This Dinghy Flies

W

Will-C

New member
Hi,
I was in The Dominican Rebublic on a so called business trip and during a break from the grueling work sessions I managed to get my wife out on the beach so she could parasail, a bucket list item of hers. I saw this 14' hard bottomed inflatable fly over head. I'm sure some of you might have seen this before but it flipped me out. I flipped my Panasonic FX150 into movie mode and got one of it flying overhead while still trying to document honeypots exciting moment parasailing. The second clip is the French pilot bringing it in for a landing. Some still shots of the same rig are in recent photo activity on the home page under flying dinghy. Here are the U-Tube links for the boat in flight and the landing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0-FCxItk2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC1VOjlStBs

D.D.
 
great photo's. any info like manufacturer, cost, what license might be required to operate it? needless to say, i want one!
pat

ps: he who dies with the most toys, wins!
 
We first saw a flying boat ultra light in 1983 on the Chesapeake. Currenly there are 2 sea plane ultralights on our street. They share in common with these specific flying dinghies, the Rotex engines. Unfortunately, these occasionally fail, and occasionally with fatal results. We had a 3 of these until about 2 months ago, at that time one with two persons aboard crashed. The passenger was not able to undo her safety harness, and the pilot had to dive 3 times to release the harness. This was very close to the end of a life. The pilot sustained a fracture of a vertebral body, and lung damage due to inhalation of water. I am aware of a number of other similar crashes...so as much fun as it may seem, there is a substantial risk.
 
There are a couple of flyers here that enjoy our coastline. One is a parachute type mounted to a seat with a motor and the other has a platform with wheels.

It sure looks fun. One pilot I was talking with says that you have to be able to accept death in a mishap.

Oh well, I will stick with surfing, because I know that all kooks wipeout.
 
in a populated resort environment with jet skies cars speed boats and the like, yes this would be a fun item.
On the other hand, if you were in a remote cove in the coastal islands enjoying a peaceful afternoon at anchor and one of these was buzzing overhead...not so much.
Now a dinghy that converts to be sailed, that's an idea worth looking into. Hope to get one of those one of these summers.
 
At first I thought you were talking about this...

SAM_0749_2.jpg

And saw this plane a few summers ago at Savary Island:

SAM_0244_2.jpg

That flying dinghy does look pretty cool though. Now I just need to find space for it on the boat...and some money.
 
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