This website is dedicated to my son James Edwin (Augie) Smyth.
Augie Smyth grew up around airplanes and airports - mostly skydiving drop zones - throughout his childhood.
Once he left home and made a life for himself as a hydro lineman, his time at the drop zone diminished as he pursued his own interests.
Nonetheless, he maintained some involvement in general aviation; flying fixed-wing aircraft, making some skydives, and even getting some rotary wing (helicopter) training time. He took the helicopter training because both of us had always wanted to fly helicopters; and, as he was quick to note, by actually flying a helicopter "he was finally able to beat his old man at something!"
However, by the 1980's, all segments of aviation had become just too darned expensive and we both gave up on it and settled for things like riding our motorcycles. One of my
fondest memories is Jim on his Honda motor scooter and me on my Kawasaki
motorcycle going to the Hamilton Air Show together.
Then, in his early 30s, Augie saw a picture of a powered parachute (PPC) on the front page of a Popular Mechanics Magazine. The article featured Steve Snyder, who was an aeronautical engineer and a design pioneer in the world of parachutes for both military and civilian use.
The article was based upon the introduction of the Snyder's "ParaPlane" which, at the time, was the only powered parachute flying in the world. Augie was intrigued and he carefully monitored anything published on the ParaPlane. He watched as powered parachutes proliferated and as this aspect of aircraft grew into a worldwide industry. He sent me all sorts of information from his research. PPCs did, after all, combine several major aspects of the past 30 years or so of our lives - flying and parachuting. What a great combination of passions.
In 1996 he finally decided to buy a PPC. In his usual methodical way he spent a year evaluating many if not all the different makes and models - 16 manufacturers at that time, far more now - and decided to purchase a "Golden Eagle" manufactured by Paladin Industries Inc. (ironically, Paladin was an offshoot of Steve Snyder's ParaPlane company which had fuelled his initial interest.)
This was intended to be a hobby - nothing more. However, many people who saw the PPC flying came to him looking for information on how they could share the thrill of flight. Eventually, he decided to open one of the very first PPC flight training centres, in Canada. He called his new company Just Plane Fun Inc., and set up the inaugural version of this web site.
Augie trained many new PPC flyers over the next four years, including his old man, me.
My 30 years as a private pilot and half as many again involved in all aspects of skydiving sort of set me up for that first PPC flight with my son. All I could say to my boy after we landed was "thank you son, that's about the funnest flying I've ever done!"
The father and son bond became even stronger as we shared our new-found aircraft; and we were never happier than when we were once again "hanging out" together at the airport. I subsequently set up my own company Smyth Flight Dynamics Inc.; with the intention of adding flight training for Just Plane Fun to my ongoing motorcycle training work with Niagara College.
As so often happens, life got in the way of our plans.
In August of 2001 my son and best friend was working for St. Catharines Hydro when he died as the result of an electrical shock. Jim (Augie) Smyth was only 42 years old; an exceedingly kind, caring and happy guy. No one can make sense of these things and we all miss him very much. Ironically, he loved working "up in the wires" almost as much as he loved flying his beloved PPC.
Training is suspended while I re-group and try to make sense of the future. Please bear with me, as I re-organize the flight training segment of our operation. In the interim, I continue to fly my PPC and act as the Canadian sales agent for Heldeberg Designs, out of New York State. Heldeberg is the designer and manufacturer of an excellent PPC, the Blue Heron. See their products at http://www.blueheronppc.com
John Richard Smyth (Augie's Dad)
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Our History
"I'm one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith __ So close your eyes, hold your breath and always trust your cape" Anon
