Powered Parachute Questions

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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iFlyNothing
So, Bryan recently pulled the chute for real, as he posted. This got me thinking, as those things look like a blast.

What are the typical takeoff/landing distances for a powered parachute, assuming no wind? Over obstacles? How about 2-place? I'm assuming that this varies depending on type, so specifics would help.

I've never flown one, but we've talked about a 2-place aircraft of some sort that we could keep at the house for the purpose of simply being in the air, counting cows, etc. We live out in the middle of nowhere with basically all farm fields, so about a perfect place for any sort of single engine aircraft. We've been thinking Zenith 750, due to the ~150 ft takeoff distance claims. What we really want is a super-basic 2-seater to be able to go out and have fun with, that's cheap to operate.

Our property has a few hundred feet worth of space that we could designate for a takeoff/landing strip, but about 20 ft trees at either end. I haven't measured it, but my swag would be 400-500 ft.

Intent would be able to take up one of the kids at a time to go count cows for fun (or wife and me up for skywatching), so of course security of kid would be important.
 
The one I flew would get off in 100' or so solo and once I flew it a few hours I could do pretty good spot landings and the landing roll was less than 100'. They are great calm weather machines and are no fun in any kind of gusty turbulent conditions. We flew off a turf farm so we could always take off and land into the wind. I had a lot of fun with it but I got bored with it after a few hours. Don
 
A PPC would be fun to have at Gaston's
 
I've seen a powered parachute out in my neighborhood. The guy flies it in the winter! Don't know who it is, though. Looks like fun, but only in warmer weather...
 
I used to like them but they are very limited due to wind. I would look at an old Gyrocopter instead. Find one with a pre-rotor and the take off and landing distance will be very similar to a Powered Parachute. They handle wind much better too.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
So, Bryan recently pulled the chute for real, as he posted. This got me thinking, as those things look like a blast.

What are the typical takeoff/landing distances for a powered parachute, assuming no wind? Over obstacles? How about 2-place? I'm assuming that this varies depending on type, so specifics would help.

I've never flown one, but we've talked about a 2-place aircraft of some sort that we could keep at the house for the purpose of simply being in the air, counting cows, etc. We live out in the middle of nowhere with basically all farm fields, so about a perfect place for any sort of single engine aircraft. We've been thinking Zenith 750, due to the ~150 ft takeoff distance claims. What we really want is a super-basic 2-seater to be able to go out and have fun with, that's cheap to operate.

Our property has a few hundred feet worth of space that we could designate for a takeoff/landing strip, but about 20 ft trees at either end. I haven't measured it, but my swag would be 400-500 ft.

Intent would be able to take up one of the kids at a time to go count cows for fun (or wife and me up for skywatching), so of course security of kid would be important.
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I have flown a powered parachute for 6 years. My usual takeoff distance is less than 400 feet, however I would not attempt to take off in a field that is as short as 500 feet.

They are great fun to fly when the weather conditions are good. I only fly if the winds are going to be 8 mph or less. Also, it is important to fly in the morning or late afternoon when the thermals are minimal. Wing loading is pretty light and you feel all of the bumps.

There are many PPC's out there to be purchased and the cost to entry is pretty low. Be aware that there are quite a few two place PPC's that are not N-numbered that were legal prior to Sport Pilot regulations that are now not legal to fly. It is very easy to get sport pilot privileges to fly a PPC if you are a private pilot. You must get training (does not take very long) by a CFI and be checked off by that CFI, and another CFI. They send in the paperwork and you are good to go.

Hey, if the engine quits, you already have a parachute!
 
Grum.Man said:
I used to like them but they are very limited due to wind. I would look at an old Gyrocopter instead. Find one with a pre-rotor and the take off and landing distance will be very similar to a Powered Parachute. They handle wind much better too.
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Having owned and flown Gyroplanes since 1985 I can say that most Gyroplanes take far more runway to take off than many would imagine. The exception being taking off into a 20+ knot headwind and or the Air & Space 18A gyro which can do almost zero take off roll departures.

There are several that can break ground fairly quickly but their climb gradient is quite shallow - taking upwards 600 to 700 horizontal feet before they are very high up in the air. And it is just this lack of climb gradient as you can imagine that gets them into so much trouble. There are several STOL fixed wings that can takeoff in a far shorter run than most all gyros in calm wind conditions.

The plus side of a gyro is they do tend to "like" wind and they can make very short and in many cases zero landing roll arrivals.
 
James331 said:
I'd think getting into jumping and becoming a good canopy pilot would be more fun.
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We just had a guy this weekend mis-judge his swoop in landing and double- femured and cracked his pelvis. Timing is everything!
 
JCranford said:
We just had a guy this weekend mis-judge his swoop in landing and double- femured and cracked his pelvis. Timing is everything!
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The fact that you have the term "double femured" as a term in your vocab may have just removed skydiving from my bucket list.
 
