I grew up in a small town called Pierce ID about 20 miles from Orofino Idaho S68. It's also just a stones throw from Elk River. I just spent a week back home visiting family and I towed my Powered Parachute ultralight up there with me. This past weekend was their annual "1860 Days" which celebrates when Gold was first discovered in Idaho. My Dad and I did some formation over town to the give the locals something to talk about. Yes we abided by all the FAR's concerning altitude and were both very experienced ultralight pilots. On Monday I took off out of Orofino at day break and flew around for an hour or so until the air started to stir. It was unseasonally hot up there all week. Here are some of the better pics and a video I took.

Short video from outside of Orofino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikvzmo8fp2M

My wingman aka DAD




Pierce ID from the air...Population 400 on a good day


Great place to grow up


PPC's fly themselves once your cruising...cross your feet put your hands behind your head and enjoy the view at 30mph




People ask me all the time if I trust my life behind a two stroke motor..yes,....yes I do


Looking down the Clearwater after taking off from Orofino




Love having no windshield!


RWY 09-27 Orofino ID


And after a week in Idaho enjoying the scenery I got to stare at this for hundreds of miles across Eastern OR and NV on way back to the Sacramento area.

Nice one, Joe. That's some nice country.

I know that feeling of no windshield, there's nothing like it. Flying a Cessna by comparison is like the difference between riding a motorcycle and driving in a car. It's awesome!


Those are actually my dad's shoes. I'm in the plane out in the distance.

Nice work Avid. That looks like a blast. Tell me about an engine out in those things. I'm guessing its very survivable but I don't know. I checked out your youtube vid and this video was next to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdBdrSQbM9M&NR=1

This cat is a local here in the Wasatch Front. They are flying out on Utah Lake......having a blast. Its interesting how many ways there it to fly and enjoy life......like you and Dad.

Some of the best flying photos in our gallery were shot from a PPC. Check out Q's gallery.

SixTwoLeemer wrote:Nice work Avid. That looks like a blast. Tell me about an engine out in those things. I'm guessing its very survivable but I don't know. .

Well... for one thing, you've already got the parachute deployed.......what more can you need???

Nice shots Avid.... you should come here in Sept. We'll have a bunch of 'em flying out of my airport for the long weekend.
JH

Engine outs are pretty uneventful. They have about a 9:1 glide ratio with a forward speed of 25-30 mph depending on your chute type. If you pull both lines at the same time it will flare out the same as the guys that jump out of airplanes. The only issue is they don't penetrate in any wind. If your flying into a head wind you had best be looking straight down for your landing spot. Timing on the flare is crucial too if you want a "smooth" landing. Even you just sat there and didn't do a thing it would still land itself it just might bend something. My theory with trees is with some luck the lines would hang up in the tree and suspend you and you'd never hit the ground. Guys I know that fly that country all the time carry a 100ft of rope to repel down if that ever happened to them.

JH my Dad was invited to that Fly-in. He talked of trying to make it. We used to go to Libby every Valentines Day and fly with the ski's. I think that group disbanded. They were called M.U.F.F. Montana Ultra Fun Flyers.

Cool!! Hope he makes it.... you'll have to tell him to make sure I know who he is. Lotsa good camping here on the field.



JH