Blue Heron Marathon

If you dress properly for the weather, flying
a PPC during the winter months can
also be a pleasurable experience. The
crisp, cool air of winter offers a smooth
ride. Perry Dickau takes Tim Hale for an
instructional flight over Lake Shirley near
Shirley, Massachusetts. Perry’s wife, Katrine,
captured the photo from another
PPC flown by Mike Kuranda. Perry and
Katrine are the Blue Heron dealers in
New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Heldeberg Design’s Blue Heron Marathon powered parachute is aimed squarely
at the light-sport aircraft market. While built to withstand the rigors of use, at 308
pounds empty weight, it’s one of the lighter two-seat PPCs on the market.

Heldeberg positions the radiator for the Rotax 582 engine low beneath the engine,
adding to the aircraft’s handling stability and eliminating the problem of reduced airflow
to the radiator because a passenger sitting in front of it when it’s mounted high
on the airframe.

Nick Viscio designed this new cradle system
for attaching the chute’s riser lines to
the aircraft. This system makes it much
easier to adjust the attachment location to
accommodate the different weights of passengers,
thus keeping the aircraft’s center
of gravity in better balance.

The Blue Heron Marathon uses a bungee
cord wrapped around a link arm,
combined with large tundra tires, for
its landing gear suspension system. Because
the Marathon’s empty weight is
lighter, the suspension system can likewise
be lighter.

The Marathon’s separate seats are comfortable
and easy to get in and out of.
Packed with four inches of dense foam,
they also offer protection to one’s spine
in the event of a hard landing.

Nick and Marie Viscio

Built lighter to fly better
It may be hard to believe that a company established in 1995 can be considered an old-timer in an industry, yet that’s precisely the case with Heldeberg Designs LLC and its line of Blue Heron powered parachutes (PPCs).
Nick and Marie Viscio founded Heldeberg Designs a decade ago and believe they are the second oldest, continuously operating powered parachute company in America. Only Six Chuter has a longer history under the same management and ownership.
Nick and Marie run the enterprise with help from son Nicholas D., who has a degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, and three part-time employees assisting with fabrication and welding. “Nick is very hands-on in operating the company,” said Mark Bayer, Heldeberg’s New York dealer with whom I flew at Sun’n Fun 2004. He added, “They’re not trying to be the biggest manufacturer, just the best.”

Why did the company choose the Blue Heron name for its machines? Because blue herons populate a large wetlands area near the Viscios’ home near Albany, New York. “We had a blue heron ‘frequent flier’ that often visited our house,” Marie began. “In the water, the blue heron seems a small bird, but when it takes off, its wings grow large. I thought a powered parachute was like that|small while it sits in your garage, but sprouting big, beautiful wings for flight.”
Movie Stars
If a small business is lucky, it’ll get a break that puts it in people’s minds. Heldeberg had such an experience when it furnished 17 airframes to the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough. The specially faired Blue Heron PPCs supplied some riveting footage for the action/adventure motion picture.
Ten of the special James Bond Blue Heron PPCs were destroyed by special effects teams blowing them up and shoving them over cliffs, reported Mark. Seven aircraft remain, and Nick and Marie have one, its racy fiberglass body bristling with plastic machine guns.
In 2004, Heldeberg Designs shipped 21 powered parachutes to China. Over the past decade, the company has built nearly 500 aircraft. By anyone’s measure, that’s a nice business.

Ready for Light-Sport Aircraft
Son Nicholas served on the ASTM International committee developing the consensus standards for powered parachutes in the light-sport aircraft (LSA) category, so Heldeberg is well prepared to produce PPCs as LSA when the consensus standards are published by FAA. Dad Nick said, “LSA readiness has been a big part of our work for the past three years. Because of our in-house engineering advantage and involvement with the ASTM committee, we are well along in the process to produce PPCs that will qualify as LSA. Our standardized manufacturing procedures encompass design, tooling, testing, and documentation.” Heldeberg’s PPC components are built using computer aided design (CAD) drawings, and a majority of the parts are manufactured in-house. For example, bracket and specialty pieces are machined or punched from raw materials in the company’s fully equipped machine shop.
Lighter Is Better
Nick designed the first Blue Heron in 1995, and like many successful entrepreneurs in emerging fields, he feels he pioneered some design aspects of powered parachutes. One innovation was the use of a taller mast to reduce problems during rollovers. Today, some variation of this idea is commonplace on all PPCs.
Nick also pays special attention to keeping Heldeberg’s aircraft light. In 2002, he designed a new undercarriage truss system to use lighter components while still strengthening the unit. The truss work consists of a welded “deflexor” system under the fore/aft main frame tubes.

