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It seems that one question predominates the curious, the inquisitive when I am confronted by these suspicious human ‘ground-thumpers’ after they see me flying my powered parachute: "How safe is that thing?" Now…for or a brief second, after I hear that echoing question, a quiet sigh comes over me as a strain to fine some funny answer…but then, how do I respond (the same way as always)… I simply say that the PPC is the only aircraft that I feel I can fly everyday, and still promise the Wife & Kids that I will be home every night.

Obviously the public is constantly asking about or referring to the safety record of my ‘slow & low’ flying machine. I guess that ultralights still have that resounding public perception that they are a very dangerous type of aircraft. A perception that I trust (and hope) the Sport Pilot movement will soon vanquish!

"So, are these things dangerous?", the spectators ask again. Well, I sincerely believe that with the proper training, a powered parachute is just as safe as an ATV or a dirt-bike. And Mom’s & Dad’s everywhere seem to have no problem buying these off-road vehicles every day for their kids. But let’s focus more closely and more specifically back to the point of this article…if the powered parachute is so safe, and if a ‘rock’ can easily land one, when do PPC pilots have a few incidents during their landings? Ok, let’s see if we can sort out this issue…

The first thing that comes to mind regarding PPC landings is the image of my new students on-final, during their first solo and the debriefing conversation we have after their new found confidence, ego building, first flight. The human student always seems to be OVERLY concerned with the landing, no matter how much time we spend discussing this prior to their first flight.

(Now from an Instructor’s point of view, my anxiety during a student’s first solo is created during the take-off; my anxiety comes from watching the student building the wing from the ‘bed-sheet’ – canopy - that lies behind them as they begin their take-off roll. I have somehow established a level of quiet comfort after the student is in the air and established in the field pattern. From my observations, there is more potential for problems during the take-off – during the building of the wing for the new PPC pilot. So, once the student is well into the field pattern, at an altitude of 500 feet or so, I begin to feel at ease. I don’t seem to have any stress about their landings. Perhaps, after all, that is why we instructors here at our training center have developed the motto during the last 6 years of working with PPC students of: "We never leave a student in the air". So I should feel comfortable right – cause with every student landing our motto moves from a quiet statement, to a singing song to a large chorus! PPC landings are easy. Oh, I’m sorry, I seem to be moving away from the subject again…where was I…oh yes, the fear that the student has for the landing.)

People – these things you refer to as humans – seem to have a natural fear, an innate sense of ill, as the ground seems to rise up to meet them. Hence, I have learned that landing is not a natural human trait. We need to build confidence in the student, for them to overcome this instinct that prohibits aviation comfort during ‘final’. So, how does this natural fear relate to the incidents that do occur during a PPC landing. Well, the anxiety of landing, I believe drives the student to overcompensate the handling of the controls during the landing approach. They forget the benefits of a slow, smooth throttle movement, and they now want the powered parachute to react immediately, like a Corvette, to their control inputs. But alas, the PPC is not built to react like a racket in the hands of a pro-tennis player. This is a machine that needs to be finessed. The PPC needs to be constantly stroked… slowly and smoothly. Aviation landing is a learned skill, not a natural ability like running or throwing a ball. Landing is a learned art. Therefore the solution to the anxiety of landing: Training. Training that takes the student through a series of small simple steps and focuses their attention to things beyond the rising ground.

Try the following the next time you feel uncomfortable with your landing (or if you have a student that is anxious about their landings). As you approach the field during your descent, focus on a constant, straight & level flight, at a low altitude over the runways (upwind); instead of focusing on the ‘rising’ field. Try and level out your PPC at five feet off the surface, and from there, I trust that your aircraft will, itself, find an agreeable method of smoothly and softly touching Mother Earth.

But let’s back up a little and start back at the first step: the initial descent. Begin by bringing yourself down from the pattern altitude slowly. Let’s say that you started your first solo descent at 500 feet plus – and that you stayed at that altitude and waited until most of the butterflies have left your first solo stomach. Now, you are ready to descend. Stay in the field pattern; bring your aircraft down to a 200 foot pattern altitude. From here, you can intensity your work on coordinated turns (i.e., using the throttle to maintain altitudes through the turns). If you feel OK with your turns and your throttle control from 200 feet, then bring yourself down to 100 feet, still staying in the pattern.

Get comfortable again with your throttle control and your coordinated turns. Then move your field pattern down to 50 feet. Now, once you (or your student) are comfortable at a constant pattern altitude of 50 feet, remind yourself, that NO turn should be started below 50 feet, and then during your upwind leg, bring the PPC down to 20 over the field. Move your concentration to the height of the aircraft over the field, move your thoughts to a smooth and slow throttle control – this will tend to remove your innate uneasiness with the approaching ground. Repeat to yourself that if the wheels do touch the ground, to back off the throttle, ground steer down the center of the runway, check your wing for a L.O.C (Lines are clear, cells are Open and the wing is Centered) and then climb back up to a 50 foot pattern before beginning your crosswind leg turn.

Once you get a feel for flying over the upwind leg at 20 feet or so we can lower the height a little during the next pass. Instructor’s note: Please feel free to give the student feedback on their height – some students do have a hard time judging distance from the ground. General note: This exercise is not to focus on exactly maintaining 20 feet – or 10 feet or whatever low altitude during the straight pass over the upwind leg, it is however about maintaining a constant altitude, via throttle control, down the field. Once you are comfortable with your control during the previous low pass, ask yourself to come down to half the previous height during the next series of upwind leg passes. And again, remind yourself about how to handle the aircraft if the wheels do touch (re-read above for the details if you have forgotten). At this point, few new pilots (or even old pilots) will be able to maintain a lower altitude. The PPC’s wheel will start to touch down on these next passes. And that’s OK, that is perfectly OK, for now what you have done is improved your throttle control and removed the anxiety for landing by re-focusing your mind.

