Powerchute popularity?

[cjkrit]

Why are there so few Powerchutes flying in South Africa? Its so relaxing and most probably the safest way of aviation. Its wing packs up easily and quickly into a bag and with trike goes onto a small trailer[ no help is needed ]. No hangar needed- its goes into your garage at home. Almost impossible to stall or spin and your hands are free to take photos of record video. For sightseeing from the air nothing beats it, because everything happen so slowly. The operating cost is very low.

[Trikenut]

Hi,
I like powered parachutes
I think the reason we don't fly them here in CT is bcause of the wind and weather!
It's a pity because i would love to fly them!

[Morph]

There are about 4 guys who fly regularly from Dolphin Beach here in CT. They are slow and very wind dependent. They are also not completely safe, we lost a pilot about a year ago flying down along the coast from EL to CT. He impacted the beach, was killed outright and the waves and sand covered his body. It took weeks of searching before they found him.

A Rig is going to cost you about R50K, and there are seperate wings and engine sizes for solo and dual flight. I understand you cannot fly a dual rig solo, the motor is too powerful and the wing has too much lift. So if you do want to share your sport you will need 2 rigs, R100K. You could get a really nice 2 seat trike for that price, that flies farther, faster, higher and you can fly it solo or dual.

If I had to think of the ratio of microlights to powerparachutes, you are looking at about 100:1

[RV4ker (RIP)]

I fancy the ppc with the cart below it. Some have cart which can be connected to trike wing or chute...

Anywhere 1 could go for a flippie in Big Smoke...

PS
Why is it that at the coast (where both trike and PPC) are most fun you can hardly fly them because of the K@K WX.

[cjkrit]

I hear what you say- no method of flying is absolutely safe. If you respect the weather I still maintain a powerchute to be VERY safe. The info on the wings and engines are not correct. The price is not near the R50k mentioned. Also you do not need seperate wings for solo or dual - you can fly either way with no adjustments what so ever with same wing.

The trike flies faster and further - I dont think any ceiling on altitude. World record in powerchute is 18000+ ft.
For photography and things like game viewing and counting the powerchute is tops.
Sightseeing from the air cannot be better.

What type of flying gets done more frequently- longdistance trips or that takeoff for a flip and coming in to land few minutes later - all within 10 miles from the airstrip.
Ratio is most probably even higher than what was mentioned [100:1] - therefor my question- why so few powerchutes?

Regards

[ZS-NEL]

Check out the July issue of African Pilot. Some cool power Parachute pics and story.

[Renier]

Ther's one BEEEEEG difference---with powerchuting you are chuting, not flying

[KFA]

Eish. after a guy turned his upside down on take off I am very sceptical. Was a paratrike with a 582 motor. Experienced pilot. The wing tucked in on take off and he headed for the hard stuff. Luckily for him he was only 20ft up and his trike was caged so the cage protected him. Resulted in a very bruised ego, very damaged paratrike and a not very convinced spectator(me).

[cjkrit]

The wing tucked in on take off ...

What was the weather conditions like on that day?
If the wing tucked in I wonder if it was properly inflated in the first place. The very important drill before lift-off: LOC
L - all lines free of any knots and tangles
O - chute exactly overhead
C - all cells of wing fully inflated.

[KFA]

Was a beuatifull calm morning. Wing inflated and dunno what went wrong but he went down like a brick. Totally cured me of something without a rigid wing. In SA the weather is to unpredictable to fly only good weather craft. My personal opinion

[Morph]

The info on the wings and engines are not correct. The price is not near the R50k mentioned. Also you do not need seperate wings for solo or dual - you can fly either way with no adjustments what so ever with same wing.

http://www.papteam.com/
http://www.macpara.com/en/paragliders.html
http://www.xplorer.co.za/

From what I see here is you get a max carrying weight for your wing and max capability of the motor. There definately appears to be specific Tandem models. As far as engines go, they average around 100cc solo and the 200cc dual

[cjkrit]

I think here is big confusion. My question involves powered parachute [ small trike with 2 seats and Rotax 582 etc like dream machine from Buckeye]. The posts from Morph talks about powered paragliders [the backpack thing - some people combine them with cart]. These are 2 completely different concepts. The websites mentioned by Morph all refer to powered paragliders.

See http://www.buckeyeaviation.com and many others.

Hope this will clear up some of the misunderstanding.

[Low Level]

Friend of mine - PPL - is taking up PPG now. I posted the question why parashute, and not trike, or microlight, cause his rig is in the same $$ bracket.

His reasoning. He travels quite a bit, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia etc. and he can throw the rig in a Venter and take it with. Where ever he camps, pull out the PPG, and while the kettle is on the fire, check out the scenery. From what I understand, the papertrail not interfering with flying where ever when ever.

His talking Makgadi-kgadi, Okavango etc. Now that to me is a perfect reason and the perfect tool for the job.

P.S. The backpack thingy.

[Morph]

Sorry

I only know of one of those here and it is not flying. The Trike section is standing at Delta 200. Flying-i is the man to talk to.

[KFA]

The one that pranged looks exactly like the pic except that it was blue. started running, What gives you the idea I don't like them.