If you use less tubing, then you can use stronger tubing, or so goes the theory. Nick said Heldeberg uses a large diameter, 1/8-inch (0.125) wall thickness tube for the main. Other manufacturers use smaller tubing and tend to experience some permanent “sag” in their undercarriage rails after repeated landings, said Mark.
Compare the lean lines of the chassis of the Blue Heron Marathon, the company’s latest model introduced at Sun’n Fun 2004, to other PPCs, and with few exceptions, you’ll note the other brands appear to have more complex structures. Complexity almost always means more weight, and in light aircraft, weight usually equals less responsive performance. For example, the test aircraft Mark and I flew at Sun ‘n Fun had a pull-start Rotax 582 engine because an electric-start system adds substantial weight. (Eliminating the electric start also shaves about $750 off the price.) Mark indicated Blue Heron PPCs could be 50-100 pounds lighter than other two-seat powered parachutes.
Like its competitors, Heldeberg uses the 65-hp Rotax 582 engine on nearly all of its models, though the 80-hp 912 has made inroads recently; Heldeberg’s model with that engine is the XC-912.
Nick has worked hard to create a low-vibration engine mount, designing an isolation system that uses two shock-absorbing mediums. It seemed quite effective at reducing vibration to the airframe components and the occupants. However, differences in smoothness may be difficult to compare between aircraft.
The Marathon’s suspension system is a simple bungee or shock cord wrapped around a link arm, a method used widely on light general aviation aircraft. Combined with large rear tires, the system affords plenty of suspension. Because the aircraft is lighter, the landing loads are less, so the structure to support it can be lighter-an “unvicious” circle, if you will.

Mark also explained that Marathon’s front fork assembly is welded as a single unit, compared to other brands that use a “gooseneck” construction of several pieces that are butt-welded. Mark said he and Nick tested the assembly by repeatedly going aloft, shutting the engine off, and without flaring, allowing the aircraft to contact the ground. In the first six landings, they saw no damage, though by the seventh some minor deformation could be seen. What yielded was the rear axle, which dimpled under the load. That axle member now has an inner sleeve welded into place to provide added strength.
When any aircraft lands hard, the airframe can flex. If an airframe is rigidly bolted or welded together, those connections can fail under sufficient load.
To address this possibility, Nick employs stainless steel brackets to attach the aluminum fuel tank with rubber straps so the tank can move during flexing without spilling its contents.
To add stability to the Blue Heron Marathon model, the Rotax 582 engine’s radiator is located below the engine. When radiators are mounted high on the airframe, the passenger’s body can restrict airflow to it. Heldeberg designed a new chute cradle suspension system in 2004. A curvy side support bar replaced a telescoping tube that was used for center of gravity adjustments because flying with different weight passengers affects the balance of the machine under the canopy. A multi-position bracket atop this new bar now makes it easier to change the riser line attachment points in the field to accommodate the weight of different occupants and maintain an appropriate center of gravity.
These brackets have been tested thoroughly; the combination of the dual plates with dual bolts withstood loads of 13,000-pound ultimate yield. The links at the top of the riser lines have a 4,500-pound capacity, and they are used in pairs. It’s hard to imagine how you’d ever come close to the limit loads for this construction.

“Each improvement we make can be retrofitted to all previous models of Blue Heron PPCs back to model no. 1,” said Marie. That policy eases the minds of buyers who fear next year’s improvements won’t be available to them. The computer industry calls this “backward compatibility,” and customers always appreciate that. It helps people make purchase decisions when they know they can add the latest and greatest ideas.
Can’t Stop Innovating
Nick continues to make innovative changes to the company’s designs. While many are aimed at making the airframe lighter and stronger, some are aimed at improving pilot ergonomics. Knowing that people of different height, weight, and width will fly the company’s machines, Heldeberg offers three variations of foot steering bars.
The prototype Blue Heron Marathon that Mark and I flew at Sun ‘n Fun had the standard straight steering bars with grip tape for your feet-simplistic-to keep the Blue Heron light. However, the production model Marathon offers three lengths of steering tubes-standard, medium, and long-to accommodate pilots of different heights. The medium and long steering bars are contoured to allow versatility in leg positioning during flight, said Nick. If you’re 5 feet 8 inches or shorter, you’ll want the standard straight steering bars. Otherwise the medium might be right for you.
The medium steering bar has an S-shape to help taller pilots extend their legs, giving them an optional foot position on longer flights. The long steering bars, which are ideal for pilots taller than 6 feet 3 inches, have an additional compound curve that swoops down, taking the bend out of the pilot’s knee and hip, increasing comfort in flight.

