Building powered parachutes for working Americans

How Can We Sell Quality Powerchutes at These Prices ?

1. We have almost no overhead. Companies claiming to be "the biggest or largest powerchute manufacturers in the world" also tend to have the highest overhead within the industry. They simply MUST have a huge profit margin on each powerchute sold just to keep the doors open. Companies having very high overhead MUST also move a minimum number of units per month just to survive.

We made a decision many years ago to keep the company lean and mean. We have no desire to be "the biggest" or "the baddest" powerchute manufacturer on the block. Our desire is to build a safe, affordable powerchute that a working American can afford to buy.

If we sell one unit per day or one unit per month, it's no big deal. We're on solid financial ground. If sales get slow, we spend more time riding our Harleys or in the studio bending the strings of a beautiful Fender Stratocaster guitar plugged into a screaming Mesa Boogie or Marshall amp :)

Those of us at AFU remember the old saying "the bigger they are-the harder they fall". 

In the last few of years we have seen a couple of large powerchute companies call it quits and others barely surviving.

It's my opinion that high overhead is always bad and can lead to those types of failures.

2. We are not "married to"  horribly expensive construction techniques. 

Here at AFU we are constantly seeking more efficient construction methods for our aircraft. Why? Because a more efficient manufacturing process ALWAYS results in a safer, more affordable product. 

A more affordable product ALWAYS sells better than a more expensive product that does the exact same thing.

3. AFU's design philosophy has always been "out of the box" and the powerchute buyer has always benefited with increased performance, greater safety and affordable prices.

I'm one of those guys that believes there is ALWAYS a better way to build a powerchute.

 It means absolutely nothing to me that powerchutes have been built a "certain way" for a generation or more. All that tells me is that someone, somewhere has become a bit more "comfortable" than they should be.

AFU has always strived to advance powerchute design, increase powerchute performance and safety and to make powerchutes affordable to working Americans just like us.

4. We have no dealer network and do not want one. Why?

Dealers must be paid and guess who gets to write their paycheck? That's right, you the customer. In the context of AFU powerchutes, dealers would be a complete and total waste of the customers time and money because all of our powerchutes are sold ready to fly. Just add fuel and fly. No assembly or setup is needed.

5. We are more than willing to install either brand new, rebuilt or good clean used engines on our powerchutes.

If you've got a bunch of money to spend, we can sell you a brand new, loaded out powerchute with a brand new 65hp electric start Hirth engine and STILL save you several thousand dollars. 

If you still have kids at home or in college we understand. Money doesn't grow on trees and each of us must live on some type of budget. 

If it makes your stomach queasy when you price some of our competitors powerchutes we understand that also. After all, you are pricing a powerchute, not a Cessna :)

We offer several new powerchutes with either zero-timed engines (rebuilt with everything including a new crank), rebuilt engines (everything new but the crank) and good clean used engines that have been gone over thoroughly, tuned and tested.

Any of the above engine options will provide the owner with years of reliable service AND save him thousands of dollars.

We DO NOT offer brand new Rotax engines on our powerchutes because that choice alone adds several thousand dollars to the price of a new powerchute.

What do that extra expense get you? Several more payments if you have financed your powerchute and nothing else.

6. AFU powerchutes are not "too good to be true". They are the result of many years of experimentation and testing and a driving desire to provide more performance and more safety at a fair price.

If you'd like to talk to some AFU owners and find out how they feel about their AFU powerchutes give us a holler and we'll provide you with contact information.

Remember, if you want to find out all about a Harley Davidson motorcycle you don't call the Honda motorcycle dealer. You call a bunch of people that actually own and ride Harleys :) The same goes for powerchutes.