Tag: Dumb Chute Story

That was spicy. The winds were variable from the northwest 4 to 6 and building. I drove around a bit looking for a decent launch and settled on a section of road East of the poles about midway to the eastern border of the patch.

The wing was layed out 45 degrees off the runway with room to inflate directly into the wind and make a quick turn down the runway. I wasn’t proud of it but it looked doable.

The wing came up crooked right off the bat and swung far left and right and left again before it started to settle down. I could feel the trike getting light on the outside wheel with each swing. I should have waited another 20 feet before powering up but managed a slightly off center launch into some very bumpy air.

The bumpy layer was from the surface to 500 ft. At 600 ft. the wind was 18mph and the air was shifty. I got a feeling that this was going to be a short flight. I was still penetrating in neutral trim but it would have taken 20 minutes to get to the boatyard and with the wind building, there was no way I wanted to get downwind of the truck.

At 850 feet the engine died. The motor didn’t choke or give any warning, it just shutdown. The first thing I did, once I realized what had happened, was to scope out an emergency landing spot. ThenI tried to restart the motor. I could get the prop turning but… no Joy. After two long attempts I quit and concentrated on landing.

I probably could have made a couple of tight circles and landed closer to the truck but “the bumpy layer” and all the new power lines strongly suggested, a more conservative approach. I flew west over the main road and power lines. Then once clear, turned upwind to take advantage of the largest stretch of clear field. Good thing too, because as I needed most of the field to get down. Decent from the engine out, took 2 minutes at 450ft./min. Max was 595 ft./min. During some sink in the bumps.

This was my first dead stick landing with this paramotor. Happily, it was picture perfect, running out of altitude and speed simultaneously… about a mile from the truck. Fortuitously, George, a wildlife photographer I had a nodding acquaintance with, saw me land and came by to give me a lift back to the truck. Thanks George.

It was a great day to be alive and ….

I cheated death again.

Side note . Poor preflight of the GoPro caused no video. Bummer, I would have loved to seen that crazy takeoff.

Started to troubleshoot and found the problem immediately. The fuel gauge is not reading correctly. It might have gotten dislodged when I dropped the truck into a gopher hole and busted an axle. It was reading 1/4 full and it was bone dry. I put in 4 gal of 93 octane and now….. it’s all good!