Return to the incident list: Incident List Fly through tree and hit the ground hard 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: Eden Size: Paramotor Frame: Fly Products with

Incident Details

May 23, 2007 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

Took off without incident until I decided that I wanted to be all the way into my seat before I reached a safe altitude.. 1st mistake: Had throttle on top of brake toggle. 2nd mistake: Took hand off throttle for a second to release brake and push into seat. Result: Lost much greater than expected altitude and was faced with making a hard turn in the tree and possibly entagling a line or flying through the top of it. I chose to fly through! Busted my prop in the second tree and skirted around to land where I launched. Once lined up, a gust of wind and very possibly rotor, picked me up and turned me directly in the path of a friends parked SUV. I went to full throttle immediately.. What little thrust I had along with a gust of wind picked me up just enough to barely skim across the top of the SUV….hitting all three of his antenas along the way and breaking the larger of the three off. The flight ended with me falling and skidding to a hault on my right side. I fell from maybe 8ft with a good amount of forward momentum. I hit the ground and finished offing my propeller. I also busted my cage and netting, broke off the right J bar and have some scratches and bruises. Witnesses say it was very spectacular to see a guy plow through two trees tossing foliage left and right as I flew past then hit the ground and got up. No matter how cool it looked from afar..there was nothing cool about it from my perspective! Lessons learned: ALTITUDE! ALTITUDE! ALTITUDE! No matter how comfortable you are with your equipment and no matter how many flights you have… GET OFF THE GROUND A SAFE DISTANCE BEFORE DOING ANYTHING…especially before getting off the throttle… Like I had to say that.. This was a completely preventable case of pilot error (stupidity).. Thanks to an instructor buddy, I was all fixed up and ready to go again only days later! Moral of the story… You gotta be tough if you’re going to be stupid!

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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