Powrachute Award Winning Designs
“Do your research and you will own a Powrachute too.”

If you are shopping for a powered parachute you have probably found out by now that everyone has the best design and the best performance. So let's see if I can help you with your decision making process, with an obvious biased point of view but never the less a point of view worth considering.

In several industries consumers have the advantage of consumer report type publications. Unfortunately, the Powered Parachute (PPC) shopper does not have this luxury and therefore is forced to disseminate loads of information. Often I have spoken with these shoppers that expressed they were more confused at the end of their research than when they started. The goal of this letter is to make clear what Powrachute has to offer you and with any luck un-muddy the water about our TEAM company, our products, our service, our reputation, our TEAM dealers, and our TEAM customers.

OUR TEAM COMPANY

Powrachute Corporation was founded in January 1999 by Bill Amyx (Winner of Kansas Governor Award for Manufacturing Excellence). Bill Purchased his first PPC in July of 1996 and immediately was hooked on the sport. Being the successful businessman he is, he started evaluating the industry. After reflecting on the experiences he had with his PPC’s construction and factory service, Bill made a decision to start manufacturing his own.

Bill’s vision was to run a professional PPC manufacturing facility, like he had done with his previous successful businesses. The mission statement was simple; build the highest quality products, back these products with service that cannot be equaled, and be honest with your dealers. The mission statement has proven to be successful. After starting with zero sales, three employees and one year of research & development, five short years later Powrachute Corporation has become the industry leader out distancing its nearest competitor by over 70 units sold in 2003. Powrachute presently operates with 14 full time employees.

OUR AIRCRAFT

Our first year of business was dedicated to research, development, design, performance and testing. We purchased three of the leading brands of airframes, three leading makes of engines being offered, three leading makes of chutes, and three leading makes of propellers. After endless hours of flying and studying all configurations of frames, chutes, engines and propellers we went to work on our first prototype.

The goal was to design an airframe that was simple, clean, and strong with emphasis on detail.

The next design enhancement was to reduce the number of junctions, nuts & bolts that was inherent in the existing PPC’s airframes and most noticeable in the engine and fan guard area of these designs. Powrachute threw out the tiny channel brackets, plastic saddles and multiple tubes found in the existing designs replaced them with single piece radiused engine support tubes, 6061T6 formed extruded brackets and precision machined 6061T6 saddles.

The next improvement was to plug every tube We noticed that this was only being done in structural areas of other PPC’s, therefore without a plug if a bolt was tightened too much the tube would egg shape and cause fatiguing of the tube. In addition, holes in the frame that do not have plugs will eventually elongate the radius of the drilled hole. By plugging “every” tube and using precision machined saddles you eliminate this problem.

Another improvement was the design of our one piece A-arm suspension. This piece was cleverly designed. Before the bend of the A-arm takes place we drive a 3” piece of 6061T6 Aluminum bar stock to the center of the axle bolt hole. This makes a solid connection point for the wheel. Once this is driven into place the tube is then bent to form the A-arm. You will notice the A-arm attaches to the chromolly main frame in a manner that allows it to move freely in an up and down motion, working in concert with the hydraulic spring over shock.

Now let’s take a look at the fan guard area. On most designs you will notice use of brackets, bolts, rivets, etc to join the hoop ring to the fan guard supports arms. Although this is effective it is not the most simple or clean application. On all Powrachute designs you will notice a very simple clean application in this area. By utilizing liquid nitrogen we are able to freeze and shrink the plugs that are used on the fan guard support arms where they attach to the ring. Once the plug comes back to room temperature it expands and locks into place. The saddles we use to join the tubes and the fan guard supports to ring have a machined recess on the flat side of the saddle for the fan guard support to join into the saddle providing a smooth clean finish. To complete the junction you will notice another saddle and a 3 ½ stainless lag screw that screws right into the plug that was sweated into the fan guard support.

The frontal fuselage bars are another Powrachute innovation. This design feature was scoffed at by our competitors as unnecessary and if you look around now you will see most manufacturers now offer them standard or as an option. The reason we added the frontal fuselage bar was to provide an added measure of protection to the pilot and passenger in the event they should fly into an object such as a power line, fence, tree limb, etc. Two by products come from the use of these bars. (1) was added roll over protection (2) the trussing of the frame from the pylon to the nose wheel. This is one innovation we were actually happy to see our competitors copy, providing their customers with this added measure of safety.

We make maximum use of steel jigs when we build the parts to our aircraft. By utilizing the jigs we are able to duplicate exact copies of each part and ensure that we hold those tolerances. In other words if you need a replacement part you can count on it bolting right on your aircraft. Company’s that do not use steel jigs force their customers to become fabricators, when replacing parts.

Why does Powrachute use a bolt together frame versus a welded frame?

The short answer is that we build aircraft not race cars or motorcycles.  

