History of the Powered Parachute As early as the 12th century, the Chinese used an um- brella-shape parachute design for recreation. About  300 years later, Leonardo da Vinci blueprinted a pyra- mid-shaped parachute. In the late 18th century, man  jumped from towers and balloons with a parachute.  The first  parachute jump from an airplane occurred  in 1912. After World War II, sport jumping became a recre- ational activity. The sport started with round para- chutes, ranging in size from 20 to 30 feet in diameter.  Parachutes evolved into a steerable, gliding wing  smaller than today’s rectangular ram-air powered  parachute (PPC) wing which is approximately 38 feet  wide. On October 1, 1964, Domina C. Jalbert applied for  a patent for his “Multi-Cell Wing” named “Parafoil”  (also known as a “ram-air” wing), which was a new  parachute design. His ideas were registered as a U.S.  patent on November 15,1966. [Figure 1-1 A] Howev- er, in 1964  Lowell Farrand had already flown a motor - ized version called “The Irish Flyer” by Nicolaides.  [Figure 1-1 B] Farrand was the first person to put an  engine on a ram-air inflated parachute wing, starting  the evolution of the powered parachute with the Irish  Flyer. This wing evolved into today’s modern pow- ered parachute canopies, which include rectangular,  elliptical, semi-elliptical, and hybrid wings. The United States (U.S.) government had a number  of test programs that used the square parachute as a  means to glide spacecraft back to earth or glide pay- loads dropped out of airplanes to a specific location. Two-place powered parachutes have years of testing,  development, and evolution. Training exemptions to  Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR)  part 103, Ultralight Vehicles, permitted individuals  to give instruction in two-place ultralight vehicles,  instead of being restricted to vehicles intended for  single occupants. [Figure 1-1 C] The Federal Avia- tion Administration (FAA) allowed ultralight vehicle  1-1 A C D B Figure 1-1. The evolution of powered parachutes. 