Return to the incident list: Incident List Banking it up and wakes don’t mix well. PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

Age: 57 Weight: 180 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: Nova Mamboo Size: Paramotor Frame: Skycruiser Top 80 with

Incident Details

June 27, 2010 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

It was a nice calm, hot, humid evening. There may have been a wind of 1-2mph out of the NE. 5 of us were flying. The launch was not easy due to a high density altitude. The air was extremely smooth. There are corn fields on either side of a 2 lane country road. There is a clear path following a creek between the rows of corn that winds through the corn for about 1/4 mile. My friend and I were flying along this path several times trying to stay pretty well centered in it. We were both pretty low. There were several cars that had pulled off of the road to watch us. My friend had just turned from a SE direction to fly NW along the path through the corn and I was flying to the SE also. My intention was to do a 180 degree turn and follow him but not too closely. My altitude was less than 100′ AGL and I banked it up pretty hard. The next thing I knew my wing had collapsed from the front and I was losing altitude quickly. The wing almost fully recovered and I throttled up to keep some momentum. There wasn’t enough altitude so into the corn I went. It was an almost flat landing but with too much force and I came down hard on my cage. The frame is bent, my prop was destroyed, my cage netting was also destroyed and one of the radial arms [top right, tent pole like] was destroyed. I had absolutely no injury with the exception of a few mosquito bites while gathering my wing [which still needs to be fully inspected] and getting my gear the roughly 25′ to the road.

The immediate collapse of my wing took me totally by surprise. I believe that my friend’s wake and my own wake from my 180* turn came together to form just the right turbulence to severely collapse my wing.

Lessons learned: Even when the air is very calm a smart pilot will be looking at other factors that could be creating a turbulence problem. Banking it up close to the ground when approaching an area where there could be a wake from your own sharp turn or another aircraft recently passing is a very bad idea. This is particularly true if both your turn and your buddy’s wake conspire against you. It could have been much worse!

In the future this pilot is not going to take this kind of a risk and hopefully you have learned something from my mishap and poor judgment!

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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