Flying With Powered Parachutes

The wish and urge to fly has been part of the individual state for centuries. When parachutes, para-sails, helicopters and airplanes were created, human beings took to the skies and have hardly touched down on the ground since. Motorized parachutes were invented as a way for us to take to the skies, getting new heights, while gliding softly and effortlessly. Powered parachute gear can fly for about three hours at elevations of five hundred to fifteen hundred feet. They allow human beings to pretend for a few moments that they are soaring birds.

The major dangers that may be faced while flying powered parachutes are usually related with obstacles and wind. You should never try a journey in winds exceeding ten to fifteen mph or in any form of breezy conditions. Some wind hazards you may have never careful before comprise terrain-induced air turbulence called rotors. This is basically trees, mountains and other natural obstacles that can bother the flow of the wind.

A hydro-copter is an amphibious aircraft-propelled catamaran and is considered to be a kind of motorized 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 primary 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 in fact 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 motorized parachute. Their first flight only lasted about twenty five to thirty seconds, mainly since 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 easy versions of the powered parachute that consists of a backpack-sized mounted motor with a propeller and can be useful as a substitute for all terrain vehicles on hard terrain. Motorized parachutes are a versatile device for both recreational and practical uses.

Article Source: http://tk4.org

Cindee Ross loves parachuting and shares that love with many around her. For a wealth of resources on quality parachutes, parachuting equipment and gears, extreme skydiving sports, and where to go to for that perfect skydiving vacation visit Parachuting Paradise.

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