In article
unications,
says...

In article ,
John Doe wrote:
Anybody try building one? Seems to me that it would be about the
easiest project for homebuilt aviation, to build a backpack cage
with a motor and propeller.

Powered paragliding looks outrageous. They should fix the problem
of the pilot being slung/slammed into the ground at low altitudes.
Never seen people bounce like that. One guy refers to a type of
paragliding parachute as a "flat top", maybe that helps depending
on the drawbacks. Maybe they are still developing the best form of
powered paragliding parachute.

Anybody here do it yet? Anybody trying? Unfortunately, it probably
won't be me anytime soon. I would want to use electric power,
hopefully battery technology will improve rapidly.

It's been done. ******* cross-breed between a hang-glider and an ultra-
light. That said, Battery technology simply doesn't cut it. take your
pick of bleeding edge battery technology, and check out how much energy
you can store/retrieve from 1 lb of those batteries, vs how much energy
you can get out of the same weight of a liquid fossil-fuel product like
gasoline. From the consideration of 'power density', battery technology
generally isn't even in the same ball-park. A liquid sodium electrolyte
unit, *maybe*, but there are massive other issues associated therewith.

A 'backpack fan', in the 5-15HP range can give you _some_ additional
maneuverability, but there is a significant weight penalty, Which
translates into faster descent speeds for a given chute size.



http://yuneeccouk.site.securepod.com/paramotor.html


Tom De Moor