Keeping the above statement in mind we make maximum use of certified component parts in our design. AN Hardware is certified military specification hardware and has with stood the test of time. 6061 T6 also falls in the class of aircraft grade aluminum. A welded frame is only as good as the person doing the welding and even the best welders when welding certified parts should have them x-rayed or magniflux tested. Additionally, if you have the best welder and x-ray the welds, it would be difficult when pre-flighting to find a cracked weld caused from the stresses put on the airframe after several hours of flight time. Another reason we use a bolt together is to make it easy to replace damaged parts. If you damage a welded frame you will have to locate a fabricator or become one yourself to make even minor repairs. In other words we don’t believe a welded frame is as fail safe as a bolt together frame.

Why doesn’t Powrachute build a lighter aircraft?

We could and it would be simple to produce and lower cost to produce. We choose not to because we don’t like the trade offs that come with this decision. To do so would mean sacrificing structural integrity of the airframe something we are not willing to do.

Consulting with the two leading parachute design engineers in our country, Bill Gargano of Quantum Parachutes and John LeBlanc of Performance Design, we started development and testing of the high narrow attach system.

After doing multiple flights at different spread distance we found a winner. We discovered exactly what Bill and John had told us, better performance! Better in flight stability, rocking common with the low wide spread is significantly reduced with the Pegasus. The traditional stair step climb is all but eliminated, turning performance is un-matched. You may be asking yourself why this higher more narrow attach can accomplish such a significant improvement over the traditional low and wide set-up. I’ll do my best to explain.

The core engineering in the parachutes design came from the sky diving world. If you look at sky diver’s chute, you will notice it attaches to the shoulder area which is high and narrow. You see, the traditional low and wide outrigger gives the parachute more leverage on the cart in addition the low position causes the lifting point to be right through the center of mass. This causes the cart to pitch up and down in a rocking motion when hit with a gust of wind from the front or rear. When hit with a side gust the chute lifts the cart from a low wide point on the craft causing a bucking and yawing effect. By utilizing the high more narrow attach we have not eliminated but have significantly reduced these effects.

You might be saying ok that makes sense but what about this better climb rate. I have to admit that this was not anticipated but was discovered in flight testing. First of all by utilizing the high attach we were able to get the lifting point significantly higher than the thrust line, which allows the cart to push out in front of the chute quicker, changing the angle of attack of the chute sooner creating a shorter take off roll once your chute is kited over head. Some designs actually have the thrust line above the attach point, causing the thrust line to actually push the cart in down and forward direction creating a longer take off roll, slower climb and a more pronounced stair step climb.

The other effect we learned was that the higher more narrow attach had the ability to minimize the traditional stair step climb associated with low, wide attach points. In a full power climb with the low wide outrigger you will notice once the cart gets to its peak angle of climb the chute rotates back over the cart, then the cart gets back in front again and so on, during the climb. With the high more narrow attach point you will notice a steadier straight climb angle. You will notice the Pegasus is still climbing while others are stepping.

OUR SERVICE
Our service is the corner stone of our success. To fully understand this I would ask you to read our testimonials. Some of our testimonials are from our dealers who have owned or sold other brands but most are from the end user customer.

Realizing as hard as we try we will never be perfect, we make sure we take care of our dealers and their customers. When a problem or situation arises we address them swiftly as possible to make our customers happy, and keep them flying. By utilizing our in house powder coat system we are able to fill most parts orders weekly and get the customer back in the air in short order. The fact that all our parts are jig built makes it easy on the owner, dealer, or mechanic to install the part. Our whole goal is happy flyers!

Our good reputation is something we have earned with hard work, honesty and dedication, and has been built over time. A good reputation is not something you claim it is something you earn, and once you earn it you have to keep earning it everyday!

OUR TEAM DEALERS
Our TEAM dealer network is by far the most professional and experienced group in our industry. If you take a close look at our dealer list you will find numerous industry leaders.

These men and women perform safety seminars, hold elected positions with powered parachute and light aircraft associations. They are PPC World champions and national champions. They are retired FAA, commercial Airline pilots, general aviation flight Instructors, helicopter pilots, V.P. of fortune 500 companies, attorneys, dentist, doctors, farmers, retired military. All of our TEAM dealers are Basic or Advanced Flight Instructors. Needless to say we are very proud of our TEAM! They are the best our industry has to offer. If you are a professional, a TEAM player, and care about safety we would like to talk with you too! If you want to be a winner you need fly with winners.

Our TEAM Customers are the type of people that have an eye for quality. Although, they don’t just research the product they research the company backing the product. Where have they been? Are they financially strong? Are they going to be there 10 years from now? Do they back their product with good service? Are they leaders or followers? Will they care about me after I buy from them? Do they give back to their industry? I believe our customers find a positive answer to these questions before buying our product. It is our hope that you will do your research and purchase a Powrachute too.

Why TEAM Powrachute Corporation is a strong believer in TEAM work. Individuals or mavericks have no place with the Powrachute family. It is my desire that after you make your purchase, complete your training that you will feel like you are a part of the greatest TEAM/Family our industry has to offer.

Powrachute Corporation