Scout designer Miroslav Svec
Passive starting safety for paramotor pilots
I mounted it to my Miniplane Top 80 and it’s working. Unfortunately, the motor’s idle must stay below 2700 RPM which may be a problem for pilots who frequently have their motors go above that RPM causing false cutouts.
Safestart monitors your motor and is active only when it is first started. If RPM goes too far above idle, it activates the kill circuit for 5 seconds so the motor doesn’t push more than a dozen pounds and then only briefly. Correct the problem and restart.
Probably half of all debilitating injuries in the sport come from the type of mishap this device can minimize. The key is that the motor never gets over about quarter thrust so you have a chance to avoid having to push on the cage.
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It requires no human input other than turning it on each flight. Unfortunately, battery life requires it be turned off at the end of each flight. From a human factors perspective this is less desirable: safety devices that require activation run the serious likelihood that they won’t be turned on.
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Installation is easy. There is not even a spark plug wire. It uses the pulses through the kill circuit so all you do is hook into that with one wire going to the motor’s case and the other to the coil’s kill wire just like your regular kill switch.
If the battery dies or the unit is off then it is out of the loop and will not shut off the motor. In my perfect world it would have a three position switch with On, Off, and Bypass. That would give the pilot an alternative kill circuit as a bonus. Kudos to Miroslav for pulling this off.
Miroslav Svec is the motive force behind Scout Paramotor’s SafeStart. It was engineered by Mr. Asztalos.