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Taxiing and ground handling (with inflatable parachute)
This lesson must be done in no wind. Maximum allowable winds are a headwind of two mph, crosswind of one mph and no tailwind. If you do not have a windsock or airspeed indicator you can check wind speed and direction by throwing grass or dust in the air and following its direction. Casual walking speed is about two mph.
Install the parachute on your powered parachute in accordance with the proper Parachute Assembly Instructions. Pre-flight the aircraft, top off the fuel tank, warm up the engine, (always warm the engine up with the parachute in the parachute bag) get into your flying gear and go to the runway. Place the powered parachute into takeoff position on the runway.
Spread the parachute out behind the powered parachute. (Lay the parachute out with the leading edge away from the powered parachute and the trailing edge close to the powered parachute and the top of the parachute is down, with the points where the suspension lines attached to the parachute visible). Check the suspension and control lines for abrasion, snags or tangles. Hold the front of the parachute at shoulder height. Pull the suspension lines to the powered parachute snug and the leading edge slightly taught to help you make sure the lines are straight. Make sure the suspension lines are not loosely hanging from the support cleats on the fan guard. Push the powered parachute forward to lighten up the suspension lines before starting engine. A good rule is to push the powered parachute forward until the leading edge rolls over and is on top of trailing edge of parachute.
Start the engine and pull the throttle back toward you smoothly to ¾ power. Even though you have given a lot of power, the powered parachute won’t start moving very fast. Although light, the parachute is difficult to get moving. At this point it is at right angles to your direction of travel and has maximum drag. There is roughly one half tone of air between the parachute and you, and you have to push it out of the way to get going. Steer straight with the steering lever.
At roughly 10 mph, you’ve traveled 20 or 30’. The parachute will inflate and rise up overhead. Once it rotates overhead it will lose most of its drag and the powered parachute will begin to accelerate more rapidly. Smoothly push the throttle forward and shut off the engine. Grab the steering lines one in each hand at the pulleys located on the outriggers. Pull them toward the front wheel as much as you can. This will cause the parachute to deflate quicker and cause the parachute to fall behind the powered parachute. If you do not pull the steering lines, the parachute may fall in front or to the side of you and make preparations for the next take off more time consuming. The powered parachute will now roll to a stop and the parachute will be behind you. Never stop the powered parachute or slow the parachute to a speed slow enough to come down without shutting the engine off. If a line or part of the parachute settles into the prop while it’s running, even idling, major damage will result. Repeat this step until you get a feel for how the parachute comes off the ground and lifts up overhead. As soon as the parachute comes overhead, you must shut the engine off during this step.
At any time in this learning process you make a mistake and apply to much power the powered parachute will quickly lift off the ground. If this happens you are not yet ready to fly, shut the engine off immediately. The powered parachute will settle back to the ground with a bounce. You must not fly until you the powered parachute have been thoroughly checked out. You must get used to using very small (smooth) throttle movements to control the powered parachute. If you are making quick rapid movements to the throttle to accelerate then you are in danger of lifting off and reaching a lot of altitude before you are ready. Go back to the beginning of the runway and repeat, except this time when the parachute rotates overhead and you feel the powered parachute speed up on the ground, back off the throttle so that you stop accelerating, but keep enough power to keep the speed at 10-15 mph (about ½ throttle). This step requires that you go no faster than 15 mph. Do not go any faster or you will start flying. The powered parachute and you are not ready for flying at this point. Look up at the parachute. Does it look nice and square? Sometimes during initial inflation, a front corner will get folded under. This is called end cell closure. If this has happened, push both foot steering bars firmly and hold full out on both foot bars to “pump” the fold out. Meanwhile, keep the powered parachute going straight down the runway.
The reason to “pump” both sides (although the parachute may be only folded closed on one side) are to avoid steering the parachute and the craft. If you pump one side only, you’ll steer the parachute that way causing it to go to one side and possibly turn you and the powered parachute over. If the corner stays folded the parachute will not have enough lift on that side and if you take off you are going to make a large turn whether you want to or not. Example: If the left side of the parachute is folded under and you lift off the ground you will have a left turn, depending on how many cells are closed on the left side will determine how severe the turn will be. In a severe turn you will have no little or no control. Just imagine if you have trees or buildings on your left side what will happen next.
Look up at the parachute and get used to how it looks. The suspension lines must be straight without any twists and the control lines must be straight and must not be wrapped around the suspension lines. The control lines must move freely when the foot steering bars are pushed. Don’t get so involved that you forget where you are going. Taxi the length of the runway, shut off the engine, grab and pull the steering lines, and roll to a stop.
When you pack the parachute up at the end of your flying, the parachute can sometimes get tangled or get flipped inside out and have the control lines wrapped around the suspension lines and the suspension lines twisted. It is very important that you fully inspect all of the things mentioned above when laying the parachute out for the next flight and also when the parachute inflates overhead at the beginning of your take off roll. 150-300’ is about the average distance that it will take you to accelerate, get the parachute overhead, inspect the lines, and accelerate to flight speed. It may take you the full length of the runway the first couple of times.
