Was at the beach yesterday and saw a couple of powered parachute ultralights flying above the coast. Was kind of intrigued. Anyone every flown one and care to comment on cost, safety, and general impressions?

jason

I have looked at buying one. I like the "Fresh Breeze" model. You will spend about $8k for everything. They look like a lot of fun. Now, they just need to make one with two engines!

Paraglider

I talked to a guy at my local drome that has one and he said that it can cost from 6K to 12K depending on options and chute size. If I ever find that I can't afford to maintain a GA plane, that might be a cheap way to at least haul myself into the air. Unfortunately, you can't take others along to share the experience.

There are a couple of guys near here that launch these from the side of the road just out of town. Fly for about an hour or so just before sunset, or just after sunrise. Looks pretty cool.

Amazingly enough, the cops leave them alone.

I flew one several years ago. The type I flew is the kind with the engine mounted to the seat, trike landing gear, etc. Some folks also refer to the smaller ones where you wear the engine as powered parachutes.

The type I flew has a Rotax engine, and those are considered pretty bullet-proof. You can get two-seaters, so with the advent of the Sport Pilot license you actually can take a passenger up even if you don't have a PPL.

They're pretty easy to fly - I did the "ground school", training flight, and solo flight in the span of about four hours.

A good friend has one. The key is keep it in wind less than 5 knots.

FAA has a good "book" for the operation of them, its on their website.

They are a lot of fun, but don't plan on going anywhere with them. take off at 28mph, cruise at 28mph, and land at 28mph.

If you have a backyard 500 feet long thats the best. Seems like more fun when you can pull it out of the garage after dinner and take a ride.

I fly them all the time my dad has 3 of them if you are ever in Midland, TX I'll let you get a good look at one.

I have a friend who is in AZ now training with one of the powered parachute big shots. He says there is quite a bit of skill involved. One of those skills is learning to "fly the chute". That is, letting the wind carry the chute into the air and being able to control it for a safe takeoff without having he thing go nuts and choke you or something like that. (he had a scare where one of the cords was wrapping around his neck during the process of flying the chute).

Once you learn some chute control, it's time to try it with the engine. Which is somewhat heavy and cumbersome I think.

I have asked him for some iPhone video ... I'm sure he will comply .. and I will post!

Yes ... he thinks the ultimate is to fly it from the back yard ... and no wind or very light wind is best.

My friend designed and built a cool 2 seat Powered Parachute. It was really cool!