2006 Cross Country PPC Trip Baron Tayler of the PowerChute Education Foundation is going to attempt to be the first to fly a Powered Parachute (PPC) coast to coast across the United States in one continuous trip this spring. The trip will commence about May 10 by taking off from the flight deck of the USS Midway in San Diego. Check the WWW for Progress Updates When the trip starts, a daily trip log will be posted on the WWW and will be updated as often as possible during the trip. Because of tenuous communication links, there may be delays in posting to the site.

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Start and Stop on Aircraft Carriers: USS Midway to USS Yorktown
Baron Tayler is scheduled to depart in California from the deck of the aircraft carrier the USS Midway on or about May 10, 2006. If all goes well, the PPC is to touch down 8 to 12 weeks later in South Carolina on the deck of aircraft carrier the USS Yorktown.

Airspeed 25 Knots; 50+ Stops; 3,600+ Miles
A PPC flies at a relatively slow speed of about 25knots (about 30 MPH) and has a limited fuel carrying capacity requiring 50+ stops to travel the 3,600+ miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, this ultralight aircraft can be safely flown in winds of less than about 12 MPH. Hence, the window for safely flying will be weather dependent and bounded by the PPC flight range.

Weather Dependent Flights
Care must be taken carefully looking at the changing weather conditions before each flight. Should the weather change dramatically once the aircraft is airborne, dangerous conditions could threaten the pilot and aircraft and jeopardize the trip. The challenge on a daily basis will be to keep the aircraft mechanically sound and flying to be able to exploit the safe flight windows as they occur.

Documentary Production
Tim Gibbons Videography will have a film crew shadowing the PPC flight, recording the trip from both the ground and from the air in a chase PPC. Upon the conclusion of the trip, a 2 hour (80 minutes TRT plus 40 minutes for the inevitable commercials inserted by the TV stations) documentary will be produced about the flight, the challenges, the pitfalls and successes.