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July 2001 Charles says, "The Odessy has landed, aviation history has been made!" Charles arrived in St. Marys, Georgia at 8:20 am EST. The Six-Chuter PPC is the lightest aircraft and the only parachute to complete the transcontinental flight. Charles last words were, "We're headed for Oklahoma!" (His home.)
Arriving in MacClenny, Florida today, Charles reflexed on this journey thus far. After approximately 2500 miles of flying across mountains, deserts, plains, swamps, woods, rivers and oceans, he is only 55 miles from his final destination at St. Marys, Georgia. There are a lot of storms in Florida, so Charles is very anxious about the final day.
After arriving in Live Oak, Florida, Charles commented that "Sunny" Florida has had the roughest flying weather of any state! Today's flight took 5 hours into a headwind. Darrell Turner is now the ground crew (since Biloxi, Mississippi). Only 2 days left to the end of the journey. Charles will be setting records for the lightest aircraft to fly coast-to-coast and the only parachute to do so.
Charles landed in Tallahassee, Florida this afternoon after a rough flight of 80 miles and 5 1/2 hours. He encountered thunderstorms, rain, and high winds. Only 3 days to go!
Today, Charles reports an easy flight of 4 hours, 80 miles. 12 miles of the flight was over open water where Charles saw a lot of sharks! The landing was in Bonifay, Florida. Charles also reported that yesterday (as well as landing at the Naval Air Station) he had to set down at a solid waste disposal plant to refuel.
Charles experienced a long flight today of 7 hours, 115 miles into a head wind. Charles landing in the wrong airfield Whitney Naval Air Station, topped it off. There were helicopters, blue lights and about 3 hours of explanations before he got out of there. He meant to land at McMilton airport.
Biloxi, Mississippi. Todays flight of 4 hours was delayed almost 2 hours because of fog. Charles flew at tree-top level and was barely able to see the road. He flew across NASA training camp by mistake, but got some great pictures. When he got to Biloxi, Charles ran into some high winds. His instruments were useless because of all the rain yesterday. He landed in Ocean Springs airport.
Arrived in Covington, Louisiana on to Mississippi tomorrow. There were heavy rains this afternoon. After flying two days with broken struts, the parts arrived by FedEx. Repairs should be made tonight before the flight tomorrow. Charles is getting very anxious about completing his journey and hopes nothing more serious happens to delay the finish.
Charles is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a trailer accident, the aircraft has 2 broken struts. Six-Chuter Dealer, Tim LeBlanc put Charles in touch with Six-Chuter flyer, Shawn Mattheson who was very helpful. Charles will continue on with a broken airplane parts will be shipped and the aircraft repaired tomorrow. The flight today was over 25 miles of swamp and alligators. Charles was VERY happy there were no problems and he didnt have to put down in the swamp!
Charles was given a great welcome at Southfield Airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana. A large crowd awaited his arrival at 10:30am. Among the crowd was airport manager Don Dowdy, pilot Charlie Boyd, a couple of women who saw Charles flying by (Faith and Jody) and news media (TV and newspaper).
Charles made it to Liberty, Texas today, a flight of 130 miles. He had a bit of trouble navigating around Houston (it was confusing). Charles described the flight as "beautiful." There was a morning ground fog with the treetops sticking up through and a red sun. Charles is leaving Texas tomorrow and heading to Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Arrived in Columbus, Texas today near Houston (Charles is over the half-way point now). There was a low ceiling of 500ft so Charles flew in the clouds all day. He landed in the cow pasture of Marilyn Emmel in Weimir, Texas. She was ready with water and refreshments.
Sattler, Texas. Out of the hundreds of people that Charles has met on this trip, everyone has been very friendly and always willing to help out. Today Charles met the first "nasty" man. Low on fuel, Charles had to set down on a private airstrip to refuel. A man came running out yelling, "You can't land on this strip! You can't land on this strip!" Charles is sure that Sattler has many nice people. Charles flew to Junction, Texas today -- a flight of 110 miles. He discribed his flight as "very, very rough flying." There was a constant head wind that caused the flight to last over 5 hours. Charles' wife, Donna Sue went home today so Russ Simmonds is taking over running the ground crew for the next week. Charles will be flying over more of the Texas hill country tomorrow on his way to San Antonio.
Charles flew 105 miles today from Ft. Stockton to Ozona, Texas. He experienced heavy winds and a lot of rough flying. Oklahoman Randy Santos flew part of the way with Charles on this flight which lasted 5-hours. Charles says, "I'm learning a lot about this Six-Chuter aircraft. It is incredibly airworthy."
Today's flight of 115 miles took 4 hours. The winds came up the last hour going into Stockton county airport. The 20-mph winds and thermals hardly let him get down to the airport to land, but Charles managed a smooth landing. Tomorrow, Randy and Tony Santos from Oklahoma will be flying along with Charles.
Charles flew from El Paso to a little place in the desert called Van Horn, Texas where he had a book signing. The flight was smooth with no problems. There was a good tail wind so the flight was only 3 hours. Tomorrow, on to Ft Stockton Texas, 140 miles away.
Charles had a short, 50 mile flight today from Denning to Los Cruces, New Mexico. He had a book signing at the Walton Books from 6-9pm. Tomorrow is a long flight, 140 miles to Van Horn, TX.
After an uneventful flight, Charles landed in a field outside Denning, New Mexico. He had a flat tire. Archie Moore helped pull him out of the field and get the flat fixed. Charles arrived in Wilcox, Arizona today. Larry Hinton flew this leg with him. They kept it at 50ft above the desert floor and had smooth flying all the way -- the best flying day so far! Tomorrow, Charles will be flying alone. Denning, New Mexico is the destination. Charles landed at the private airfield of Larry Hinton, a Six-chuter dealer in Marana, Arizona. Charles wants to thank Larry for the much needed repairs to his chipped propeller. Larry Hinton and Dave Chrismon flew along with Charles as he arrived in Cortaro, Arizona today.
Charles arrived in Stanfield, Arizona after a 5 1/2 hour/107 mile flight. He encountered a lot of thunderheads, but survived just fine.
Charles made it to Tacna, Arizona, but not without incident. A storm forced him to set down in a field 2 miles short of his destination. He made it through the last mountain pass though and he has flat desert ahead.
Charles just finished the first leg of his journey. He experienced some high winds that were bouncing him around "like a kite." At one point the winds were so high that he had to set down on the highway.
Six Shooter Inc. is the largest manufacturer of powered parachutes in the world. The company stresses top quality in its product and honesty, integrity and service from its top executives down to dealership level.
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Charles W. Sasser will be launching his record-breaking attempt to be the first pilot of an ultralite powered parachute to fly across the United States from Ramona (San Diego), California, on 5 July 2001. He expects to reach Jacksonville, Florida, on or about 5 August 2001. Follow the adventure on the 
Ultralite powered parachutes have the finest safety record in aviation. The concept of this "Magnificent Flying Machine" is both simple and revolutionary. The PPC is an aircraft which uses a parachute as its wing. and has for the first time brought safe, efficient, reasonable flight to everyone.
Six Chuter PPC's have been involved in a number of significant flying events:
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