Powered Paraglider Propelled By Drone Motors

A powered paraglider (PPG) is the cheapest way a person can achieve sustained flight. A typical PPG setup consists of a parachute wing and a wearable internal combustion engine paired with a single propeller. The propeller provides forward thrust, but the pilot handles steering by manipulating the parachute wing's control cords. The average PPG paramotor backpack containing the motor and fuel tank weighs around 50 pounds and is quite cumbersome. To reduce that weight, Peter Sripol repurposed drone motors to propel his powered paraglider.

Sripol is no stranger to interesting vehicles or manned aircraft. He has built airplanes and even a Santa's sleigh drone capable of carrying a person. For this project, he used a massive array of drone motors instead of simply replacing the standard PPG internal combustion engine with a large electric motor. That array contains 50 individual drone motors arranged in a 5x5 grids of ducts. Each duct contains two motors facing opposite directions, but also rotating in opposite directions in order to increase the thrust through each duct.

Those motors all came from Sripol's previous 50 Engined RC Airplane project and they are exactly like they kind you'd find on an average-size drone. The rest of the components are also standard drone components. Power comes from hobby LiPo batteries and the throttle is a handheld RC transmitter. The motors mount onto a simple aluminum frame that straps onto the pilot's back. The setup provides enough thrust for flight — even against the wind. But the batteries only have enough capacity for about five minutes of air time.

While this can't compete with the performance of a gas-powered PPG, it is a lightweight and affordable alternative that should be interesting to electric vehicle enthusiasts.