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It appears Chuck's thinking was true - at Sun N Fun this year a new kind
of powered parachute was introduced. The design itself wasn't new - the change in the
design was. The Buckeye "EXPLORER" - an amphibious powered
parachute.
The first question I asked when I saw it was, does it actually fly? That was answered
when the craft took to the air not only with floats installed but with two people on
board!
The next question was can it actually take off and land on water? Yes it can take off
from land - land on water, taxi around on the water, and then take off again. But it can't
actually land, let the chute deflate and take off from water.
But like any other float plane - you need power, and lots of it . The "Explorer"
flown at the show had a modified Rotax liquid cooled two stroke engine, with an expansion
chamber to give it that little extra needed for float operation. Yet even with using
an expansion chamber the noise level didn't appear to be any louder than the stock engine!
For more information on the "Explorer" contact:
FlightLine TV at: http://www.flightlinetv.com/explor3.htm
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