Return to the incident list: Incident List Contact with High Tension Lines – Fried Wing PPG Type: Type of Injury:
Pilot Details
Age: 0 Weight: 200 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:
Gear Details
Wing Brand: Model: Ozone Vibe DHV 1-2 Size: Paramotor Frame: Nirvana Solo 210, 26kg with
Incident Details
January 1, 2006 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:
I was hesitant about writing about my recent experience in Indonesia as it was my closest brush with death that I have ever had – quite embarrassed that was caused by my own negligence. Then again, if my experiences can save somebody from similar mistakes then it is worth relaying my story.
Most aviation, or any other incidents for that matter, are known to be related to multiple factors. Looking back, it is clear to see this experience was also a combination of compounding factors that lead to me coming way too close to me losing my life.
I was on a recent trip evaluating flying sites in Indonesia. The trip started in Jakarta and then to Punchak about 1.5 hours drive South East. After an excellent days free flying experice there thermalling over tea plantations, we headed further to Bandung, in central Java. An early start the next morning and about another hour’s drive took us to another flying site called Kampong Toga nested in a beautiful fertile volcanic valley of terraced rice paddies.
The weather had been a big issue as, towards the end of the rainy season, we had been juggling our flying with constant downpours. I guess this was where the problem started. Our enthusiasm to get in the air before the next cloud burst was one of the first factors that lead towards the amazing high voltage experience that followed.
Kampong Toga is a launch site with about a 400m vertical drop. Not very high, though there were some impressive thermals pumping up the valley. At the summit, there are is club house and several local dwellings though on this day, my friend from Jakarta and myself were the only people flying. This may have been the next contributing factor as there were no other people around (who spoke English) that might have mentioned some local hazards.
I decided to do a top launch with my motorized paraglider near the club house. There is an excellent take-off area head to wind and a shallow drop off towards the free flying launch site on the edge of the summit. After take-off I flew out over the valley and immediately found some nice thermals. I circled around for a while with the motor running and then switched off to do some free flying. My flying buddy launched soon afterwards and headed for the same thermals. After catching some good lift, we eventually headed for the landing zone at the bottom.
Getting good photographic records of the sites from the air was an objective of the overall trip. Because of the fairly powerful thermals in the area, I had not wanted to release the brakes to get the camera out of the harness. Once near the cooler base of the valley, the air became more stable so I decided to start the paramotor and head out over the paddies for a low altitude photo strafing run of the farmers in the fields. I was having a lot of fun, and spending way too much time with the camera and not looking where I was going. I had shot off what I thought was about 20 or so pictures and then I realized that I has the camera set to video rather than stills.
I looked down to adjust the camera for a few seconds and then looked up to see a whole bundle of about 12 20kv high tension lines about 2 meters from my face. Without any time to react, all that happened next is only a few flashes of memory. I remember contacting a wire with one of my legs and also another hit me in the upper chest. I can’t remember what I said though I remember shouting out something in fear of what was going to happen next.
The amazing thing about what happened was the most incredible luck I have ever had. Somehow, I managed to hit one of the only insulated wires in the whole bundle with my chest though the wire that hit my leg was live though I didn’t complete the circuit so only a small graze on my shin was the result. If I had been about a foot higher, instead of bouncing off the wires, I would have flown right into the middle of the bundle without much chance of survival at all.
What happened after the contact point with the wires and landing in the rice paddy below is unknown as some part of my brain shut down for a split second – no doubt some automatic reaction when the horror of what has happened causes a fuse to blow. My next memory is of sitting on my butt in a half a meter of mud in a freshly planted rice paddy. The sound of motor, still running, doing a couple of revolutions before stalling in the mud was the first recollection I have after contact with the wire.
All I know is that I fell about 40 feet into the soft mud, narrowly missing a small field hut by about three feet. To my amazement, other than the slight graze on my leg and a bruise on my right arm there were no other injuries. I unbuckled and stood up to about 25 or so rice farmers running towards me. Not only was I unbroken but the paramotor, propeller and prop guard had all survived the fall. (Later I found out I had bent the con-rod!) The wing, however, was not so lucky. It had contacted the upper wires and, according to witnesses, exploded in a ball of smoke and fire. Sure enough, my three month old wing looked like the Shroud of Turin.
Looking back, it must have been an extraordinary sight of a 90kg white guy fall out of the sky into the paddy and walk away. The locals certainly made me feel that way and all shook my hand as if an alien had just arrived. To their credit, they all showed sincere concern for my well-being and couldn’t believe that I was unhurt and were eager to assist.
The rice farmers helped me to pull the paramotor out of the mud and were very helpful in washing the motor and my digital camera still attached to the harness in a nearby irrigation stream. The camera didn’t fare so well.
I put the motor back on and walked, fully pumped with adrenaline, to the road not far away where the driver had left one of the cars. A local shop owner offered her wash room to clean off some of the mud while my motor was packed into the car. Meanwhile, many locals had gathered outside including the local police and were all exchanging stories about the recent incident. I am sure there must have been much discussion back in the villages that night about the amazing survival story.
I spent the next hour winding down from the incident and looking at the contact area. From a small distance away, no matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t see the wires, without marker balls, hung low and blending into the background of the valley. Also, the transmission towers were hidden in trees and high on the sides of the valley making detection of the wires even more difficult.
Back on top of the launch site I rejoined the others who were all happy to see me walking and OK. Some helpful staff at the launch site washed what was left of my wing and packed it away. The wing is almost totally gone with several large holes burnt through, the largest being about 1.5m in diameter. All I can say is – better the wing than me.
I look forward to getting a new wing and flying soon again this time with a lot more thought into what I do before I leave the safety of the ground.
The lessons learnt are as follows:
Don’t get distracted while flying. If you plan to do anything like photography, reccie the area by ground and by air before pulling out the camera! Even while carrying out these activities, keep one eye on the camera and another on the sky ahead.
Ask before flying. Check if there are any obstructions of hazards in the area particularly if flying in unfamiliar territory. In my enthusiasm to get into the air, I missed asking about what was there that couldn’t be seen. I feel, however, there should be some responsibility for launch site operators to have a clear map of the area highlighting any hazards near the launch area. I believe the operators at this site hadn’t seen too many paramotors before and didn’t realize they could fly so far or get into so much trouble. Also, being Indonesia, anything could happen.
Radio contact: Having another person on the ground in contact by radio would have been an excellent suggestion while taking photos. Two sets of eyes are better than one, right!
If you know of a launch site with nearby high tension lines, please ecommend that marker balls are installed if they don’t exist. Sure enough, someday, there will be somebody who leaves the ground without knowledge of their existence.
High tension lines are damn dangerous and can be very hard to see even at 20km/hour! Live life to the fullest as you never know when you will have an experience like this. I hope my experiences may make others think a little more before taking to the air in unfamiliar territory.
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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