By : David A Gustafson

In the latest James Bond movie, entitled The World Is Not Enough, there was a scene in which 007 skis downhill whipping up plumes of powdered snow, pursued by a squadron of powered parachutes. The bad guys, clearly evil by virtue of their black chutes, black shrouds, black fuselage pods…complete with black machine guns, did tier best to foil Bond's escape, but predictably, their aerial derring-do came to naught. It wasn't a very long scene, but it did stimulate a lot of interest in powered parachuting.

Six Chuter, Inc, of Yakima, Washington, designers and manufacturers of machines similar to those used in the feature film have been busy since the movie's release fielding calls from excited Bond fans who like the idea of parachutes that go up in addition to going down. It was a Six Chuter dealer who organized and led the flying sequences in the movie. The windfall of interest led the company to design a special new two-seat powered parachute design called the Discovery 2000. While it's not available with machine guns, the fun that it offers for low, slow flight, is finding an escalating audience, including a lot of private pilots. Most licensed pilots already own an aircraft and pursue powered parachuting as an entertaining, inexpensive alternative to their fixed wing activity.

"Part of the popularity of powered parachutes with the general public is the absence of any licensing requirements for pilots or the vehicles", said Six Chuter President Dan Bailey. "They're easy to get out, a delight to fly and are very low maintenance. You must have some training, though most people conquer that in a day or two. That's it! Then you're free to fly over the treetops, along shorelines, down rivers and over mountains. Just fly and enjoy the freedom. There aren't very many spaces where you cannot take a powered parachute and though they're strictly fair weather machines, they have a built-in advantage: if the engine quits or you run out of gas, your parachute is already deployed. Just point it toward a clearing".

Powered parachutes like Six Chuter's Discovery 2000 take off, cruise and land at 26 to 28 mph. It would be easy to launch from a football field and clear the goal post. They land in less than 50 feet. Ascent and descent are controlled by the throttle: add power you go up, decrease power, you go down. Most parachutes and engine pods can go from trailer to launch, or back, in about a half-hour. It's possible to buy a top of the line model like a Discovery 2000 for about the price of a compact car ($17,500… other models cost thousands less) and they burn only 2.5 gallons per hour of auto gas. A machine like Discovery can be packed on a small trailer and towed along on vacations. "They're ideal for exploring wilderness areas", said Dan, "however, we've heard stories of people using them in all kinds of surveillance, rescue operations, crop dusting, and for a sort of aerial backpacking by hunting, fishing and hiking enthusiasts.

There are also quite a few photographers using them. But most people just enjoy the clean fun of flying low, slow and out in the open where they can feel the rush of the wind. Some guys push it, of course, they've gone up over 15,000', but most of the fun occurs within 150' of the ground or treetops. Probably 90 per cent of the flying is done between 100' and 500' above the terrain. It's a great form of recreation".

For those interested in learning more about powered parachutes contact Six Chuter at (800) 440-8211; overseas: (509) 966-8211 or visit their website at

www.sixchuter.com