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Drive 45 minutes south west of Melbourne, Australia and you will find an open baron piece of land.  Look up and you might spot some of the crazy pilots flying their own personally designed aviation devices.  They call it the Aerochute!!  The Aerochute is essentially a three wheeled, metal frame buggy, with two side–by-side seats and a 500cc engine powering a massive propeller.  Behind the Aerochute there is a parachute attached by a series of strings.  What is incredible about these devices is that the people who run the company designed and made them and they are in fact the only side-by-side tandem craft of this kind in the world.  The company was started in 1989 and they have run tours in Vanuatu, USA and the UK and are hoping to set up permanent tour operations out of India and the UK very shortly

We arrived at the base at 6:20 AM as the sun was rising.  Unfortunately, apart from in July and in August, the Aerochute is only permitted by the wind to fly between the hours of 6:30 and 10:30 AM.  This really is an activity for the early birds among you!    At the base we quickly hopped into some fashionable flight suits and got assigned our individual Aerochutes and guides.  All the guides are really enthusiastic about their crafts and go above and beyond to not only make you feel perfectly safe but to maximise your experience.

We made our way over to the runway: essentially a flat grass patch, marked out with orange cones.  It’s fair to say with my first glances of the craft and the runway, I was pretty nervous.  Luckily I wasn’t the first to take off.  Max hopped into his Aerochute with his guide Steve, the CEO of the company, and after a few safety checks the propeller was going and they raced across the runway before taking off into the clear sky.  I now had a little more confidence and my nerves soon made way for my newfound excitement.  I put on my safety helmet, goggles and ‘Top Gun-esque’ intercoms.  This ensured that I could talk to my guide Jon while we were in the air. 

Jon went through some safety precautions and within minutes we were up in the sky with them.  The take off occurred with a surprising speed and I was also very surprised at how safe I felt in the air.  It’s very easy to just sit back and relax.  I had to keep reminding myself that I was some 4-500 feet above the ground.  Our altitude varied throughout the flight.  The craft can go up as high as 1000-1500 feet and they also take you frighteningly close to the ground too.

We had been flying around for about 10 minutes, and I got my first taste of the Aussie outback.  The land is a flat, baron open plane and you can see for miles in all directions.  Jon then pointed down to the floor and said ‘Look Look!’  Below us was a heard of Kangaroos.  They blend into the environment very well and you can only really see them when they move.  This was my first sighting of a Kangaroo and what’s more it was in the wild Aussie outback.

After following the kangaroos for a while and flying along side a cow, Jon asked me ‘Do you want to take hold of the controls?’  I thought he was joking but he passed me the reins and told me to control the throttle and there I was, flying!  The accelerator is foot operated and you pull the handles above your head.  Pull the left handle to turn the Aerochute left and pull the right handle to turn the Aerochute right.  I would love to say that I was a natural but the truth of the matter is that it’s surprisingly easy.

We then performed a few manoeuvres and then a Touch and Go!  A touch and go manoeuvres involves landing the Aerochute and then taking off again immediately.  You race across the floor for about 4 seconds and it’s great fun.  By far the best bit of the flight.  After some more tomfoolery in the air you make your decent towards the runway for you landing.  With firmly crossed fingers and hoping for all the best you land on the ground smoothly, and the craft comes to an abrupt halt and you are greeted by your friends on the floor.

The flight only lasts around 30-40 minutes but it literally flies by as you have sheer exhilaration controlling the craft.  Although it might be a road less travelled in terms of activities, in my view it is well worth the journey.

I enjoyed it so much that I even enquired about how I would go about getting one of my own.  I was told that firstly you need 20 hours of flight time to get your licence.  All this can be done with the Aerochute Company.  Then its just the tiny matter of coming up with 11,500 Australian dollars + VAT.

Check out the video of our Aerochute Experience!!

March 4th, 2009 | Tags: Activities Melbourne, Aerochute, Australia, Aviation, Extreme Sport, Flying, Melbourne, Parachute, Things to do Melbourne, Weribee | Category: Adventure Sport, Australia, Oceania Trips, Sporting Trips, Travel Videos | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL