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Pilot Details

Age: 0 Weight: 0 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: N/A Size: Paramotor Frame: Adventure F4 w/Simonini with

Incident Details

January 1, 2006 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

Pilot launched on a fairly narrow beach and was climbing out over water. He intended to turn left to follow the beach but the motor torque had caused it to twist on his back and, redirecting thrust so as to cause a strong right turn. He tried to counter with left brake but could not overcome the angled thrust and the glider spun/spiraled. He hit in shallow water with only minor injury…he says it would have been much worse on hard ground. The water happened only to be about 3 feet deep so he was able to stand up in it.

When the glider spun it was already in a strong right bank but went all the way around which how it got pointed nearly straight down before splashing in. That also probably why right brake is being applied so aggressively in picture 2: the glider was actually spinning to the left.

The witness, flying overhead, watched it from the initial takeoff. He noticed the twist and started snapping pictures. The first picture shows the motor angled nearly 45º left (pushing the pilot to the left). The second one shows the result after one full turn and the third shows the pilot standing, unharmed, in the water.

This pilot reports that he’s made well over a hundred flights on this motor combination without this ever happening. It is possible the presence of water immediately after takeoff was a distraction and the pilot did not let off the throttle in a situation where he otherwise might have. He had successfully flown a number of flights at this same elevation on previous days without any problems.

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):

Video (if available):
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