Return to the incident list: Incident List Hard Turn too close to the ground PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

Age: 31 Weight: 150 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: Size: Paramotor Frame: with

Incident Details

July 5, 2006 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

The flying was in perfect conditions- zero wind, unlimited visibility, it was 8PM, 75 degrees and no thermals to speak of.

My main mistake was looking at the guy with the camera- Paying more attention to what would make a good shot instead of where the horizon was.

I was flying low at 35 50 feet AGL, flew past the camera man, and like a fool attempted a U Turn at that height, and a hard turn at that. Half of the wing stalled and I went weightless.

Theres an excellent video on the Risk and Reward DVD of a paraglider stalling half the wing&From seeing that, I decided to lay on the throttle instead of just going down. The engine I fly is thrusty for me, so I was able to correct 80% or so before I hit the ground. I came in at 10- 20 degree angle, full speed (I figured 20 degree full speed was better than 90 degrees straight down). I managed to skim the grass into a hard landing- Hard enough to put stress cracks in the middle of the steel frame, the prop and cage were destroyed.

Though Im extremely happy to be able to walk away without a scratch, my mistakes were simple, and easy to correct.

1. Pay more attention to flying than the camera. 2. Never make hard U turns- especially close to the ground.

Though I have considerable experience flying, all it takes is a momentary loss of judgment. In this case I wanted to go back in time about 2 seconds immediately after I made that turn. But you cant go back in time, and I only had 2 seconds to correct a stupid mistake that close to the ground! In my case I was lucky to have the time to make a partial correction to let my equipment take the damage instead of me.

Its nice to know that a paraglider is far more agile and a DVH1 wing corrects far more than what youd guess, but its no fun at all testing that agility as you plow into the ground&In fact it was rather horrifying.

Sorry no picture- the camera man went wide eyed and didn’t snap a shot.

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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