Welcome to the Maine PowerChute Association home page. Within this site, we'll provide more information about one of the most exhilirating and unique form of flying - roaming the skies in a powered parachute. We'll also provide information about our membership, about learning to fly these aircraft, about contacting our members, our official flying events, and lots of other fun stuff.
Annual membership is $20. As a member, you'll receive our almost-monthly Newsletter, which brings all our members up to date on our events, in addition to safety tips and practices, lots of humor, interesting flying articles, occasionally some boring recap of an event where nothing happened, and lots of flying pictures with our usual irreverent commentary.
Contact any of our members for more information about this terrific sport. Or better yet, come to one of our many fly-ins, and see for yourself why it's so much better to see our great country the Low and Slow way...
Club OfficersJohn Gobel President 852-7300
President 852-7300Bonnie Micue Secretary/Treasurer 273-2016
Aimee Gobel Public Relations 461-2821
461-2821Jerry Sukeforth Safety & Compliance 691-3800
Come fly with us in 2009 !
Thanks for visiting our page. Please contact any member from the Contact List Link for more information.
MPA Web Pages
Links to to other sites
MPA Video Clips
Take a deep breath!
Sport Pilot news
Congratulations to the latest two Sport Pilots in the MPA - David Smith and Bill Grusik have both recently passed all their tests and have received their FAA Sport Pilot certificates!
Now that we have a second CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) in the region - Randy Autrey from Bethel - our members (and others in the tri-state area) do not have to travel all over the country to get their endorsement and their FAA check rides. They can get the necessary hours with from either John G. or Randy A., take the on-line written test at any big airport, and then take the final examination with John (who is a FAA Designated Sport Pilot Examiner, and can issue you your license if you pass the final practical test and the associated checkride.)
2009 Fly-In Schedule
As long as the wind is steady and right at you, you only need a few yards for a safe takeoff!
Ethanol and Gasoline
We've heard quite a bit of bad news regarding the effect of ethanol in the gasoline we use for our Rotax engines. If there's any moisture in the gas, it will cause the alcohol to separate from the gas. Since alcohol burns hotter than gasoline, there's a risk of burning out your pistons, as has happened with some snowmobiles. Jerry S., our resident expert on all things mechanical (or canine) has done quite a bit of research on this - see the link below for more information from him.
"Stabil" sells an additive (Marine formula) that is created specifically to keep this separation from happening, so adding an ounce or two should keep this from being a problem for us.
What's happening around the club?
Sadly, we won't re-schedule the Presque Isle event
After three tries, we finally gave up, as it is now too late in the season for the way-up-north country. The fact that they received 4 inches of snow didn't help either.
Lesson learned - we will schedule this event next year near the end of September, so we can catch the best of the leaf season, and still have decent weather.
So this brings an end to our regularly scheduled fly--in season. Until the winter fly-ins coming up in January, we will just have to make do with calling a few friends for impromptu flying get-togethers. So, it's a good opportunity to see if your skis still fit, to remember how you tied the skis on to your wheels, et cetera.
Top Gun weekend - modified but still fun!
The weather has been hell on us this year. Due to the condition of the grass strip, we had to move our Top Gun weekend from our usual place in Fairfield to LeeLee's field at Appleton during our adventure trip. It was a stirring competition in pretty good conditions, and this year, we had some newcomers as well. The real star of the show, however, was our lovely and talented event judge, Jerry S., who thought one of our contestants came a little too close to his position and dove for cover. Definitely highlight video material. Seeing his speed and reaction time, NFL scouts have contacted Jerry with some lucrative offers.
Congratulations to this year's winner, repeat champ Mike O'Donnell who won a close contest with some high skill flying, demonstrating how precisely you can control a powered parachute. Nice work, Mike!
Redesign & Reconstruction coming!
We've had our web site with the same look and feel for a long time, so it's time for a change! Look for the same deep, meaningful, artistic, philosphical, and spiritual content designed to make the world a better place (OK, you can throw up at this point). But anyway, we'll do some different stuff to up our ratings. Stay tuned! But don't hold your breath, as procrastination is one of our virtues!
Great fly-in at Bingham (Doug's Camp)
Had an excellent turnout at Doug's camp in Bingham! After a rough start Friday night - too much wind both Friday night and Saturday during the day - it got really good Saturday night and all day Sunday and even Monday morning.
We stopped over at the Gaddabout Gaddis fly-in down the road a few miles, and did our standard 7 chute touch & go fly-by - very well received by the friendly folks of the town. We even had our usual 4000 calorie breakfast at their airfield.
And thanks once again to Doug S. and his lovely and talented wife Rita for their wonderful hospitality!
Jan. 31 Winterville. ME (Rob’s Camp)
Winterville. ME (Rob’s Camp)March 7 Greenville, ME (Kelley’s Landing restaurant)
Apr 21 - 26 Sun ’n Fun (Lakeland, FL)
May 9 Knox County A/P
Knox County A/PMay 23 Bowdoinham (Merrymeeting A/P)
Bowdoinham (Merrymeeting A/P) Jun 7 MPA Spring fly-in (Deblois)
MPA Spring fly-in (Deblois) Jun 13&14 Portland Air Show (Chuting Eagles)
Jun 27 Hampden (J. Williams field) & MPA meeting
Jul 3 - 6 Eastport, ME (Eastport A/P)
Jul 10-14 Yankee Fly-in (Greenland, NH)
Jul 18 MPA Top Gun (TBA) & MPA meeting
Jul 27 – 8/2 EAA Air Adventure (Oshkosh, WI)
Aug 1 Norridgewock, ME (Central Maine A/P)
Aug 7-10 Mainely Sport Planes Fly-in (Patten, ME)
Aug 8 - 14 Annual MPA Adventure Trip (details TBA)
Aug 21 - 23 Lewiston Balloon Festival (Auburn-Lewiston A/P)
Aug 28 Bowman (Livermore, ME)
Bowman (Livermore, ME)Sep 10 - 13 Seaplane fly-in (Greenville, ME)
Sep 19 Bingham (Gadabout Gaddis) & MPA meeting
Oct 3 Wiscasset Fly-in (Wiscasset A/P)
Wiscasset Fly-in (Wiscasset A/P)Oct 17 Bethel, ME fly-in (Bethel A/P)
Oct 24 Presque Isle fly-in (Cyr field)
Presque Isle fly-in (Cyr field)Dec 12 MPA Christmas Party & MPA meeting (Bangor)
MPA Christmas Party & MPA meeting (Bangor)NOTE: Dates listed are generally Saturdays, but we usually get there Friday afternoons and leave Sunday mid-day.
