Return to the incident list: Incident List Rogue winds PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

Age: Weight: 210 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: MacPara Muse 32 DHV1 Size: Paramotor Frame: Walker Jet RR w/Simonini 28 hp. with

Incident Details

April 26, 2006 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

I had been flying for about 2 1/2 hours. Conditions were partly cloudy with winds ranging from calm to a steady 5 mph. I had been cruising across fields at altitudes between 10 and 600 feet. I climbed up to 350 feet to try to spot a fellow pilot. He was about 2 miles to the east of me. As I flew north, I was suddenly hit from the west with a huge gust that blew me sideways with no forward movement at all. I radioed that I was heading back because I was being blown that way. I carefully turned my wing to the East to try to ride with the wind. I was moving fast but very erratic. I radioed again to say the wind was really bad, and see if it was any better down lower. The other pilot said it was, and I started to drop some altitude. I hit 250 feet and was being tossed around side to side, up and down. I was looking down trying to spot a place to land because I knew this was beyond anything I was going to be able to ride out. The wind had blown me over a wooded swampland, and it was not the ideal spot to set down, but at that point I did not care. I just wanted to set down and wait out the wind. I had been negotiating this monster of a wind for less than 1 minute when all of a sudden, I found myself being shook up and down and twisting side to side. My focus had been on the ground, trying to pick out a spot to land, so I am not exactly sure what my wing did, but here is the sequence of forces I experienced. I felt a hard pull forward with a lift and right twist. My wing must have been ahead of me at that point. I could not say, because I was staring straight down at the ground. As I reached for my reserve, I felt the wing surge back behind me and in a second, I saw the sky then the ground and trees (the ground was coming at me really, really fast)! In that moment, I knew it was too late for the reserve so I covered my face as I dove through the 15 foot trees and brush. The whole ordeal had started at around 350 feet, and lasted just over a minute. The total loss of control lasted only a few seconds. When I hit, I was at a 45 degree left angle and slightly head forward. The ground was soggy and thick with reed type grass which was laying down. This padded my impact. The Walker Jet also absorbed much of the impact as the cage bent, broke and crumpled. I have flown in 25mph winds without incident. This gust blew through without warning in otherwise beautiful conditions. It lasted aprox. 10 minutes leaving calm conditions behind it. There was a storm front 20 miles away moving from the southwest and away from us. It shoould not have been a factor.

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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