The Southern Skies Quattro is an American paramotor that was designed and produced by

Southern Skies Southern Skies LLC is a former American aircraft manufacturer based in Taylorsville, North Carolina. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of paramotors in the late 1990s, but no longer produces its own aircraft. The company remain ...

Taylorsville, North Carolina Taylorsville is a town in Alexander County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,098 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Taylorsville is part of the Hickory–Lenoir– Morganton Metropolitan Stat ...

for

powered paragliding Powered paragliding, also known as paramotoring or PPG, is a form of ultralight aviation where the pilot wears a back-pack motor (a paramotor) which provides enough thrust to take off using a paraglider. It can be launched in still air, and on ...

.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page D-28. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001.

Design and development

The aircraft was designed to comply with the US

FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries. In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not requ ...

rules and was the first paramotor to use a

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

powerplant. It features a

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'po ...

-style

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, single-place accommodation and a single computer-controlled, electronic ignition system-equipped, , ,

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

Kart engine, without a reduction drive, mounted in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. As is the case with all paramotors, take-off and landing is accomplished by foot. With its heavier four-stroke engine, the Quattro weighs and can lift a pilot up to .

Specifications (Quattro)

References

{{Southern Skies aircraft 1990s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Paramotors