Return to the incident list: Incident List Collision with boat mast on takeoff PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

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

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: Sky Atis, Medium Size: Paramotor Frame: Walkerjet RR with

Incident Details

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

This crash resulted from probably 5 compounding mistakes that had any of them been avoided may have resulted a non-incident. My usual LZ is above 4000 feet, and I took a trip to the beach at sea level. This required adjusting the carb for local conditions. I had the carb adjusted and it appeared to run great until launch time. As I sat at launch with the motor on my back, the RPM’s would only get up to about 80% of normal, but being a powerful motor, I made the decision that it was good enough, especially being at sea level – (1st mistake). My flying buddies were out having a good time and I had spent 1/2 hour messing around with the carb ealier and was anxious to get up in the air and didn’t want to fool with the carb any longer – (2nd mistake). I was attempting to launch out of a friends front yard which included trees, a couple of large rocks, a house, etc. that limited my launch direction. The winds were light and variable so I had to time the launch once the winds came from the direction I wanted – (3rd mistake). I forward launched and the winds shifted slightly and I turned to stay in the wind and headed towards an 18″ high rock and I didn’t abort – (4th mistake). I hopped over the rock, just skimming the bottom of my frame on the rock and was now airborne. But the hopping manuever turned me 45 degrees to the right, 100 feet from and directly towards a 7 foot fence with barb wire on top. I still could have aborted at this point but since I was airborne, and 100 feet away, I opted to continue – (5th mistake). As I approached the fence, I was staring at what appeared to be a flag pole about 15 degrees off to my right and just in front of the fence. And of course, at almost full throttle, and the resultant torque, I was turning to the right and would soon be heading straight towards it. At this point I became fixated on the pole and in the 2 seconds from the time I saw it until I got to it, I could only tense up and hope my lines would miss it. But about 8 of my lines caught the top of the pole, and it swung me over the fence, and back around 90 degrees at which point some of the lines released, and the rest cut through and I was now facing 180 degrees and at about 15-20 feet up, I plummeted nearly straight down and landed one foot away in front of the fence, but a good 50 feet from the pole. What a ride! As I braced for impact, thinking this was not going to be good, I lifted my feet and let the frame take the impact. After hitting and realizing I was alive, I scanned my body for damage and amazingly, my ankle just barely hurt. I then killed my motor. The frame suffered only bent skid rails and my prop, which continued to run at idle for a good 10 seconds after I hit, only had the very ends chipped which were later easily repaired. Total damage, about $40 at the welding shop and about $50 in replacement lines to the wing. I’ve caused more damage tripping on a launch, and breaking a prop. It was amazing no more damage or injury was caused. After the shock wore off, I walked through my flight path, and noticed it was a mast of a boat on a trailer that I hit. Apparently, the sail boat tipped as my lines caught it, which I’m sure absorbed much of the energy and gave me a smooth ride around until the lines gave and dropped me to the ground. I don’t really know whether my carb problems contributed to this, though maybe if I reached an extra 5-10 feet I probably would have missed the mast and been on my way for a good flight. Lessons learned: 1. Don’t fly your motor unless its in excellent running condition. 2. Don’t fly in an unknown LZ with unpredictable winds. 3. Don’t be afraid to abort when things aren’t going as planned. 4. Don’t be too anxious to get airborne to disregard lessons 1, 2, and 3.

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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