Return to the incident list: Incident List Crash On Takeoff Leads To Fire PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

Age: 40 Weight: 180 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: Unkown Size: Paramotor Frame: Unknown with

Incident Details

June 9, 2009 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

Well I tried taking off last Sunday after just fitting my speed bar and failed the first forward so set up again and noticed that the speed bar line was tight and pulling on between the left weight shift arm and the reserve. I pulled the line up and tried for another launch but messed it up again, this time I was determined to get off (not thinking about the line) pulled the wing up and went to full power got the wing over my head and there did not seem to be any lift by this time I was running flat out and coming to a drop in the ground due to not resetting out back far enough. Full power, ground dropping away, no lift and running flat out resulted in stepping over the drop and landing with all the weight on my left leg which promptly snapped causing me to face plant. To cage hit the prop which sliced the cap off the fuel tank (8 litres) and also ripped the exast apart. Result: One big fire ball with me in it! I got over the initial impact and felt my left arm burning looking around to see my reserve burning and nothing but fire behind, trying to push the reserve back I rolled back to the left which caused my left arm to go in the flames more and allowed the fire to come under my and start burning my right arm. I managed to unclip the left leg strap but could not get the others undone so rolled to the right as much as I could to get away from the heat, within seconds the others arrived with fire extinguishers and put the fire out unclipped me and dragged me clear then loads of water was poured over both arms. It is surprising how loud you can scream when you are burning. Any way Broken tibia and fibia pushed through the skin but saved any more damage due to my trusty Hanwag boots (Doctor says if I had trainers or similar on the bones would have carried on out in to the ground and I would have most likely lost my leg just below the knee. First degree burns on the back of both arms (I think this would have been more if the water had not been poured on to cool the burn so quickly) and third degree on both elbows. I truly bekieve that this was caused by the left hand speedbar line getting held down between the left weight shift arm and the reserve AND me being too stuburn (over confidant) on forward launches. Also, I had a double head strobe light (one on each side of the cage) of which the one on the side of the cage that hit the ground was smashed so this may have been the source of ignition due to the very high voltage that would have been an open spark due to the glass being broken.

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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