The next problem I see with new PPC pilots is that they want to rush the landing after they complete their initial training. To address this situation is simply a matter of having been taught good techniques to landing during the training, so that reminders is all that is needed for the student to improve their landings. Reminders such as…

Target fixation becomes a mind-directional-magnet that can lead to embarrassment and bent tubes for many new pilots. Human nature will unconsciously steer the controls toward the object that a person is focused on. And what are most new pilots looking at during the landing – the fence, the tree, maybe even the flag pole. So, if you, as a novice, are watching the fence line, then more than likely you will soon be apart of that fence-line. Have the awareness to fixate on a target down the center of the field (runway). Pick a point on the field that you think will be your stopping point – the position where you will be pulling down your wing. And focus on that spot if you find your visual fixation moving to other things. Target fixation is the most common cause for ‘bumping’ up against obstacles during a landing.

Not having enough room after your wheels touch-down to casually reach-out and pull the wing down via the steering lines is another potential problem. The fence line, the tree line is too close once you begin your ground taxi and hence you decide to use that "cartooned-tried-and-true stop" – the ‘Fred Flintstone’ Stop! This method of stopping is the probably the major cause of lower leg injuries in powered parachute community. Why do we men (cause I have only seen men do this) why do we men believe that we could possible have the leg strength to stop 800 pounds plus of rolling aircraft with the simple extension of our feet?

Perhaps this is the best reason to install a brake on your unit. Of course, without a brake, you still do have 1000 lbs plus of resistances to your forward motion – as the wing is pulled down behind your cart and hence takes a similar position of a dragster’s parachute braking system. And for non-short fields, our parachute drag is all that most of us need to ease our PPC’s to a stop. But to prevent lower leg injuries – it takes more than a chute behind us, it takes pilot discipline! It requires discipline to resist the ‘Fred Flintstone’ foot-dragging action.

Solution to the short landing field: Check your approach. Is it too shallow? Are you floating too far down the field? Is there too little room left in the field to be safe? If so, statistics tell us that aborting the landing and modestly doing a ‘go-around’ is the better part of valor. We do not need to take the macho approach to prove our foolishness.

When I tell my students that indeed a ‘rock can easily land a PPC’, I do not feel that I am being silly or even obnoxious. Perhaps what I should say is that either a rock or a trained human can consistently & safely land a powered parachute.

Now in closing, please let me add a few, somewhat related editorial lines, since we are talking about fields, landings and incidents. There is a major trend of the people in our great land of becoming sue (law suit) crazed. Whether this movement was started by a few ‘vulture’ type attorneys or from the public believing that they can become rich-quick via the insurance companies or via those who have found financial success as a result of their labored efforts – this is not my point. But my point is that many unfortunate splinter trends have resulted from the recent surge of law suits. One splintered trend for instance… our PPC club just lost the use of it fourth leased property for the same "splintered trend" reason – not because a club member did something silly or irritable, not because anyone got hurt and not because we ‘pissed-off’ someone – but just because a friend or an attorney mentioned to our landowner what a huge risk they were taking by letting our flying club use their land for our PPC flight park. And even though our club pays dues to furnish insurance to the landowner – well, it just can’t be enough insurance anymore. Law suits of hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars now only seem to cover the lawyer’s fees. So people want to list everyone, everyone with any $$’s at all on the suit. So, in the cases of aviation, even the landowners are being sued, and yes, even the company that constructed the fence 25 years ago (if their company is still around and successful) is being listed for damages in the suit. And why? Because most people that are trying to find a free financial ride on the shirt-tails of an attorney need to suck every dollar from everyone, so that there are still a few pennies left for them after the attorney’s fees. Therefore, the "splinter trend" result in my example is that no one, especially landowners now want to take the risk of providing or leasing land to anyone in aviation. And then it follows, that us fun flyers, us ultralighters that do not have the speed to safely merge into the world of airports, are losing our privilege to fly, we are losing our ability to get into the air. We are losing our privilege to fly not by FAA regulations, and not by illegal or stupid acts of our own, but by the DAMNed sue crazed people of this nation! God bless lawyers – because I sure don’t have any good thoughts for the few scavenger types that are giving the whole legal industry a bad name.   It is time that America got back to a Man’s Word³ and a Handshake!  And to stop trying to find a ‘free-ride’ on the shirt-tails of a lawyer!

Ok, I’m done. Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest. I cannot say that I feel any better, but at least now you will understand why steam will start to rise from the top of my head and my ears, the next time I am at an ultralight fly-in (perhaps doing a Sport Pilot or safety seminar) and someone in the flight park bends an axle or something similar and the words I hear coming from the pilot or the pilot’s spouse are: "Well, you may have sprained your ankle too, maybe we should sue the landowner for leaving that rock in the field". Don’t laugh. Things have really gotten that ridiculous of late. What do you say we take personal responsibility and put responsibility back into the American society? Yes, I know that human greed and our insatiability need for more stuff, may make it hard to let go of those dreams of BIG FREE $$’s – but if we don’t start now to take responsibility – what kind of America will we be leaving our children?

Ok, now I’m done!