Runaway Powered Parachute (PPC)

On August 14th, 2010, a powered parachute got away from its pilot in Tracy, California, and took off on its own. It was found about a week later in Napa, about 70 miles away. No one was hurt in the incident. Someone said that the pilot was unable to start the craft with his electric starter, so he attempted to manually start the aircraft. The throttle was left open or got knocked open before he got on board.

[@MrTomflys1]

Hi Rick F, ultimately what happed is the battery was dead so pilot got out of aircraft to pull start the engine in getting out of the aircraft the pilots foot kicked the throttle to wide open. He than pull started the engine and off it goes he tried to hold it back but that is impossible. We sent up another PPC and fixed wing aircraft to keep track of it but they lost sight of it. We called the FAA to alert them to a pilotless aircraft they in turn called all the local law enforcement agency's. It was the local sheriffs in Napa that not only seen it come down but had two calls from hikers in the area. All of us were worried that it could land on someone's house. It landed in some brush and small trees. owner/pilot hiked into area to retrieve it but with such heavy brush was unable so hired a helicopter crew $2000. to lift it out. There was not a scratch on it. Thanks for watching Tom Reed

[@michaelgraham4650]

Wow

[@sidebite2533]

The owner should be punished for being so clumsy and careless. What if it landed on top of children at a playground or a senior living community when they were outdoors.

[@skahler]

Not a bad retrieval price. Interesting story, thanks for the extra info :)

[@seehowetofly]

Yep and now I own the famous fly alone machine, fly's great with or without me :)

[@jimsimard]

Cruise control at its finest.

[@leeroyholloway4277]

Ive never seen one fly that good with someone at the controls.

[@huffdaddy3845]

The legend of the ghost powered parachute.

[@geneland]

I fly powered parachutes and I can easily see how this could happen. They are this easy to fly. Thanks for posting this.

[@skyknight2095]

I got a call from Bob Schaeble early Saturday morning (I think it was Saturday but it's been 10 years) asking me to go up in my 210 to try to find it. After flying around and talking to NorCal Approach, I never could find it. Now I see this ten years later on KZbin.

[@Juiceboxdan72]

This is a cool little corner of old-school KZbin! I'm glad it sounds like everything worked out ok

[@BJCulpepper]

That is absolutely hilarious. That is the price he pays for cutting corners and getting impatient. Once I forgot to put on my seat belt and realized it as I started moving. It taught me to be patient and not to force things.

[@jessielee1369]

How do you know he cut corners?

[@CaliforniaAdventurer]

Yeah, it was found about a week later in a tree, 75 miles away. Neither the pilot nor anyone else was hurt in the incident.

[@skahler]

Can't help but wonder if the owner is slightly proud of this accomplishment.

[@MyVisualRomance]

Note to all PPC pilots: Insert into your checklist "Ensure throttle is set to idle before starting engine" just before the item that states "yell Clear Prop!"

[@robertgary3561]

Even more important we were taught to never get out of the seat unless the machine was against a car, wall, etc. I just push the nose wheel up to my car and that prevents it from moving (its not going to move my car)

[@dcfools2890]

I love how he records the guy falling out and then just follows it in the air then casually says omg Noone in there lmao

[@normanscott1105]

I bet it set altitude records

[@jkorshak]

Powered Paraglider: I ain't starting. Nope. Gonna have to get out and use the pull start. I'll wait right here until you get back. Promise. Pilot: Alright. I do exactly that. [V'ROOOMMMREAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH] Powered Paraglider: FREEEDOMMMM!!!!! Pilot: HEY! WAIT! NOOOOO!!!!! Powered Paraglider: FAREWELL, CRUEL MASTER!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!! [flies off, laughter fades]

[@ishady27]

It's a PPC Powered Parachute

[@anphelps27]

I know this isn't funny, but I could not stop laughing when I heard the guy say, "there's no one in there." Haha.

