The Powered Parachute - 3- 2- 1- Lift Off!
A powered parachute is just what is says it is.
It is a parachute with a little power motor and wheels.
It can get up to 35 miles per hour.
Or to put it another way, a powered parachute is a small aircraft.
Think of flying a powered parachute as the reverse action to using a regular parachute where you jump from a plane and let gravity take over.
With a powered parachute, you start on flat ground and defy gravity by spreading the canopy out behind you, driving into the wind and letting the parachute open and the wind begin to lift you from the ground.
The idea of a powered parachute has been around for nearly 50 years.
It might have been around longer but that would only have been as twinkle in some dedicated flyer's eye.
The first experimental powered parachute flew in the early 1960s.
It was 20 years before the first commercial power parachute became available.
This was the ParaPlane which was available in the early 1980s.
The ParaPlane was the brainchild of Steve Snyder, an aeronautical Engineer who worked on improving the first powered parachutes (ram-air parachutes as they were called).
These early ram-air parachutes could not travel far, fly level, or climb.
Snyder worked on creating a frame for the powered parachute and in March, 1981, the frame was completed.
The next step was to find a way to power the parachute.
Snyder called upon experts to help him and later in 1981, a pair of small Chrysler engines were added to the design and the prototype 1 (P-1) was created.
The first effort to fly was a qualified success.
Snyder managed to keep the powered parachute flying for about half a minute at a speed of between 20 and 25 miles per hour.
Snyder and his partners kept tweaking the machine.
They worked on the control system, improved the frame design, and added folding landing gear.
The second prototype (P-2) was finished early in 1983.
When the next version, the P-3, debuted at the Sun & Fun Airshow in Florida in the spring of 1983, it was an immediate success.
The ParaPlane Corporation was formed and the first powered parachutes began to appear on the market.
A lot has changed since 1983 and powered parachutes can now fly for about 3 hours.
There are courses on flying powered parachutes, special interest groups, associations, and shops specializing in powered parachutes.
The big attraction of powered parachute flight is that it offers you a unique opportunity for solo flight without spending a fortune and a lot of time learning to fly a conventional aircraft.
Also, powered parachutes are relatively inexpensive to own.
It is a parachute with a little power motor and wheels.
It can get up to 35 miles per hour.
Or to put it another way, a powered parachute is a small aircraft.
Think of flying a powered parachute as the reverse action to using a regular parachute where you jump from a plane and let gravity take over.
With a powered parachute, you start on flat ground and defy gravity by spreading the canopy out behind you, driving into the wind and letting the parachute open and the wind begin to lift you from the ground.
The idea of a powered parachute has been around for nearly 50 years.
It might have been around longer but that would only have been as twinkle in some dedicated flyer's eye.
The first experimental powered parachute flew in the early 1960s.
It was 20 years before the first commercial power parachute became available.
This was the ParaPlane which was available in the early 1980s.
The ParaPlane was the brainchild of Steve Snyder, an aeronautical Engineer who worked on improving the first powered parachutes (ram-air parachutes as they were called).
These early ram-air parachutes could not travel far, fly level, or climb.
Snyder worked on creating a frame for the powered parachute and in March, 1981, the frame was completed.
The next step was to find a way to power the parachute.
Snyder called upon experts to help him and later in 1981, a pair of small Chrysler engines were added to the design and the prototype 1 (P-1) was created.
The first effort to fly was a qualified success.
Snyder managed to keep the powered parachute flying for about half a minute at a speed of between 20 and 25 miles per hour.
Snyder and his partners kept tweaking the machine.
They worked on the control system, improved the frame design, and added folding landing gear.
The second prototype (P-2) was finished early in 1983.
When the next version, the P-3, debuted at the Sun & Fun Airshow in Florida in the spring of 1983, it was an immediate success.
The ParaPlane Corporation was formed and the first powered parachutes began to appear on the market.
A lot has changed since 1983 and powered parachutes can now fly for about 3 hours.
There are courses on flying powered parachutes, special interest groups, associations, and shops specializing in powered parachutes.
The big attraction of powered parachute flight is that it offers you a unique opportunity for solo flight without spending a fortune and a lot of time learning to fly a conventional aircraft.
Also, powered parachutes are relatively inexpensive to own.
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