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Powered parachutes, sometimes called motorized parachutes or para-planes, are considered by many to be safer than typical aircraft. There are two primary ways to control a powered parachute; either by increasing or decreasing engine power, which controls the vertical rate of climb and deflects the right or left trailing edge of the parachute, thus turning the aircraft right or left. If the trailing edge of the wing is somehow pulled in on both sides at the same time, the aircraft will flare, which means it will slow and temporarily gain additional lift. Flaring is typically used to make fine adjustments in altitude when near the ground and when landing.

A motorized parachute is thought by many to be safer when compared to a normal, fixed-wing aircraft because of its stability, limited response to control inputs and resistance to stalling. The power-off glide ratio ranges anywhere from three to one, to six to one. Glide ratios vary depending on the parachute shape and size and the weight that the parachute is carrying. Although it is possible, it is very difficult to cause a powered parachute to get to a dangerous altitude, stall or have the chute collapse by means of pilot control error. Many pilots consider a chute collapse to be virtually impossibility with square wings, such as ones that powered parachutes have.

A hydro-copter is an amphibious aircraft-propelled catamaran and is considered to be a type of powered parachute equipment. The vehicle has hull similar to a boat, with small wheels and pontoon skids. An aircraft engine with a propeller and rudder pushes the hydro-copter across ice, water, snow and land, where other vehicles or aircraft simply cannot travel in such conditions.

The first patent for a powered parachute prototype was applied for on October 1, 1964, by a man named Jalbert. He described his new vehicle as a multi-cell wing and called it a parafoil. A parafoil is a non-rigid airfoil with an aerodynamic cell structure that is actually inflated by the wind. Air inflation forces the parafoil into a classic wing cross-section, which was a new parachute design. His ideas were finally registered as U.S. patent 3,285,546 in November of 1966. But, a motorized version similar to this design had already flown in 1964. In March of 1981, Steve Snyder, Adrian Vandenberg and Daniel Thompson created the P-1 powered parachute. Their first flight only lasted around twenty five to thirty seconds, mainly because the paraglider they used suffered from torque problems. It took two more years to fix the problems, and in 1983, the first commercial paragliders were produced.

You can get very simple versions of the motorized parachute that consists of a backpack-sized mounted motor with a propeller and can be useful as a replacement for all terrain vehicles on difficult terrain. Powered parachutes are a versatile tool for both recreational and practical uses.

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Filed under: Hobbies on November 20th, 2009