JCranford said:
We just had a guy this weekend mis-judge his swoop in landing and double- femured and cracked his pelvis. Timing is everything!
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We have skydiving ops here on our field too and that is rare, but it has happened here too. Fancy diving approaches look super cool, but come with their risks I guess.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
The fact that you have the term "double femured" as a term in your vocab may have just removed skydiving from my bucket list.
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Haha no kidding! When I was learning to fly in Korea at the Aero Club a friend who was working on his Commercial and was a Para Rescue (PJs) who also jumped with a club on base. Had me finally talked into trying it except some guy broke his leg and I backed out. Whew that was close. :yesnod::D
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
The fact that you have the term "double femured" as a term in your vocab may have just removed skydiving from my bucket list.
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I did it, and it's awesome. You go tandem at first. Just avoid the fancy stuff, and you probably won't need to use the word "double femured." :lol:
 
I did the meat bomb thing. I liked the flight to altitude better. Went faster on my race bike. Meh.
 
I flew a powered paraglider trike (lighter version of a powered parachute) back in Germany.

Fun, (relatively) easy to transport, can be stored at home. Speed and exposure to the elements are however very limiting factors, particularly if one doesn't live in a region with a warm climate and a beautiful scenery.

I look at them every once in a while, but actually think that the costs are too high for what they are.
 
I did a tandem jump and enjoyed the time under canopy better than the free fall, although the instructor was really enthused about the long free fall.
 
Oh yeah, early morning and twilight for about 4 months out of the year. Doesn't that sound useful as can be?
 
steingar said:
Oh yeah, early morning and twilight for about 4 months out of the year. Doesn't that sound useful as can be?
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I'm not sure that it's supposed to be useful, although Ted did mention counting cows. :)
 
The whole purpose of whatever aircraft we get to keep at the house will be to be 100% useless and purely for fun. The opposite of the 310. :)
 
You might consider a trike instead. Paragliders, and to a lesser extent powered paragliders, have some interesting failure modes that the structured wing of a trike does not. Another choice would be a fixed wing ultralight style LSA. Similar cost, but three axis controls rather than weight shift, in the case of the trike.

In any case 500 feet is pretty short and I don't think I'd want to operate out of that small of a runway, especially carrying another person.
 
Powered Parachutes are about the most forgiving aircraft you can find. I flew mine for several years and I'm considering getting one again. Powered Parachutes refers to the type you sit inside of a cart, Powered Paragliders are the ones where you strap a motor on your back. I did that to, but didn't like my landing gear being my feet. I also had a wing collapse on me and though I recovered, it rattled me. You're very heavily loaded under a Powered Parachute (PPC) parachute and they don't collapse. Flying in more than 12 mph winds takes the fun out of it, so get up early or fly right before the sun goes down.

Those that haven't flown them tend to think they're dangerous. The two people I know of who died in them, well one hit a tree and died when he climbed out and fell. The other died when he was taxiing his without a seatbelt on and the throttle cable broke and his Rotax 912 went to full power. He was ejected when he hit a car. I personally had two engine outs and landed easily... you're already in a parachute! I would occasionally turn the engine off on purpose and land as well. Fly up to 5K feet, turn the engine off and enjoy a peace you won't find many places.

Anyway, there will be skeptics... Go to the PPC Forums and they will answer all questions.

Oh, and carry a camera when you fly. 30mph, steering with your feet, one of the best photo platforms I've ever had, and the chutes are beautiful in the sun.

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If you're serious about flying out of your property, I'm thinking one of Chris Heintz's STOL designs, with a proven four stroke aero engine would be what you need. IIRC the OP doesn't like high revving engines, so either a Jabiru powered CH 701 or an 0-200 powered CH 750 would get the job done. Trying to get anything else into that small space would be too much of a white knuckle ride to be enjoyable
 
FormerHangie said:
If you're serious about flying out of your property, I'm thinking one of Chris Heintz's STOL designs, with a proven four stroke aero engine would be what you need. IIRC the OP doesn't like high revving engines, so either a Jabiru powered CH 701 or an 0-200 powered CH 750 would get the job done. Trying to get anything else into that small space would be too much of a white knuckle ride to be enjoyable
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You are correct, high-revving engines aren't my thing. I ride a Harley, like the airplane engines, and bought a car that, without going above 3,000 RPM, is still faster than most other things on the road. Plus it makes this really cool whine when the supercharger kicks in. :D

The Zenith 750 is the top pick still, and I think you're right that it's probably the best option for the job. The parachute options just got me curious enough to make a post asking about them.
 
A Mosquito Air
mosquito-heli-0803a.jpg


or a turbine Helicycle
AEROTV-LEE-HELICYCLE-0109g.jpg


might also be options... :yes: :D
 
JCranford said:
We just had a guy this weekend mis-judge his swoop in landing and double- femured and cracked his pelvis. Timing is everything!
Click to expand...

Ah, the old 1/2 split S...

That gets a lot of skydivers.
 
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