Time to Fly
Because powered parachutes are best flown in the early morning and late evening when winds are predictably light, I met Mark at 8 a.m. to fly.
Mark unfolded the canopy in the conventional manner: sides that had been folded on top were spread out, then the line socks were removed and stowed in the side bags. All this was done with the canopy facing upside down. The next step was to check the integrity of the support and steering lines, looking for tangled lines. Mark grouped the lines by the section of the wing to which they’re attached. After that he took the steering line, which is somewhat longer, and flipped it around another line group, a technique he said helps keep the longer line from getting into the prop during engine start and chute inflation. Mark took special care to route the lines back over the hoop rings and place the line bundles in their hooks, to keep everything in its place.
Entry to the Marathon is easy because of the lack of overhead tubes. While rollover structures offer protection, multiple tubes can get in the way and obstruct vision. Heldeberg Designs makes a good compromise. It does not offer the forward sloping brush bars some powered parachute manufacturers do, so you don’t have to duck underneath them to climb into the seat.
Blue Heron’s completely separate seats have well-padded cushions with large seat backs. They’re filled with two types of foam 4 inches deep with differing compression ratios to provide protection and comfort. Saddlebags on both sides of the rear seat are handy storage compartments.
As part of our preflight discussion, I was pleased to hear Mark practices engine-out landings frequently. In conversations with powered parachute pilots, I find such training to be quite rare, yet it helps prepare pilots for an unplanned event.

Our test model Blue Heron Marathon had a single throttle and steering lever, though you can order optional dual controls for instructional purposes. I was happy to see Blue Heron’s throttle is pushed forward for more power and pulled back for less, like nearly every other aircraft I’ve flown.
However, the taxi steering lever on the Blue Heron uses a front/back action. Its forward and back motion to direct left or right movements seemed counterintuitive to me. Fortunately, you can get used to this method quickly enough. Besides, taxiing isn’t something you spend a lot of time doing in a powered parachute.
We flew under a canopy manufactured by Performance Design (PD) that Nick called “lofty,” referring to the higher lift generated by the 550-square foot canopy, the larger of two commonly used sizes (500 and 550). Mark prefers the PD Sunriser 500 canopy because it inflates well, is stable, and can fly at about 400 rpm less than the 550-square-foot size.
With the PD Sunriser 550 canopy and Mark and I on board, our descent rate was about 4-to-1. With a single occupant, Mark believes the Marathon can achieve a 50-percent better descent rate. Further, a single occupant using the larger 550 canopy will see another 10-15 percent reduction in sink rate.
Blue Heron Choices

Heldeberg Designs offers four Blue Heron models, two single-seaters and two two-seaters, and most are aimed at the LSA classification. Variations on each model add to customer choices:

The Spirit 103 with a 40-hp Rotax 447,whichsellsfor$10,545instandard airframe and canopy colors. You can upgrade to the Rotax 503, raising the total price to $11,995. If you choose the latter model, you’ll have to build it from a kit and certificate it as an experimental amateur-built aircraft until the LSA consensus standards are published and manufacturers can sell experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA) kits and ready-to-fly special LSA.
The Blue Heron Express is a single-seat machine powered by the 50-hp Rotax 503. It comes with a 10-gallon fuel tank, an extra-long airframe design, and a 64-inch Ivo prop. It sells for $13,625. Like the 503-powered Spirit 103, it currently must be built as an experimental amateur-built aircraft until the LSA consensus standards are finalized.
The Marathon LSA, the model we reviewed for this report, is powered by a pull-start 66-hp Rotax 582 engine, sells for $16,995 with a full engine information system (EIS), and comes in a choice of colors. You will also be able to purchase a Marathon E-LSA when the consensus standards are published and save $1,145 ($15,850 total). As with all Rotax-powered aircraft, the prices are subject to change because of the changing dollar/euro exchange rates.
At the top of the line is the 80-hp XC-912, which sells for $24,795, with a stainless steel exhaust system and a heavy-duty strut. Though this model weighs about 50 pounds more than the Rotax 582-powered Marathon, the fuel economy of the four-stroke engine extends your range. You can also select the 100-hp Rotax 912S.

Heldeberg Designs offers a long list of options to help personalize your Blue Heron. You can choose analog instruments for $750 or the Taskem EFI digital system for $950. Electric start adds $1,200 (another reason to do without it). Other options include balloon tires ($175 with kit), front wheel brake ($320 as an add-on), instructor dual-control system ($350), saddlebags ($125), and a nylon aircraft cover ($250).

If your budget is tender, you can purchase an airframe kit for the Blue Heron Marathon model ($7,595), build the airframe kit (approximately 50 hours to assemble), and add an engine when ready. With the airframe kit you’ll get Heldeberg’s undercarriage truss system and the dual-media vibration isolation system plus a radiator, aluminum fuel tanks, standard powder-coated airframe, fender, and assembly manuals. You also have several choices in canopies. Heldeberg Designs offers Performance Designs, Apco, Elan, Chiron, and High Energy canopies. Each has its proponents, but Heldeberg often steers customers to Performance Designs.
Mark prefers Performance Designs because of the company’s superior customer service. The Florida based facility is good at making repairs promptly and maintains a large inventory of fabric so color matching is possible. Performance Designs is one of the country’s largest producers of gliding canopies for skydivers, and powered parachutes.
Working with Nick and Marie Viscio is a personal experience, Mark assured me. Given the couple’s close attention to their business, a good safety record for the large number of aircraft produced, a lengthy list of innovative features, and the designer’s penchant for lightweight designs, one of Heldeberg Designs’ Blue Heron PPCs will probably satisfy your powered parachute interest and offer you a machine that performs well.