Powered parachute
Equipped with a 5-15 gallon fuel tank (depending on the engine and weight limitations), PPCs can typically be flown for about three hours before requiring refueling.
PPCs are considered by some to be safer than normal fixed-wing aircraft because of their inherent stability, limited response to control inputs, and stall resistance.
In a powered parachute, flaring refers to pushing on both of the steering bars simultaneously, which causes the left and right trailing edges of the canopy to be pulled downwards at the same time.
The result of this is that the airframe moves forward of the wing (on the transverse axis), airspeed is reduced, the angle of attack increases, and the aircraft temporarily gains additional lift.
Although possible, it is difficult to cause the aircraft to get into a dangerous attitude, stall, or chute collapse by means of pilot control inputs.
Also, since the slow-moving PPC, like a helicopter, is particularly well equipped to fly safely near the ground, special care must be taken to avoid power lines, trees, and other low-level terrain obstacles.
Many pilots choose and prefer to fly from back yard strips, small airports, and mowed hay fields.
Powered parachutes have operated in an observation platform role by police departments, and have assisted with suspect captures, river rescues, critical infrastructure over-flights, crime scene photos, narcotics enforcement and crime suppression, at a small fraction of the cost of a police helicopter.
[8][9][10] The I-Fly Maverick was a street-legal experimental certified aircraft designed to provide emergency medical services to the Huaorani indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
[11] However, a PPC is considered an ideal aircraft for initially scouting animal and herd locations in the days or weeks prior to a hunting season, due to its naturally slower flight characteristics.
With outright bans by many states disallowing UAV use in any situation related to hunting and wildlife harassment, PPCs are considered by some to be a more animal-friendly and cost-effective alternative.
After World War II, sport jumping became a recreational activity, and started with the round parachutes available at that time, ranging in size from 20 to 30 feet in diameter.
In 1968, Lowell Farrand attempted just this, and flew a motorized version called the “Irish Flyer I”, developed by Dr. John Nicolaides at Notre Dame University.
[13] Unfortunately, heavy engines, as well as limitations in the availability of strong and light parafoil and frame materials, contributed to making the concept difficult to execute.
Aeronautical engineer Steve Snyder was implementing and perfecting the use of the square ram-air parafoils, and decided to pursue the idea and objective of creating a safe and simple aircraft that even amateurs could launch and fly easily.
It was Snyder's idea to take skydiving's newest parafoil designs and add newer (and lighter) engines, while Vandenburg's skills as a machinist were critical to building the cockpit frame that was completed in March 1981.
Daniel Thompson, an ultralight-aircraft designer and small-engine mechanic, was brought onto the project three months later to identify a power plant for the aircraft.
Snyder, at 150 lbs., finally tried easing the power away from full throttle at take-off, and managed to fly the craft to a height of 40 to 50 feet.
Many revisions were made during those test flights, including the addition of a vertical stabilizer, flaps, ailerons, and optimization of the parafoil trim.
As a result, a more anhedral (downward curve) design was applied and ribs were added to the parafoil, ultimately giving the aircraft more stability and pressurization and solving the control issue.
