Six Chuter Completes SLSA certification on Three Models of their Powered Parachutes
January 29, 2008
Six Chuter Hat Trick
On January 26th the Six Chuter Legend Tandem was successfully certified as a “Special Light Sport” powered parachute. A couple of weeks before that the Legend SP103 achieved that same status. And of course in October of 2007 our unique XT ssdc (side-by-side dual control) trainer was our first aircraft to complete the SLSA certification process. A “Hat-Trick” is the term soccer fans use to describe a player who completes three goals in one game so that seems an appropriate description of what we have recently accomplished.
We are quite certain that we are the only Powered Parachute manufacturer to have our entire “fleet” SLSA certified at this point. What do I mean by “fleet” and what is the big deal? The Six Chuter fleet consists of essentially one airframe, the “Legend” that comes in one of three configurations. They include a single seat, the standard tandem seating arrangement (pilot up front passenger in the back) and the side-by-side seating arrangement of the XT ssdc.
A part of the “big deal” is that come January 31, 2008 only manufacturers who have completed an SLSA version of their powered parachute can continue to market “kits”, called “Experimental Light Sport Aircraft Manufacturer Kits”. And of course it is the ELSA kit that has been the dominant part of the powered parachute market for years. If you are actively instructing you will be required to fly and train in an SLSA by 2010. And SLSA is an aircraft that is fully assembled by the factory, test flown, inspected and certified before it comes to you. There are a relatively small number of persons who need an SLSA. For the rest who are interested in building their own powered parachute from kit form, or having somebody else construct that for them, Experimental Light Sport certification will continue to be the way to go.
Because Six Chuter has been successful in SLSA’ing all of our models each of them are available as SLSA or ELSA kit. And of course we continue to have the SP103UL available as one of the few part 103 legal powered parachutes with the Rotax 503 DC engine installed.
This Hat Trick was indeed carefully planned and timed to occur before the expiration of the Ultralight Exemptions on January 31, 2008. We have reported before on the three-year process of standardization, re-design, and the “reading, writing, and arithmetic”, involved in completing extensive manuals and documentation of compliance with the ASTM standards. So we won’t repeat the story there. However, we must say it feels pretty darned good to have pulled this off pretty much as we envisioned, planned and timed it. And it puts us in a rather unique position in the powered parachute market (at least for awhile).
Beyond our strategy of having each model available legally for sale as either SLSA or ELSA, Dan Bailey’s design strategy for the Six Chuter “fleet” was very specific. The first part of that strategy was to standardize the frame and other parts so that units could be built with different seating configurations. And each of these configurations is available with various engine options and other unique accessories.
The Legend Tandem was simply an evolution of the most popular SR7 and Spirit Line. Little has actually changed except for the foundation of the Legend that opts for a light, strong, single aluminum spar instead of twin framerails. We believe the tandem configuration will continue to be most popular with sport pilots who want to carry passengers.
Having the single seat Legend available in other than just part 103 ultralight legal makes a lot of sense for a couple of reasons. First many customers who want to save money want to stick with a single seat. But they also often want to add options like three blade props, turf tires and frontal bars that easily put the unit over the 254-pound part 103-weight limit. So now the SP103E single seater is available as an ELSA kit. And having it available as an SLSA means that CFIs can legally rent it and pilots who build time in it can count that towards their sport pilot license.
And finally the XT ssdc was designed specifically for CFIs to use to fulfill the 10-hour minimum dual flight time requirement for new sport pilot students. The side-by-side dual control arrangement is perfect for the teaching environment. The unit may also have general appeal to those who would like their passenger sitting next to them.
So there’s the Hat Trick, and we are quite proud of it! Full details of each of these aircraft are available on the Six Chuter website www.sixchuter.com. Factory: 509 966-8211
Doug Maas
Six Chuter Inc. Communications
360 896-8916