Flying high over Westport is not a plane or a bird, it’s actually a power parachute.  Yes, that is correct a power parachute has been flying over Westport.  The man who flies this beast of the sky is New York City crane operator and Westport resident Richard Ruggles.

With 27 years of flying experience under his belt, Ruggles went into flying power parachutes because of a friendly dare.

“That machine is built by a company called Infinity. The man who designed and built it is a retired Boeing engineer.  I just bought that because a friend of mine challenged me to give it a shot—I did and that was it,” Ruggles Said

The power parachuting business is a multi-million dollar industry amounting sales in Europe and America alone, but Ruggles is only one of three in the state of Connecticut.

Because power parachuting is so uncommon in Connecticut, when Richard takes off, he always has an interested audience.

“When I go over the water, people just stop and stare, kayakers wave to me, it’s a really cool thing to witness.”  Ruggles said

The common take off spot for Ruggles power parachute is to the right of Bedford Middle School looking from the front.  From that point, Ruggles often follows the tree line on North Avenue of Staples High School to places beyond.

When he takes off near Staples, there are frequently people on the sports fields surrounding his flight.  “Every time I take off, everybody that’s on the field just stops and they are all waving,” Ruggles said.

Richard is a licensed pilot but still had to get a separate type of aviation license to be able to fly the chute.  Even with the experience he has under his belt with flying, there are still challenges that the power parachute poses.

The most important thing about parachuting period is before it takes off your kite has to be centered” Richard said.

Kiting is the physics that happen to the power chute when the parachute over the top of the machine goes off to the side too much causing the pilot to flip over in the air.  Because of this, the pilot must make sure that the parachute is always straight above the engine.

This dynamic of flying is the only dangerous aspect that the aviator has to watch out for because according to Ruggles, other then that, the process is a much more controlled and fluid.

“It’s like just floating, it’s wide open, you’re just floating along.  It’s the next best thing to being a bird.” Ruggles said.

The flying machine that Ruggles created was originally made to fly for his own enjoyment, however, he has recently turned into a business venture as well.  Ruggles’ power parachute is now sponsored by Westport Wash and Wax and is offering lessons to anybody 14 and older who wants to learn how to fly.

“We’re going to have a flight camp where we are going to take between 5 to 10 students and introduce them to the sport of power parachuting.  These camps are starting around July.”

The chance to fly this machine is coming to anybody who wants to, and according to Ruggles the experience is always a blast.

“The people that come up in the air come back with the biggest smile on their face at the end.”