NEWBURYPORT — Over the years, there have been a few strange-looking aircraft that have flown over the city, but the one that circled around Cashman Park last week might be one of the oddest.
The pilot has what looks like an enormous fan strapped to his back. Tethered about 20 feet above him is a willowy parachute. The small engine that drives the fanlike propeller buzzes like a chain saw. There are no landing wheels, no rudder, no cockpit, no airframe. Just a man with a big fan, some cords he pulls to steer and a parachute. It's probably about as close as mankind can come to "free flight."
A small crowd of curious onlookers watched as Patrick Tarmey, 24, flew his motorized parachute over the riverfront park and along the nearby banks of the Merrimack River. Puttering along about 150 feet or so in the air, he was careful not to fly over buildings and cars. As he came in to land on the Cashman Park ball field, he cut the engine and drifted down from the sky. There was a tense moment as an unexpected air cell caused him to suddenly drop about 20 feet, but he quickly regained composure. His legs braced for impact; and as his feet hit the grass, he managed to easily handle the weight of the motor on his back. The parachute quietly fluttered to the ground.
It was Tarmey's first flight in Newburyport, but it will be far from the last.
Powered parachutes are a rare sight in this part of the country. In fact, Tarmey had to go to the West Coast to find someone to teach him to fly one. Now that he has his wings, he's ready to start teaching others to fly and appears to be the first to offer flights in eastern Massachusetts.
Tarmey, who grew up in Beverly and Peabody and whose family now lives in Newburyport, started a business in Beverly last month to offer powered parachute flights and lessons. The contraptions are capable of handling two people. He said he's already had 1,500 people register on his website, paramotortours.com, and he expects more by the time flights are offered in May. The costs will be $225 for a 30-minute flight and $150 for 15 minutes. He's also donated flights to local charities and hopes to do more of that.
"Growing up, my parents would say I was addicted to things that would kill you — in a good way, not a bad way," he said. "Anything that went fast was always my interest."
Skiing and riding water scooters were favorite sports in his youth, but his love has now turned to aviation, on a personal scale. He doesn't like flying in commercial jets or even in small planes. He prefers skydiving, and recently fell in love with the big fan strapped to his back.
"You're free as you can possibly be in the sky," he said. "You have free reign to go as high as you want."
Tarmey uses the motor, which he controls with a throttle in his hand, to lift him. Then he shuts the motor off for long periods and drifts on the air currents, the wind softly whistling by his ears. He pulls on cords attached to the parachute to create lift and drag — the two basic components of flight.
"The sensation is really relaxing," he said. "You feel really free."
The flying machine can make it to the dizzying height of 18,000 feet, but Tarmey doesn't like going nearly that high. He said 4,000 feet was his highest altitude, but he prefers staying a couple hundred feet or so off the ground.
It sounds and looks risky. Indeed, there have been several reported deaths from accidents in the western United States. But Tarmey said the accidents often result from people attempting dangerous stunts, and he doesn't take any chances. In fact, he wears an emergency parachute that would safely float him to the ground if the parasail fails. He's never had to use it, he said.
"Just taking off with a fan on your back is extreme enough," he said. "It's actually a safe sport, and relatively easy to learn. I've seen 8-year-olds fly solo."
Tarmey doesn't expect to be flying a lot at Cashman Park, but he said he is negotiating with local landowners so he can host flights over local fields. Like all aircraft, these craft must be careful to use airspace that is out of normal flight paths, and they also are not allowed to fly over buildings.
Flying has always been an expensive hobby, and powered parachutes are no exception. It costs about $12,000 to buy a fully certified powered parachute, along with an emergency chute, Tarmey said. And it costs about $3,000 for lessons to learn how to fly one.
But that's small change to satisfy a passion.
"My addiction is flying," he said.
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