Paramotors / powered parachutes

Kevin16587

Kevin16587

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Feb 25, 2015
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Kevin16587
Anybody fly them? A non-pilot friend of mine turned my on to this guy's YouTube channel. I know nothing about these things but it looks like fun. Talk about low and slow.

I have no affiliation with this channel but it's worth a look. He has some pretty high quality videos. He's also a SEL private pilot.



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Like any other paraglider, powered parachutes have some interesting failure modes. I did see a video a few years ago where the canopy collapsed while the paramotor was in straight and level flight.

For me personally, no thanks. Think about it, you've got a screaming two stroke engine, a big meat cleaving propeller, flammable liquids and hot exhaust, all happening a few inches from your backside. Add to that a canopy that doesn't take kindly to turbulent air and if stalled ceases to be a canopy, at least for a while.
 
Interesting information. I wasn't aware they are so susceptible to turbulence. I'm sure some canopies are more stable than others, like wings, but the idea of the canopy collapsing is rather terrifying. I guess that's why many of those guys carry a reserve chute.


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Flew them for about 5 years as I got back into flying after a longish hiatus. They're about the most fun you can have in the sky, there's something magical about running into the air and flying at treetop level at 20mph.

Note that a paramotor (small backpack motor) and a powered parachute (big motor, on wheels) are very different things. The latter I find kinda boring.
 
Used to work with a guy who had a foot launch powered parachute. The big problem seemed to be with his landing gear...
 
Dana said:
Flew them for about 5 years as I got back into flying after a longish hiatus. They're about the most fun you can have in the sky, there's something magical about running into the air and flying at treetop level at 20mph.

Note that a paramotor (small backpack motor) and a powered parachute (big motor, on wheels) are very different things. The latter I find kinda boring.
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Thanks for clearing up the terminology. The low altitude stuff looks really fun.


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Kevin16587 said:
Interesting information. I wasn't aware they are so susceptible to turbulence. I'm sure some canopies are more stable than others, like wings, but the idea of the canopy collapsing is rather terrifying. I guess that's why many of those guys carry a reserve chute.


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Here's some good info on collapses: http://footflyer.com/PPGBibleUpdates/Chapter19/WingCollapse/handling_paraglider_wing_collapses.htm

If you live in a place where the air is smooth most of the time, and you fly a lower aspect ratio wing, collapses probably won't be much of an issue. The more thermic and turbulent it is, the more likely a collapse is. Contest pilots flying high performance wings deal with them frequently, and at altitude they can almost always be recovered from. If not, that's what the reserve parachute is for. If one happens close to the ground, that's another story.

I flew hang gliders for five years, at no time did the aircraft ever make me doubt its airworthiness. i couldn't get up often enough to maintain proficiency, so I stopped. If I were looking into flying something powered, i do think I'd want three axis controls and a fixed wing, like a Quicksilver or an Aerolite. Weight shift control works great for foot launch and winch tow hang gliders, pretty well for aerotow hang gliders, but I would want something with more control authority for a powered aircraft. On the square parachute side of things, I wouldn't care to fly anything with a higher aspect ratio than a skydiver's canopy. Even if collapses can be managed, the first time I had one I
m sure I'd land immediately and put the thing up for sale the next day.
 
I flew a non-powered one off the side of a mountain in Utah a couple times. Learning to "work" the micro-lift thermals was quite amazing - this was the first time I had ever gone UP in a parachute ! This is something for further development on my bucket list. This type of flying comes the closest to the kind of flying you experience in your dreams.
 
I used to be all about them but upon further inspection there are just too many limitations to them. It has to be about dead calm out to safely fly. After watching the guys struggle at oshkosh with the backpack models I think I would forgo them in favor of the trike model.
 
I really want to find a powered parachute to throw in the Bo for trips to the Bahamas. I think one of the best possible uses would be an afternoon just before sunset cruise down a quiet beach in the carribbean at about 20'.
 
Art VanDelay said:
I flew a non-powered one off the side of a mountain in Utah a couple times. Learning to "work" the micro-lift thermals was quite amazing - this was the first time I had ever gone UP in a parachute ! This is something for further development on my bucket list. This type of flying comes the closest to the kind of flying you experience in your dreams.
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Agree, that is why I'm now hang gliding. Silent, visibility in every direction.
 
Grum.Man said:
I used to be all about them but upon further inspection there are just too many limitations to them. It has to be about dead calm out to safely fly. After watching the guys struggle at oshkosh with the backpack models I think I would forgo them in favor of the trike model.
Click to expand...


We used to regularly fly paramotor in up to 10 knots if it wasn't gusty. Collapses, rarely an issue; when it does happen it normally reinflates again almost instantly.
 
I've always always always wanted to do this. But haven't found an area near me to learn how to do it
 
Kevin16587 said:
Interesting information. I wasn't aware they are so susceptible to turbulence. I'm sure some canopies are more stable than others, like wings, but the idea of the canopy collapsing is rather terrifying. I guess that's why many of those guys carry a reserve chute.


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Best part is you don;t have to worry about falling to your death; the meat cleaving prop will turn you into mincemeat before you hit the ground.
 
JustinD said:
I've always always always wanted to do this. But haven't found an area near me to learn how to do it
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I see you are in Florida. The guy in the video I posted mentions in one of his other videos that he trained in Florida.
 
After watching some of his videos it does look like fun! Would be awesome to just fly between some of our farms quick like that.
 
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