[@MrJburg00]

Never ever did I think I would see that happen. I grew up flying in six hunters,powrachite

[@Terryblount]

A fool and his ppc soon part... haha This is the thrid one I've seen that got away. Maybe when I die I'll have my kids put me in one and send me off into the wild blue yonder since the pilot is obviously unnecessary.

[@skahler]

Better hope it flies straight. Can't imagine what would happen if you crashed a party XD

[@lomita1]

Back in the day we'd call this a free flight.....

[@randybeard6040]

Who Says it Takes Practice to Fly these Machines, Heck they can Fly Themselves and Land Themselves.....

[@Flightstar]

I bet it's got kick ass performance with out all that unnecessary weight on-board.

[@GoingHawgWyld]

PPC's have a hand lever that is friction controlled. Stays where you put it. It was obviously at full throttle by accident and pilot probably thought it was at idle. Most PPC's do not have brakes. Never start one unless you are either sitting in it or the tire is propped up against something as they have a huge amounts of thrust and no one person can hold it back.

[@Jo-xk3pk]

If you do exactly what you said then you're chances of that happening are 0%. I think he didn't warm it first and he was messing with the throttle to get it started. I obviously don't know for sure. I thought about installing two kill switches on a lanyard for both mags like boats have. It's best to follow his advice though. Most injuries/deaths happen on takeoff, and most of those are people that didn't follow the safety rules. I'm happy to watch his PPC takeoff without hurting someone!

[@vanepico]

You could put three servos in it and fly it RC!

[@Twobrothersoutdoors]

ultimately what happened?

[@onemoremisfit]

Where are the "legend has it" comments?

[@genogeno1234]

"Oh my god...there's no one in there. I don't think" ROTFLMAO

[@thatGUYbehindthemask]

But did they get it back? How was the automated landing? XD

[@peacockhorsepower3181]

I’m going home right now to see if my foot launch paramotor will Fly itself. Wow.

[@TequillanSunrise]

Tucker Gott needs to review this video lol

[@rf4czz255]

foolish - I NEVERstarted my Buckeye without a pilot in the seat !

[@MarekSHayward]

To put a positive spin on this... How safe and easy to fly is an aircraft that demonstrably flies itself?! No stall, no spin, no collapse and no fly-by-wire auto pilot. The only thing that brought it down was running out of fuel. This is why I took up paramotoring! ; )

[@ishady27]

Yes that's a good point but this one is a PPC Powered Parachute

[@waynelalonde4778]

I heard of ppc being hung over powerlines.

[@SaltyDawg-wu5kr]

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENDS WITH MUCH NEEDED TRAINING. IF THIS SORT OF THING GOES ON YOU CAN BET THE FAA WILL GROUND THESE TYPES OF AIRCRAFT.

[@flygliders]

good climb rate

[@tjwright]

yeah it looked like a fighter jet going almost straight up for a second there... I thought it would stall

[@atank]

better than tesla's & goggle's driverless vehicles - hehe

[@discipljc]

Nees to have a remote kill switch on his keychain!

[@MrJburg00]

Sixchuters, powrachutes and buckeyes and that is pure pilot error unfortunately

[@drumatic86]

What's the point of Powered Parachute ? Why not the good old paraglider ?

[@tomrc4328]

Until you fly one it's hard to understand.

[@noneshere]

Its a 2 stroke, its will run out of gas soon.

[@skahler]

lol

[@The_Real_Indiana_Joe]

I own one of these, and for the life of me can't figure out how this can happen. Your chute is out, plane is running and you.....go get a coke out of the coke machine? I just don't get it!!

[@tomrc4328]

Chute laid out and ready to go, pilot straps in and tries to start the engine only to find out the battery is too weak. So he gets out, inadvertently moves the throttle in the process, then goes to pull start.... Engine fires and things get out of his control and he becomes a spectator to his own airshow. Easy to see how it could happen.

[@skysurferuk]

FFS! 🤣🤣🤣