Red Baron reborn to promote a new method of flight
Man seeks to be the first person to make a continuous cross-country flight in a powered parachute

American Baron Tayler awoke from a hospital bed, recovering from an aortic aneurysm in April 1999, 81 years, almost to the day that Manfred von Richthofen, "the Red Baron," of WWI Germany, was shot down somewhere over the Somme River Valley in France.

Since waking from that bed, Tayler was born again with the determination to take to the skies, something he had always dreamed of since he was a child. Donning the familiar red and black and having traded in the WWI machine gun for bullhorn, this Baron swooped into the Charles Lindbergh Airport in Winslow as a part of his tour to be the first person to fly continuously cross-country in a PowerChute.

Tayler began the journey on May 10, taking off from the USS Midway off the coast of San Diego, Calif., and will be ending it by landing on the USS Yorktown off the coast of South Carolina.

Not a far cry from those early days of aviation, the PowerChute is also a relatively new mode of transportation for those wanting to take to the skies.

"It is the closest thing to being a bird that we can fly," Tayler said.

In seconds, Talyer's plane, the "Phoenix Voyager," was off the tarmac after about 50 ­ 60 feet. The PowerChute's HKS 4 stroke engine fans a parachute to give it flight where it glides at an average speed of 30 mph in pendulum-like like sweep over the horizon.

Aside from the fun of dangling hundreds of feet in the air by the flight of a parachute, these crafts have another purpose that Tayler is trying to educate people about. He started the PowerChute Education Foundation to provide Emergency Low Level Aerial Search and Surveillance services to support ground search and rescue teams looking for missing persons. Tayler's goal is to establish ELLASS chapters across the country for flying enthusiasts to have fun and also to exist in the case of any emergency or event where their services would be needed.

"Part of our tour is to stop in towns like Winslow where there is a need for these services with local police or emergency crews to use air support," he said. "The major drawback to helicopters is their operational and maintenance expenses that can cost $350 ­ $600 an hour."

Tayler said that the cost to operate a PowerChute would be about $20 ­ $30 an hour due to the simplicity and low cost of these crafts. The Phoenix Voyager costs about $18,000 and is 10 feet long and weighs 480 lbs. It is the first powered parachute designed for cross-country flight. It can climb 500 feet per minute up to 10,000 feet and can go for well over 5 hours in the air on 18 gallons of fuel.

"And if fuel runs out or there is an engine failure, you have a full-time safety system already deployed," said Michael Harwood, another powerchuter who is occasionally joins Tayler on the most of this cross-country journey which is also being documented on film.

Harwood is an general aviation pilot and trainer who has been flying planes since 1977, and PowerChutes since 2002.

" No regular aircraft I flew could safely fly at tree top level and at 30 mph. Best of all; I discovered that I could fly a Powered Parachute at a fraction of the cost of General Aviation. It seemed too good to be true. With this I fell in love with flying all over again!" Harwood said.

The PowerChute is more accessible to those interested in flying, but could not before in regular aircraft because of the high cost and arduous task of getting those pilots' permits.

With the PowerChute, the enthusiast could get a permit to fly after only 12 hours of training.

"I could train any police officer, just as anyone would with learning how to ride a horse or motorcycle," Harwood said.

Tayler and Harwood said the PowerChute is great for search and surveillance because of its slow speed, maneuverability and affordability.

Through the PowerChute Education Foundation, Tayler and Harwood wish to train and educate more interested potential PowerChute pilots take to the skies. They encourage those interested in flying this route to form a regional club so that can become affiliated with PCE Foundation and can be trained on how to fly the powered parachute.

"I hope with the exposure generated form this trip that thousands of people decide to take-up the sport of powered parachuting, and that ELLASS chapters are formed throughout the United States so that no location in America is more than a few hours from a local chapter," Tayler said.

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