With the advent of the powered paraglider, trike ultralights lost their position as the smallest of powered aircraft. Once slope-launched gliding parachutes matured, power packages were added. Add a pilot’s seat to a backpack engine and the paraglider became a powered aircraft.
One of the most widely known brands to popularize this new concept is Daiichi Kosho Co., Ltd., of Japan. Their DK Whisper series is equipped with a harness for the pilot with built-in seat and a foot bar to yield a comfortable cockpit. The throttle is a hand operated unit with a new “cruise control” feature that lets the pilot fix a power setting for cruise or long duration climbs, which frees the hands for use of a GPS or camera.
The latest version of the Whisper blends the proven harness and frame that can reduce both engine torque reaction and gyroscopic precession. Daiichi says their new harness “is so agile that steering can be controlled by shifting body weight.” This weight shift capability adds to the standard method of hand toggles (which hang near your ear) whose purpose is to reshape the trailing edge of the parachute wing.
Using its 250 cc Boxer engine and a 39 inch prop, the Whisper can muster 20 horsepower at 7500 rpm, which will produce a climb rate of 400 fpm depending on pilot weight. The Whisper GT can support a pilot of up to 250 pounds (though climb performance may vary). Represented in the USA by Paraborne Aviation in Florida, training is available in a two-seat model.
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