[Rick Masters]

[JoeF]

PoweredParachuteHandbook001.JPG (71.49 KiB) Viewed 3742 times

Full handbook:
http://www.easyflight.com/sportpilotpro ... 083-29.pdf
Powered Parachute Flying Handbook

[[Turn off power or run out of gas and what has one? A parachute. A gliding kite system.]]

[wingspan33]

Joe,

That's very good, but is there a similar FAA publication that recognizes the device excluding the motor?

And Rick,

A Blimp? Wait a minute, could PGs be lumped in with FAA's definition(s) of a blimp? I.e., "Inflated" Cloth?

[JoeF]

Wingspan33, not yet
=============================================
While searching:
FAA
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policie ... _handbook/
Glider Handbook

Otto Lilienthal is featured in the introduction of the handbook.

Glossary of the book:
G
Glider. A heavier-than-air aircraft that is supported in flight
by the dynamic reaction of the air against its lifting surfaces,
and whose free flight does not depend on an engine.
\============
[[Comment by JoeF: "supported in flight" would be a stretch during fall under collapsed canopy; when PG is collapsed, then it would be a stretch even to call such a parachute at that time; when a soaring parachute is inflated and gliding, then such would be gliding kite system and thus a glider mechanically; but when the system is collapsed and falling, then gliding and kiting fairly well nearly zeros out; piloting nearly zeros out at such collapsed time. Soaring parachutes in collapsed fall sometimes reach for a reliable rescue parachute that does a better job for arresting the fall .... the fall that has killed too many humans. Trouble is, collapse of the soaring parachute occurring in the zone where an otherwise dependable parachute would be nice IF ENOUGH VERTICAL DROP would be available; counting surprise, reaction time, and successful deployment of the rescue chute: there ends up being a proven Zone of Nothing Helps; parachutal is not available in such zone for the collapsed soaring parachute. The collapsed wad PG at such time is not gliding helpfully, is not kiting helpfully, and might thus be considered as non-aircraft, non-glider, non-parachute, but a falling mass in the special zone where rescue parachutes won't open on time. Sad thing is: Ordinary airs have turbulence that will steadily collapse soaring parachutes within the zones implicit in RM's described Paraglider Dead Man's Curve or PDMC ] Does the FAA ever want a device such as a soaring parachute even to be considered as an aircraft within their auspices? A device that becomes too often while in the air a device that cannot be piloted with authority and that too often becomes a non-glider, a non-kite, a device where not even a rescue parachute will save the day? A device that has a very substantial PDMC? States having an interest in keeping citizens might take a another look at what is going on in the PG world. ]]]

While in the air:
Blimps are designed to stay inflated.
Inflatoplane is designed to stay inflated.
Kytoons are designed to stay inflated.
Balloons are designed to stay inflated.

[wingspan33]

The only thing that is designed to stay inflated, regarding paragliders, . . . is the occupant's ego.

[Rick Masters]

Speaking of ego...

Helpless paraglider's life destroyed by evil city ordinance
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/ ... 20281.html

"This has destroyed my life," Gibson said. He also took issue with the fact he is the person named in the court documents, arguing he is "not a person" as defined by common law.
-----------------

This raises the question: If he is not a person, and the paraglider is not an aircraft carrying a person, is it really an aircraft? If not, then no law has been broken.

Hang glider pilots worldwide are joined at the hip with these idiots thanks to their biwingual organizations.

[wingspan33]

I took a look at that story and was bothered by the reporter's comment, near the end of the story, that paragliders are also called hang gliders. I submitted a correction with an explanation of why and how they are NOT the same.

Also, I would agree, the subject of the story (a renegade powered parachute pilot) is a bit on the side. And not just because he flies a powered parachute!

Speaking of ego...

Helpless paraglider's life destroyed by evil city ordinance
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/ ... 20281.html

"This has destroyed my life," Gibson said. He also took issue with the fact he is the person named in the court documents, arguing he is "not a person" as defined by common law.
-----------------

This raises the question: If he is not a person, and the paraglider is not an aircraft carrying a person, is it really an aircraft? If not, then no law has been broken.

Hang glider pilots worldwide are joined at the hip with these idiots thanks to their biwingual organizations.

[Rick Masters]

they are NOT the same.

Technically speaking, when you have a non-fixed center of gravity suspended below an airfoil, you have a paraglider. It doesn't matter what the airfoil is made of or even if it has an airframe or not. Joe Faust explained this to me several years ago and, like you, I was quite resistant to the idea that we hang glider pilots shared, if only in scientific definition, a common origin with paragliders.

If you go back in the literature, you will find NASA's first Rogallo described by their engineers as a "parawing." Sad but true. It's like finding out your beloved German Shepard has some Chow in his genes.


Your government hard at work developing the sport of hang gliding in 1962. (Count the grins.)
Actual caption: The crew and pilot of the Paresev 1-A (Paraglider Research Vehicle) and the Stearman Sport Biplane.
http://www.space.com/15609-hang-gliding ... sev-1.html

But what was really hilarious was that the soaring parachutists on Paragliding Forum were incapable of grasping the idea that hang gliders were paragliders and could only respond to Joe - one of free-flight's earliest simple fabric paragliding pioneers - with personal attacks. They were offended that their Chow might have a bit of German Shepard. Look at the "negative Karma" Joe received trying to - very politely - explain this to them! (I guess their concussed brains had already been exhausted by trying to invent a separate, redundant, confusing and unnecessary language for parachutal dynamics.)

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtop ... sc&start=0

[Bob Kuczewski]

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=42918&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Here are the first two posts from that topic:

paraglidingforum_joe.png (95.28 KiB) Viewed 3708 times

Joe Faust was pioneering hang gliding when most of them were in diapers. Technical issues aside, the punk attitude of many paragliding pilots does a disservice to their sport. Notice that the post implies that Joe doesn't have any friends or hobbies and does not enjoy food or real people or being outdoors:

Joe, take a break eh buddy. Go make friends, drink beer, find a hobby besides flaming and trolling - theres a whole new world out there outside the internet. Take a step outside, its not so bad...sun, food and yes real people

This is the kind of rhetoric that's rewarded with "karma" on the PG forum.

[Rick Masters]

To some of us, the tribal, punk attitude of many soaring parachutists defines their sport.

It takes a certain kind of individual to bet his life on a failed concept of aerodynamics where the aircraft can suddenly "vanish" and drop him onto the ground at 50 mph or more. The punk attitude plays a major role. Quiet, intelligent reflection. common sense and study do not.

As for Joe, Joe is a treasure. We are lucky to have him here at U.S. Hawks. The difference between the members of U.S. Hawks and Paragliding Forum could not possibly be more striking. It is the difference between a cold beer and stale piss.