005
3rd Weltcup (inoff. WM) Schweiz, Villeneuve / Genfersee, 2004
3rd Weltcup Italien, Omegna / Lago di Orta, 2004
3rd Weltcup Frankreich, Bourget du Lac, 2005
3rd Pre-Weltcup Österreich, Zell am See, 2005
Dean Eldridge Team Parajet Pilot
Name :: Dean Eldridge
DOB :: 01 June
Hometown :: Southampton
Paramotor :: Volution Custom with Polini Thor 200
Wing :: Paramania GTR
Year's flying :: Since 1995
Dean's flying career started in 1995 flying paragliders in Boulder Colorado with Gerry Eichholtz. Over the ten years that followed Dean fine tuned his skills and technique, taking the opportunity to free-fly in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Morocco, Switzerland and Austria before returning to the UK.
In September 2006 after having little or no access to any good free-flying locations, Dean purchased his first paramotor. After initial instruction his hours in the sky increased dramatically and it wasn’t long before he swapped his day-job to follow his passion working full-time as a trainee instructor.
A year later Dean started work on the PPGio project alongside Mike Campbell-Jones, highlighting and customising various parts of the training syllabus to be more relevant to PPG rather than Microlighting. After attending a BMAA instructor course in November, Dean formed his own flying school Paraviation (http://www.paraviation.com) and has been a Chief Flying Instructor ever since.
In addition to flight instruction, instructor course assistance and syllabus writing, Dean has also been hired to take numerous aerial photographs and film footage while on location for expeditions in countries as obscure as India, Bolivia Tunisia and Morocco.
2009 was an exceptional year for Dean; taking fifth place at the UK PPG Championship and earning him the “Best Newcomer” award. Having showed his talent and ability to beat the toughest rivals, Dean qualified for a place on Team GB at the PPG World Championships in the Czech Republic. After a consistent 9-day performance, including Dean breaking an unofficial world record in the nav/speed task, the team took the silver medal and Dean was placed tenth on the FAI world rankings.
In 2010 Dean was asked to take part in the inaugural Parabatix event, competing against the world’s best freestyle paramotor pilots sky racing around a ground skimming aerial race course against the clock. Dean showed he was on top of his game and finished a respectable seventh, beating multiple British Champion Michel Carnet and fellow Paramania pilot Pascal Campbell-Jones.
Most recently Dean has filed a claim for the FAI ‘Speed Over Straight Course 15/25 km’ world record. Flying a Cyclone 294cc under a standard Paramania Fusion 20 Dean clocked up an impressive average speed of 73.84 km/h over the course at the Salton Sea festival in California.
As part of his Team Parajet role, Dean works closely with our engineers here at the factory where he influences and consults on the design and testing for our range of high-performance paramotors. Dean also holds a similar role with Paramania (http://www.flyparamania.com), the sport's leading wing manufacturer.
Competition Results
3rd - Icarobatix 2011
4th - Belgium Open 2011
4th - World Fly Games 2011
4th - Boston League 2011
10th - Slalomania 2011
15th - British Open 2011
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