Daiichi Kosho Whisper


The Daiichi Kosho Whisper is a Japanese paramotor that was designed and produced by the Daiichi Kosho Company for powered paragliding.

Design and development

Daiichi Kosho, a Japanese electronics company, specializing in Karaoke equipment, decided to enter the paramotor market in circa 1993, expecting that it would become immensely popular and result in a mass market. As a result, they designed and manufactured their own engine, the DK 472 and even created their own line of canopies.
The aircraft was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules. It features a paraglider-style high wing, single-place accommodation and a single Daiichi Kosho DK 472 engine in pusher configuration. As is the case with all paramotors, takeoff and landing are accomplished on foot.
The company invested heavily in research and development, producing a whole line of paramotoring equipment including a twin-cylinder and single-cylinder engine. In addition to the two different engines they also produced a trike carriage, the DK Sky Trike, that could be mated to the backpack engine. The company created a distributor network, notably in the US where they were represented by Paraborne Aviation, who created a dealer network. In the US the aircraft is often referred to as the Paraborne DK Whisper. The mass market the company hoped for never appeared and with a high degree of competition from European manufacturers the company ceased all production of the line circa 2003. The line was sold to Giles Cardoza of the United Kingdom who developed it into the Parajet.

Variants

;Beat
;Whisper
;Whisper GT
;Whisper GTO
;Sky Trike

Specifications (Whisper)