Runaway Powered Parachute (PPC) 

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

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

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

The legend of the ghost powered parachute.

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

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.

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.

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]

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 RU-vid.

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

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!"

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.

I bet it set altitude records

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Where are the "legend has it" comments?

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! ; )

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

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

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.

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

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

I heard of ppc being hung over powerlines.

Tucker Gott needs to review this video lol

good climb rate

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

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

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

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

ultimately what happened?

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

Nees to have a remote kill switch on his keychain!

lol

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!!

FFS! 🤣🤣🤣