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The high cost of general aviation does not only effect the day to day
pilot, it also effects local government agencies such as the police. Thus
you will find a variety of "ultralight type" aircraft"
employed for law enforcement across the U.S. The more versatile a unit
can be, or the more adaptable it is to fit environments the easier
it is to justify it's use and cost. To this end Destiny Powered
Parachutes working with an airboat manufacturer, has come up with an
adaptation which also their PPC to be easily rolled into and secured in an
airboat. "Destiny Powered Parachutes has been working with local
law enforcement agencies to use PPC's as an affordable means to do search
and rescue, traffic observation, and drug enforcement" "some
concern is drowning situations where they need to get onto the water
quickly, with good manoeuvrability, without having a prop in the
water" "also from where we are in Northern Michigan there is the
possibility of a break through in the ice in winter"
"therefore with lesser risk to the rescue crew, in a matter of
minutes they can put this powered parachute, which they would normally fly
into this flat bottom boat, and they can go out across the lake, or river
without risk of breaking through the ice" " and if they did they
are already in a boat" "the boat is long, wide, and very stable
they can pull someone into the boat and get them back to the shore." "For
the recreational person especially in Florida where there are so many
powered parachutes it allows another use for the PPC when it is to windy
to fly." Another advantage of the Destiny PPC is that all of their
units are sold in fully assembled form, no building is required.
Installation of the unit in the boat is just a matter of first making sure
the chute is secured. Then using the supplied ramps, rolling the unit into
the saddles that are built into the hull of the boat and strapping it
down.
 Steering
of the boat is via a rudder system which is attached to the rear of the
boat and controlled by a single lever in the front of the boat.
"Using the 582 Rotax engine the boat will cruise along at about 35
mph on open water, of course in a grassy swampy situation it will be a
little bit less."
"The estimated cost of the of the air boat option is about
$4500."
For more information contact
Destiny Powered Parachutes LLC
1444KDF Drive Three Rivers
MI 49093 USA |
