Air Dwane

If you have lived in Eudora at any time over the past 15 years, chances are you have spotted a unique aircraft flying overhead. It’s a powered-parachute craft, most often piloted by a single person who flies low enough that he often waves to people below.

That pilot is Dwane Richardson. A longtime Eudora resident, Richardson has owned Eudora-based Richardson Jumpstarters for 30 years. But long before that, Richardson had a fondness for flying. When he was young, he worked at Vinland Airport and washed airplanes in exchange for flying lessons. He earned his private pilot’s license and flew rented planes as a hobby before raising his family and starting a company.

The work kept him away from flying, but he returned to it. Now, the 70-year-old pilot looks back and laughs when he remembers the day he bought his $15,000 powered parachute on a whim.

“The salesman took me up for about 45 minutes, then he said, ‘Go ahead and take it up!’ I said ‘I don’t think I should,’ and he said, ‘You know how to fly,’” Richardson recalls. “I set it down a little hard and the prop nicked the safety rig. I felt so bad I just bought it—I didn’t even discuss it with my wife.”

Richardson adds, from experience, that he wouldn’t recommend anyone else make that type of purchase without talking to their spouse. But he would recommend the hobby—in a heartbeat. Richardson has seen the 48 continental states from the seat of his aircraft, and he and his wife (who has forgiven him for the impulse purchase but generally chooses not to fly with him in this particular craft that can accommodate two people) have vacationed in areas across the states chosen for the scenery. Often, they travel with a group of approximately a dozen powered-parachute pilots and their spouses or families.

“I’ve seen some of the most beautiful country you can imagine,” Richardson says. “I’ve seen wild horses, bears, antelope, deer, coyotes. You can only fly 35 miles per hour, and you can get real low and see absolutely everything.”

How low can he go?

“I can fly five to ten feet off the ground,” Richardson says. “But you really want to keep your eyes out for power lines and fences.”

When he’s not flying over the Grand Canyon or Oregon’s Pacific coast, Richardson enjoys flying over his hometown of Eudora. He likes to fly over the properties he owns and see how they’re doing. He also enjoys flying along the river, but limits his time buzzing over the water in case he loses the engine. “Water is one place you don’t want to have to put it down,” he cautions.

Richardson’s aircraft is powered by a 65-horsepower, two-stroke engine with a 15-gallon gas tank. He can fly for about three-and-a-half hours on a full tank. It is a reliable fuel system and engine, but he has lost it … twice. Thankfully, his years of experience, along with his private pilot’s license, allow him to shrug off both those instances. The only time he’s really been in trouble was when he got “a little lost” in Utah and came over a bluff to see a mountain he wasn’t prepared for.

“I was low on gas and then I had to climb hard,” he remembers. “I was doing some praying, but I got over it.”

Richardson clearly knows what he’s doing when it comes to operating his powered parachute. He throws terms like “density altitude” around as if it were as simple as “double cheeseburger.” A pilot’s license is not required for a single-seat powered parachute, but Richardson advises those curious about the hobby to get up in the air before they commit.

“I once took up a professional bull rider and he got real scared,” Richardson says. “I told him, ‘You put your life on the line with those bulls … and this scares you?’ And he told me, ‘That isn’t as far to fall!’”

The highest Richardson has ever been in his powered parachute is 14,000 feet, for a short time. Being above 10,000 feet for any length of time requires oxygen. Those high-altitude flights can be exhilarating, but the mid-range flights over Eudora offer something he doesn’t get in other places—people looking up and waving at him. Yes, he can see that.

“People will pull over and get out of their cars to wave at me,” Richardson says. “So I’ll dive down at them and give them a little show.”