As recreational a vehicle as you're likely to find

By Stewart Royal

In the northern city of Quebec, in a country known as Canada there is a man who has made great advances in the realm of recreational vehicles. Unfortunately, he is almost unknown outside that French speaking quadrant of the continent. The same can be said for the machine he has come up with. But that may be changing.

In 1989, this fellow, named Jacques Fleury, started a company which he named "Harfang des Neiges." And as we all know on this side of the border, "Harfang des Neiges" means "Snowy Owl," which of course conjures up an exciting and enjoyable mental image of flying a personal recreational vehicle through the skies above your hometown. Then again, maybe not.

But the fact remains that for eight years Jacques has been producing machine that can perk up any powered parachuter's otherwise dreary day. It doesn't look exactly like any of the more traditional powered parachutes on the market today, and the differences run more than skin deep. The Para-Ski can actually operate in a variety of conditions, and in a variety of configurations which take it out of the powered parachute classification and bring it into the world of the true recreational vehicle. Perhaps fort the first time Americans will start to become accustomed to a machine that can fly through the air, motor its way across the local lake and swoosh over the snow with equal ease, whatever the season whatever your preference, the Para-ski can be a useful, fun machine year round. Not just on the calm and inviting days of summer.

Perhaps most astoundingly, the Para-Ski has an interesting possibility I have never come across before. One of the available options when ordering a unit includes the ability to have the craft built so that it can be flown with either a canopy, as a powered parachute, or with a flexible wing, as a trike. When I spoke to the Big Cheese's from the company they were careful to point out that this is an option, not a standard feature. So the buyer has to know what he or she wants when the order is placed. But it does mean that if a buyer wants to potentially increase the size of the re-sale market of his machine, or build in a certain amount of flexibility to his future flying opportunities, this machine can offer diversity that is seldom seen and as far as I know, not commercially available from any other powered parachute company currently manufacturing units.

Being enclosed for the most part as it is, the Para-Ski allows its owners to make use of their machines even during weather that the average powered parachuter would shiver at. With the operator in proper dress to fit the season, there is no reason that this machine can't take to the air in January as easily as it does in July. Or for that matter just zoom about on the ground making use of its skis to skim over the top of the snow and ice that abound in the northern reaches during certain months of the year. Of course in the extreme southern United States the winter weather protection is not of any serious consideration, but the protection from head-on collisions with bugs of all shapes and mostly big sizes would be a welcome advancement for us. For the past six years the Para-Ski has been a viable watercraft, too. Retractable aluminum floats have been affixed to the airframe, to convert the unit into a fast and unique looking personal vehicle for getting from here to there and back again on the surface of your local inland body of water. Ocean voyages are not encouraged.

The job at hand for Para-Ski now is one of expansion. How does a company that has been producing a high quality, all-around recreational vehicle get the world to beat down their door trying to buy more and more units. Well, I don't know. But Para-Ski president Joe Albanese does. He is working hard to find a way to get those of us that are inclined to be interested in his company's product, familiar with it.

The sad reality is, as of this writing, there isn't a dealer for Para-Ski in the United States, and the only way to actually see one and try it out is to take a trip to Quebec. Unfortunately, Quebec, for all its charms, is a little out of the way for many American powered parachute enthusiasts. Joe knows this, and when I came across him at Sun 'n Fun this past April he was making inquiries about picking up distributors and dealers here in the States. I met a couple of parties that were showing signs of serious interest there also. So if I were to guess, I'd have to say that the Para-Ski is about to be a growing product in the midst of an expanding marketplace.

Because of the distance required from our plush and cushy offices here in central Florida, I have never actually seen a Para-Ski machine close up. I've seen the pictures, and the videos, and had the one-on-one chat with the company representatives when they gave me the run down on their product, their plans and where they hope to be in the future. But there are a number of interesting technical features to the craft that I would like to check out for myself when I get the chance. Such little items like the split rudder, which is used as an anti-torque device in flight, and appears to be a very large and authoritative looking control surface from the film I've seen. Coupled with the dual rudders on the aluminum floats I would suspect the turning radius is quite tight on the water, too. As for the skis, I find them interesting, but personally have no desire to get anywhere near an environment where snow is a possibility. I don't have that type of blood anymore.

As a side note, it might be worth knowing that the "Harfang" name has been changed recently to "Propulsion, Delta, and Motorized Parachutes." It's longer, but I think it's more to the point. Para-Ski International is the marketing arm of the team, while the other is the manufacturing group. You might want to make a note of those company names in case you do find yourself in the Great White North unexpectedly. You might someday be able to tell your grandchildren that you got a sneak peek at a Para-Ski before most people knew what it was in the lower 48.

Of course, a lot of perfectly good products start out with a fairly narrow distribution network and still go on to be successful. For instance, I remember when you couldn't buy Coors beer east of the Mississippi River. They seem to have done all right. It should be interesting to see what happens when the product is bigger, brighter, heavier and you don't run the risk of waking up with a pounding headache in a place you don't recognize if you use it too much at one sitting. Good luck Joe and Jacques. May the Force be with you!