#1214: FallFan

I’m contemplating getting aloft using a paramotor. If the main ‘glider’ (sail-type parachute) fails, one is ordinarily equipped with a reserve chute, but this is of little use at operational flying levels of ~200m.

Today’s invention is therefore a paramotor fan which can tilt from a horizontal axis to a vertical one, when the pilot realises that a crash landing is imminent. It would automatically jettison the glider canopy once the decision to use the motor in this way was made.

Although the fan could never support a pilot’s weight on its own, it could, in an emergency, greatly reduce the rate of descent, especially if driven at an almost self-destructive speed in this last-ditch mode.

2 Comments »

  1. Comment by Jack Clark

    Hi Patrick, loving your site. Reserve Parachutes can be used at well below 200m, 100ft or even below and you just might live… if you throw it.

  2. Comment by Patrick

    Thanks Jack…I’ve always wondered if there’s a better way to deploy a reserve chute, rather than repeatedly throwing it and hoping…maybe an IOTD for another D?

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