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Does anyone have any experience jumping from foot launched powered paragliders? My son and I are thinking about trying it this summer. MY PLAN...I launch the PPG...drop a line with a foot loop at the bottom and a carabiner about three feet up...make a pass into the wind dragging the rope...He clips in and we ride to altitude...He stands up in the foot loop,un-clips and see-ya. My motor is powerful enough for tandems(BD 172cc), wing is a Powerplay Sting 140 (med).We have both jumped out of PPG trikes before.
OK flame away. Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated.

well..what could possibly go wrong? go for gold!

me and a very experienced PPG pilot made a few attempts. he is also a BASE jumper. the winds never seemed right. we used a massive motor and a extra large glider. we also live at 5500' altitude, so that could have been a factor.

be smart about how you hook the the dro line to the ppgharness. I reccomend useing a big riser clipped between the two pg carabiners, hanging below the but of the harness like a Y.

Y- harness is a good idea. Do you think it is possible to fly two people under a standard (non tandem) wing? 1000 ft above sea level. People in the PPG community are not much help.

getting your foot caught in that loop would suck! if he just needs to stand up for a quick time, i would use a knot.

I'd be VERY concerned about the length of line and consequences. maybe a rope person can contribute (Calvin?).

the wind will swing the rope aft, so it might need to be long. then there is the snatch force that will decelerate the paraglider as it accelerates your son. will the paraglider dive at the ground, making it harder to LIFT your son?

then the pendular action will start...

there are lots of ugly outcomes, I just do NOT know if they can be managed. if possible, it could be a hoot!

use a riser on the jumper below the carabiner cutaway AND have one for the ppg pilot to cut the line away in emergency. (better trust him)

we used about a 10' line with 3lbs of weight on the end. gravityboyd was the ppg pilot, he posts here now and then. that kid knows his shit like cow in box.

boyd had problems with the xl wing, thought itwas not big enough at 5500'.

I would reccommend a tandem wing. true tandem. 36-40m +

Calvin is right about the size. Overloaded wings are already difficult to launch without a motor, and the wing reactions become really violent, not ideal for a tandem flight. Besides, for a given thrust, you will climb quicker with a tandem wing since the performances greatly degrades when you overload a paraglider.

The only drawback of a big wing is that it's hard to bring down alone if there is a little wind, but backward landings are always fun afterwards :-)

So, yeah, it's possible, if you can run really really quick for taking off. A pair of rollerblades on a road might save your arse.

But no, it's NOT a good idea

maybe consider launching off the back of something, such as a golf cart, the bed of a pick-up, etc... then you might be able to launch together and avoid all the rope issues?

(but you'd still have the parachute sizing issues mentioned above.)

tom said it was a good idea

I have the pictures somewhere


Me in the back of a big pickup truck with a parachute on and a full body climbing harness on underneath it, booking down a dirt road, boyd with a ugly ass ppg motor and even uglier wing borrowed from a fat guy up north, he is trying to bring this thing into the truck with the line dragging below him with a gusty 5mph crosswind. the idea was I grab the line, be sure he is steady and ready, hook in, then he powers up and books it as the truck accelerates as well. both of us ready to cut me away in event of, um, well, that thing that alwasy seems to happen when trying something new but you never have a name for it until it happens twice.

Ill post them as soon as I find them.

found

Thanks for all of the input...really good stuff. I'm going to look for a bigger wing. Maybe practice the pick-up with a water ski handle over water to see how the loading changes the wing.

no prob.
in the pics you can see the dummy weight in the truck, two green military style bags filled with a solid chunk of our FRASCA system. it turned out that me with a BASE rig on, boots, helmet, and thong is just shy of 78kgs. the weight was 80kgs just to be safe.

we used the release on the ppg pilot with the handle mounted on right side of ppg harness, and then a 2 meter extension from the dummy weight in my hand as it was to be carried off (and let go if looks well off the bat). if, when I was clipping the weight in, something went wrong while the pilot was concentrating on his aircraft carrier landing, I could cutaway his weight to avoid a bad crash.

HA! Haven't seen those pics before... good memories! You can see how much I had to crab the glider to get it to fly straight over the truck. I still have that motor if you're up for some more stooopid fun. This weekend? Call me.

well, it doesn't surprise me that you had tried that...

but it wasn't what I meant as I don't like the rope/cutaway part. I was thinking more of a tandem setup. it would be a challenge ground launching two people attached to each other as they run along building speed. why not use the truck in lieu of running? skip the ropes.

maybe a tandem harness and run downhill. Just don't trip over each other

Nah... too easy. The truck pickup at least has some challenge to it.

trying it over water is a great idea! in fact it's the best idea so far in this thread. make sure there's a camera on shore for that one, and please post a link!

I can see another way of doing which is used for face-to-face tandem skydiving dropoffs. I will describe the way its done in that situation. It should be adaptable.

Create a loop of tape which attached between the 2 hip rings of the tandem instructor. First the side straps are released. Then student then puts their feet on the loop supporting their weight. Next, the shoulder connectors are released and the student is now holding onto the chest strap of the instructor with the legs in the loop. Lastly, the student kicks the leg loop free, the instructor holds the loop out of the way with his legs and then the sutdent drops off.