If there’s no wind, you can turn the aircraft around and do the next step going in the opposite direction. If there was a bit of a tailwind you’ll have to bring it back to the other end of the runway. Rule number one in aviation is never take off or land in a tailwind. The increased speed necessary to overcome the wind, increases the speed and distances required for safe operation.
Repeat at gradually, increasing speeds. Don’t go fast enough to fly. The powered parachute will take off very quickly if you give it a lot power. Move the throttle lever slowly and gently. There are ways to tell you are about to fly besides taking off and then going back a notch. When you are about to fly there is very little weight on the wheels and very little traction. The ground will feel fluid. You’ll skate along on top of it. Another indication that you’re almost at takeoff speed is that the front wheel will come up off the ground. When the wheels are very light, front wheel steering won’t influence your direction much. With the front wheel of the ground, steering will be controlled entirely with the foot steering bars attached to the parachute. This step is to teach control in this transitional stage. The parachute is supporting most of your weight. You aren’t having to work in three dimensions yet, so concentrate on directional control. The next lesson gives you a taste of altitude control. Before you get to it, directional control should feel natural and precise. Before you leave this lesson you should be able to throttle up, rotate the parachute, pump open end cells and taxi down the runway short of actually taking off. Sometime during this step you may have to add more fuel.
When taxiing in transition stage it is important not to steer the powered parachute one way while using the foot steering bars to steer the parachute the other. In some conditions (particularly crosswinds and rough, soft fields) it would be possible to pull the powered parachute over if the parachute was too far to one side, or to drag one side of the parachute on the ground. In the air of course you won’t be able to steer the powered parachute in the opposite direction of the parachute. The powered parachute will simply hand under the parachute. When you feel you have mastered Lesson 3, either call it a day or take a break. Your decision will depend on weather, the amount of daylight left and how tired you are. Don’t push yourself too hard out of a determination to learn to fly by Tuesday. I guarantee you’ll learn faster by quitting while you’re ahead than trying to do too much to soon. If you’re tired and you go home you can come back tomorrow. If you’re tired and you try to continue your training, if you’re lucky you can spend tomorrow doing minor repairs. If you’re unlucky everything will smoothly and you’ll have learned a bad habit. You’ll have learned that you can fly at a level beyond your ability and get away with it. If you develop this habit, you will soon be doing major repairs, not only to your powered parachute, but to yourself. Review all the previous instructions in this manual between steps. Certainly repeat this section until driving the powered parachute seems very comfortable to you.
The powered parachute is easy to inflate if a little care is taken to realize that several different phases occur during the inflation sequence. At the start the parachute is placed behind the vehicle. The lines must be straight and the parachute placed so that the parachute is folded in half with the leading and trailing edges together. Stretch the parachute out so that the parachute is on the ground neatly. When you start to accelerate, use about ¾ throttle. When the parachute is on the ground there is no drag and you will start to accelerate rapidly.
To review what is happening, we will start with the parachute on the ground and the engine at idle. As soon as you apply power and start moving the initial movement will have no drag and you will start to accelerate rapidly. As soon as the parachute comes off of the ground you will feel a jerk and instantly acquire maximum drag. The parachute is now directly behind you and is not flying. The parachute is at maximum drag and no lift, as well as being in the unstable air behind the powered parachute that is being caused by the propeller. A lot of power is necessary to overcome this maximum drag region.
If the parachute remains in this area for any length of time the parachute may become twisted or may flip upside down. A wide angle rear view mirror mounted on the front fork may help you to see the parachute behind you and help you to determine if this happens.
It is not to be used to see if your parachute is fully inflated. You need to have direct eye contact with the parachute when it is rotated overhead.
As the parachute rotates upward, the drag quickly goes away. The transition from maximum drag and no lift, to some drag and a lot of lift comes relatively quickly and the power needed to clear the high drag region will now cause rapid acceleration. You must idle down by pushing the throttle forward to maintain a slow taxi speed.
As the parachute transitions overhead, the drag will reduce and lift will increase. Reduce power to 50-60% to maintain a taxi speed of 15 mph. Push the foot bars all the way out and hold until all of the cells have fully inflated. Once full inflation ahs occurred, release the foot bars and inspect the parachute and lines. If everything checks out, accelerate to take off speed.
Now that the parachute is overhead, you now have two vehicles to drive! One is the craft that you are sitting in that is being driven like a car on the ground while the other is the parachute that is overhead already flying. The ground steering is through the hand stick and the front wheel, the parachute is now being steered through the foot bars.
The parachute will remain flying at a very slow speed. As long as you are above 8 mph the parachute will remain overhead. If you get busy and slow down too much the parachute will fall behind you. If this happens, shut the engine off and start all over again. If you taxi at too high a speed the parachute will start to lift the vehicle and the ground steering will not work. 10-15 mph is the right taxi speed. You will be safely above the sped necessary to keep the parachute overhead and safely below flight speed with full ground steering.
It is critical that you look at the parachute each and every time. Verify that the parachute is fully inflated, all of the suspension lines are straight with no twists or tangles. Push on both foot bars to verify that you have the full range of travel with no bind. If you do this while you are taxiing you have the advantage of stopping and repairing any problems. You cannot do that while in flight. |
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Quaker State Powered Parachutes
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