Before that, however, a 911 caller told dispatchers he was driving on Interstate 70 westbound by exit 66 when he saw the potential incident.
“I don’t know if it was an ultralight or someone skydiving, but it looks like they got too close to the interstate and got scared, got into a spin, and looks like they went down in the woods,” the caller said. “I saw him kind of spinning and then go down ... I think it may have been a paraglider, but I couldn’t tell, it was far away.”
A second 911 caller said he was on U.S. Route 40 going toward London when he saw the parachute about a mile from Buena Vista Road going toward Springfield.
“I think the guy crashed,” he said. “Once he turned over the trees, I saw the (para)chute take in, and he just starting spiraling straight down.”
Troopers later determined the pilot and his craft were fine.
A powered parachute is a personal aircraft with a propeller-driven cart that’s suspended from a parachute, which acts as the wing. The carts can be either three- or four-wheeled, the engines typically range from 40 to 190 horsepower, and they can fly about 25 to 35 mph, according to Easy Flight, a specialized training facility in Illinois and Florida that focuses on powered parachute instruction.
Powered parachutes can be flown as either ultralights, which have no licensing involved, or certificated aircraft, which need proper training and certification. The ultralights are lighter, carry a maximum of five gallons of fuel, can only be flown during daylight hours and are single-seat only.
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