Fifty Motored Paraglider Partly Flies, Partly Glides

If there’s one thing you can count on [Peter Sripol] for, it’s for defining the the aviation category of “Don’t Try This At Home.” In the video below the break, [Peter] displays his latest terror of the skies: A powered paraglider backpack that has fifty electric motors. Does it fly? Yes. Was it a success? Eh… mostly.

As [Peter] even says in the video: Don’t try this at home. [Peter] has taken a paraglider, which is essentially a non-rigid fabric wing that to the untrained eye resembles a parachute, and powered it with fifty drone motors taken from other projects. Two motors each are mounted in a push/pull configuration inside a 5×5 array of 3d printed ducts.

While the experiment was essentially a success, it was also a failure due to not having enough power, too little battery life, and overall just not being that great. Does every experiment need to end in absolute success in order to have fun and learn lessons that can be applied to the next iteration? Definitely not! We applaud [Peter] for being willing to fail- although, we have to admit, failing is a lot easier when you’ve already got a parachute of sorts deployed!

Looking for some more don’t-try-this-at-home projects to gawk at? Look no further than [Colin Furze] who like [Peter],  has managed to gain his own Hackaday tag.

15 thoughts on “Fifty Motored Paraglider Partly Flies, Partly Glides

  1. [Peter Sripol]’s channel is one of those DIY channels which has outgrown its “Y”. Too professional both in terms of equipment, and staff, as well as too obviously monetarized. Still entertaining sometimes, but less and less educational.

    1. I think that’s the way a lot of channels are going.
      They start doing it for the right reasons of passion and education, with no plans to make money or even to cover their expenses. Then they start to chase the metrics, tweaking their content to chase maximum engagement. Next thing they know they’re making beer money from it. Then they’re making good money from it. Then they’re quitting their day jobs to do it exclusively and professionally, then they start chasing the money since their family and friends are likely invested and they don’t want to become homeless.

      Then you end up with a channel full of clickbait headlines and exaggerated facial react thumbnails.

      1. I’ve become a moderator such youtuber when they where doing it for fun i helped out on a ton cool stuff and gave a few ideas and help a lot as soon he started chasing rabbit it was all about other youtubers and pumping those views little saddening for me that sorta thing just clicks.

        not sure how to fix it tho as they need to make money to live and pleasing the YT mechagods not easy thing to do.

    2. It’s the natural story arc of a successful YT channel. How else are we going to get videos as ridiculous, funny, and dare I say it, nearly pointless, as this one? We’re humans. We like being entertained and having our itches scratched, and YT is highly optimized for that.

      The way I see it, YT is enabling people to focus full time on their passions. Being a YouTuber is very hard work all on its own, so seeing somebody get to do what they love for a living is pretty cool. I don’t aspire to it, but I don’t think it’s a problem all on its own. What I do see are channels who do increasingly expensive (talking $100K+) things just for the sake of the clicks, and that I don’t approve of. But, Peter here chases his passion, and I can get behind that, even in its current form.

    1. Can you be more specific? Like Elliot, I just don’t see it- and I would never intentionally point folks at a video that gave even the slightest hint of being disrespectful. So if you’re seeing something I don’t, please tell me.

  2. I used to want to do this so much. Before that I wanted an ultralight but was always told how unsafe they are. I’ve done a few static line jumps, it’s so easy. I thought something like this would be pretty hard to mess up. Then came the Grant Thompson tragedy… I supposed personal human flight will always carry a risk with it.

  3. As a freeflying unmotorized paraglider that sound is like torture to me. Hearing what the wind does is a big part of paragliding and that sound totally kills PPG for me.

  4. I saw this via my feed…. says something about my yt habits lol. Good idea with future potential id say. I like the idea of many recruitable power and thrust elements but props are similar to pipes in how they are more efficient at larger sizes. Which clearly matters more in this era of increased options but heavy electricity storage. The ducts need to have variable shapes for evs and there is some work being done. I think a cross between origami and 3d printing will get us there.

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