Justine is one of my former students. She is fearless, smart and bright as a human being can be.
She works as an engineer at the Brookheaven lab on Long Island, NY., is an astrophysicist, and is famous in the engineering community for papers she wrote and software developments for various applications concerning telescope technology. Take a look of this one,… yes the propellers are dangerous but this just a proof of concept and she probably will work on making it safe with cages. No it is not practicle but is in some way if your goal is just to buzz around over the beach in nil wind speeds. You can laugh all you want with this one😆 The mountains of Long Island are as high as a pancake and the island is facing the wrong way to paraglide regularly, so PPG comes to the rescue. I am using my SP more and more and really enjoy it. Have fun watching Stupid-Simple Electric Paramotor - YouTube
I forgot to add that you could also check her previous YouTube upload such as the 3D printed she built in her basement… Large Format (refrigerator sized) 3D Printer in Basement - YouTube
I totally love the minimal concept. A couple of us here in the Netherlands like the PPG to just get into thermalling, or reach the dunes to start soaring. Although I love the X4 OpenPPG for lots of reasons, for above application it is unnecessary powerful (twice of what my 100cc fuel ppg does), and the necessary net etc. causes too much drag for proper thermalling. I am curious how and whether this continues into a safe, robust product (batteries integrated in the harness for example).
Less is more has always been at the back of my mind. I could see a split from the conventional larger/heavier PPG and small electric pushers. Have enough juice for 10mn or less flight time just to reach the lift band (about 15 to 30 seconds in my case for dynamic lift). Smaller pushers would also work for PG pilots taking off from an elevation just to sustain lift for a minute or so during transitions. The props could be substantially reduced in size and I know it would work for light to medium weight pilots (up to 165lbs) because we did it and managed to actually launch from the ground with small Boxer engines used for RC planes. I flew over 200 hours for years with a 27" two blades prop and beginner wings at sea level. Thrust is thrust gas or electric. It is only a matter of having the right batteries setup. If you are mostly interested in Paragliding then a mini electric pusher could do the trick for many people.
Hey!, if I could fly with 3 motors with small props for over 40 minutes - I didn’t know I had lost a propeller, the shaft and a piece of the hoop😁… then maybe there is hope!
This photo shows my “Bug” to the right next to a standard size gas PPG at the time😆
One of my ideas - the mini frame was integrated into the harness and any motor could be attached to it as long as the PPG weight was not going over 22lbs to prevent the motor from tilting back and the thrust pushing towards the seagulls - 19cm medium density foam back protector inside the harness.
Me with a 19lbs PPG
Warming up on its own. We even already had a remote control throttle but the response was too slow so we gave that up at the time.
Note that there is no side bars - the risers were directly connected to the PG main carabiners.
Myself with a friend with his Mini-PPG as well, thermaling - I am on the left.
Two Minis
I found her article a few weeks ago.
she is a paraGlider and does not have a frame.
From what I understand, she walks along the beach to get to her destination be it work or other and didn’t want to trudge in the sand.
She created this after she saw something like it on y Tube.
She didn’t plan to fly everyday with it, just to get from point A to point B.
If she had a sort of back pack design she could have them hang on the rear, smaller foot print than a regular prop cage with basically the same effect.
Because she wasn’t building for long hauls she basically threw it together and it works.
Don’t know what complications come up if she has to reverse launch that thing, but
it must work for her.
I wonder how the drag effect would be if it were two props and they were mounted behind the pilot, as a normal motor would be, only with two smaller blades, would the pilots body be able to decrease the amount of drag. Under power the air is sucked behind the pilot and through the blades creating thrust.
Granted not all the drag would be eliminated but a lot of it would most likely be gone.
I know aerodynamics is tough to measure and you need instruments and a special room to do all this so I am just talking with little knowledge other than I know a pilots body can block the air toward the props.
I am building one based on her design, 80% done now. Following this thread for ideas.
This is great stuff, I want to build a small unit that fits on a normal PG harness, aiming for 12kg/15mins. Do you have any more detail on how you created the frame attachment on your normal PG harness?
EDIT: Just to clarify I’m talking about Voltair’s mini PPG attached to a PG harness, NOT the blimp drive concept.
It was a long time ago. Something to remember is that the weight of the PPG cannot exceed
20 to 25lbs otherwise it would tilt the cage back and the thrust will be pointing toward the seagulls.
I used harnesses made by SUPAIR at the time.
Gas Boxer engine
Hard to see on the photo but my mini PPG called the NewTron, had a rectangular PVC frame. It was inserted inside the dorsal storage pocket of the harness really tight.
Electric:
Maybe you will find this video helpful. I had built this thing a few years back Electric PPG Project - YouTube
