Kelly Precht of Sweetlake said he’s no adrenaline junkie, far from it. He’s not interested in parachuting from a plane. He’s only interested in using a parachute to go up, up, as much as 500 feet or more into the sky. He calls the Powered Parachute the safest way to fly.

“It’s quiet up there, peaceful,” Precht said. “It’s just so simple and very forgiving.”

A powered parachute is a personal aircraft with a propeller-driven cart suspended from a parachute, which acts as the wing. His is a 550-square-foot Apco Cruiser Wing. The thrust from the engine pushes the cart forward and forces air into the leading edge of the wing, causing it to “inflate.” The PPC travels at 25 to 35 mph. Precht said the birds are faster, but on occasion the ducks, cranes and once an eagle have come close enough to investigate.

As a fourth generation rice and cattle farmer, Precht spent time playing on top of the rice bins and dreaming of flying.

“My uncle Billy Wayne Precht started flying cubs when he was in high school,” Precht said. “He would come to Precht Road to see his mother, my grandmother, and we’d watch him take off from the canal. He got a job flying seaplanes and then got into the ag business. His sister, Barbara Hanchey, married an Air Force pilot who retired as a Lt. Colonel. He flew B-52 bombers out of Barksdale.”

Kelly Precht continued to think about the skies.

“I always wanted to fly, but I never could afford it,” he said.

Seventeen years ago a window of opportunity opened, and he called his Uncle Billy to find out what he thought about PPCs. He confirmed his nephew’s opinion.

“It’s one of the safest forms of flight provided you use common sense and fly at the right times,” Precht said. “A lot of people have died from these things, yes. You can die from anything.”

Precht’s uncle knew about PPGs from Taylor LeBlanc, a world champion from Jennings who was responsible for helping train some of the stunt  pilots in a James Bond film.

“In any accidents that have been investigated, the cause has been human error,” Precht said.

His wife Corie is supportive of his hobby. The couple drive to fly-ins and host one each year in September at their place, Chute-n-Gators. When it’s time to hit the road, they fold up their bicycles, load up the PPC and a mini cooper to pull behind their RV. When Precht was asked why Mini Cooper instead of a motorcycle, the man who hunts alligators and flies in the sky, said, “Oh no, motorcycles are dangerous.”

The couple did have one close call in 17 years.

“We stopped at a park in New Mexico. There it was 9,000 feet above sea level Here, it’s three-feet above sea level.” The higher altitude meant the air molecules were thinner and the lift not as great. We were in a hole with scrub trees about the height of a lamp post around us. I knew to push the machine back, but I should have pushed it back further and told myself that if it’s not up there by a certain point, I’ll quit.”

One side of his wing did not open up completely, he was trying to open it, drove past his point and was at full throttle. Still, no lift off.

“So I’m giving it some flare, pushing on the pegs to pull the back leading edge to give it lift.”

At the point of no return, his rear tire caught the top of an oak tree.

“My wife screams. I panic. I let off the flare so I could finally fly and one of my links slipped because I was pushing too hard on it. I didn’t have a deadman knot in it, which I should have. The wind finally catches me, and I’m flying around. Yes, it was not good.”

That night, he  woke up in a cold sweat and scared to death, but he was back up again the next day. Corie was not as eager to get back in the saddle.

PPCs are an affordable hobby – compared to fixed-wing planes, according to Precht, costing anywhere from $5,000 to $70,000 depending on bells and whistles. One seaters do not require a license beyond a driver’s license.

“Yeah, it’s OK to kill yourself, but if you’re going to kill someone else, you gotta know what’s going on,” he said with a chuckle.

Precht has a two-seater and the necessary pilot’s license. Every year he takes an oral exam and a proficiency test. The plane is inspected every year.

He helped locate caskets after Hurricane Ida. Recently, he helped look for a missing Lake Charles man.