Return to the incident list: Incident List Wing Malfunction or Deflation PPG Type: Type of Injury:
Pilot Details
Age: 45 Weight: 180 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:
Gear Details
Wing Brand: Model: Fresh Breeze (Swing) Silex, Medium DULV 2 Size: Paramotor Frame: Paramotor FX2plus (larger cage, larger 2-bladed diameter prop) 100 lbs with
Incident Details
January 1, 2006 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:
Pilot had just made an hour long flight. After landing to refuel and tightening some loose fasteners found upon inspection, he re-launched and was less than 10 minutes into the second flight of the day…Both flights included some fairly steep wingovers and spiral dives.
While cruising at idle power in a gliding descent approximately 200 feet (64 m) above the water and 100 yards (91 m) offshore, the right wing was jolted upward several inches with a “pop”. The lower center A-line and the lower outboard C-line on the right broke essentially simultaneously.
The right brake tension went away and a full arm stroke couldn’t restore it. The first thought was that one riser had separated but I saw that the right wing was fully deflated and limply flapping along the chord. The left wing appeared full and firm. There was a slow right rotation and a high descent rate with a vertical trajectory.
Seeing there was insufficient glide to reach shore and the wing was beyond control, it became obvious a deep water landing was imminent. While monitoring the altitude, he immediately pulled the three harness straps to abandon the motor (an anchor now). Just as the last strap was pulled he took a deep breath and hit the water tilted slightly forward and to the right. It was a very loud impact – loud even to onshore spectator pilots above the noise of the breaking surf.
After submerging only slightly and briefly, the machine slid off his body and he immediately began swimming towards shore and away from possible entanglement. The duration from line failure to impact was definitely less than 10 seconds and estimated at 7 seconds by the pilot/observer who was first to notice and saw it from the beginning.
There was not enough time to kill the engine so the propeller was destroyed on impact which contributed to the loud noise. The machine was in ten to fifteen feet of water with the still surface floating wing which was soon retrieved from the ocean. There was no apparent damage to the machine frame. (The Paramonster is the battleship of the ppg world!)
[see photo below]
There are multiple background factors to this incident.
1. When harnessing in prior to the flight, the pilot, as usual even when flying over land, had threaded the harness straps through the simple skydiving type buckle such that release could be accomplished with a simple pull of the free end of the strap. This harness does not have a seat-belt type locking mechanism on any of the three straps. This quick release setting probably saved the pilot from drowning since the nearest help, (numerous surfers already in the water on their boards but on the inside of the breakers, 50 yards or more away) could have been as much as a minute away. The pilot swam toward shore for thrity seconds to a minute before the first surfer rendezvoused close enough to dialogue.
2. This wing had become entangled in power lines (onshore at the same location) five months earlier. The pilot did not witness the glider extraction from the three 8,000 volt ( power lines, so the amount or location of pulling and subsequent line abuse was an unknown factor. The pilot replaced 17 lines which exhibited breaks in the core and/or sheath, mostly upper lines and mostly rear lines (brakes and D-lines and C-lines). The wing was then test flown as a glider in coastal ridge lift in high-G spirals dives in both directions to verify it’s airworthiness and it exhibited no line failures or fabric tears. (A few small burn holes in the canopy were patched.) A thorough lower line check was never performed following the power line strike, however the glider had received and passed at least a partial and possibly a full annual inspection after a student had landed in the ocean a year before. One upper brake line was replaced during that inspection. The pilot is searching for the existence of any scientific data available on the effects of high-voltage on Kevlar, but none has been located yet. Preliminary visual inspection of the line breaks by a parachute manufacturer indicates tension failure only with no indication of previous melting. The wing had been used for an estimated five hours of combined glider and motor flight time since inspection.
3. This was the heaviest payload this wing had ever seen because of the heavy machine weight (over 100 lbs fully fueled). The wing was loaded near it’s maximum payload weight of 140 kg (308 lb). It’s surprising that the line failures did not occur immediately after launching on the first flight when the most severe loading power-on spirals were made. The pilot was very fortunate that the line failures did not occur while he was low over the shore.
Pilot Conclusions:
In-flight load testing is not a substitute for a thorough line inspection and load testing.
A thorough lower line test was warranted by the power line incident in addition to the damaged line repairs.
There was enough time but only enough time to either release the straps or deploy a reserve. (A 7 second descent from 210 feet (64 m) is a sink rate of 30 ft/sec (9 m/s) or 1,800 ft/min.) There was not enough time to also kill the engine and save the propeller.
Previous experience with an ocean landing reinforced the recognition and immediate survival action to release the harness straps.
Pilot’s Advice to other pilots:
1. When using a harness with similar buckles, always thread the straps for quick release (see attached photo).
2. Especially for over water operations, practice emergency egress from your harness while safely hanging in a simulator until you can perform full buckle release immediately (within 3 seconds).
3. Have your glider thoroughly inspected (lines and canopy) at least annually or whenever a line straining event occurs. Consider replacing the lower lines after such an event.
4. Always move away cautiously from the machine and lines following a water landing to avoid entanglement.
5. Fly with a hook knife and inspect often and replace rusted blades.
6. Fly with a reserve parachute of adequate size for the combined payload and practice deployment from a simulator until you can deploy in less than 3 seconds.
Flight Window: Wind Speed: Type: Phase of Flight: Type of Injury: Collateral Damage: Analysis of the incident (additional input by the incident investigation team): Photos (if available):
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