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Pilot Details

Age: 46 Weight: 235 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: MacPara Eden 3 Size: Paramotor Frame: Fresh Breeze Simonini 122 w/ MAH prop with

Incident Details

September 8, 2010 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

This was my third flight of the day having already flown 2+ hours. Having been up for about 10 minutes on my third flight, I had decided to follow the shoreline towards the Texas City floodgates. I was about 2 miles away from the LZ. Had the incident As the winds were at my back as well as being strong in the range of 14 to 16 mph, I was flying at 600′. With no discernible warning, I heard as well as felt what was a large disentegration of parts behind me. It was loud, quick, and the engine went from level flying RPM’s to dead in less than 2 seconds. I found myself hitting the kill switch and realizing the engine was already dead. My first thought was to look below me to see if I was leaving a debris field below. Nothing was visible. Looking over my shoulder, I had ripped netting and at least one side of a quarter panel of my FB cage was not secure. I could see no prop. I turned back into the wind. As I was flying the levee, both sides were boardered by water with the high part of the levee being an asphalt paved road. I chose the bay side of the slope of the levee where initially I had 40 feet of ground between the road and the bay. This wasn’t an issue for me even for this narrow stretch of land. As it turned out, my glide was further than expected opening up a large piece of terrain at the point, however I needed to make an S turn to burn off some additional altitude to avoid scrub brush and power lines. I touched down, and the moment I did, the outer ring of my cage only secured by the line bumped me in the head from the broken quarter panel. I kept the wing overhead, turned, and when the moment was right (no this isn’t a commercial), I grabbed the C’s and brought the canopy down. I then disconnected, and walked about 50′ to the edge of the road on the levee. After getting out of my harness, I discovered my unit felt it could double it’s fuel economy by flying with only 1/2 of a prop. It was not a FB prop, rather another manufacturer’s prop I had previously chose not to use because it had flexed too much. I had solved that issue by moving the engine mounts another 1/4″ or so away from the frame that eliminated prop flex from encountering the netting. The carnage was immense. The prop had snapped off cleanly just outside the hub on one blade. I had perhaps 50 hours on this prop. When the prop failed, it whacked my new silencer, ripping the rubber mount and it’s safety strap. It was hanging at a 90° angle from normal. It’s useable but with an ugly dent now. The broken prop also whacked my exhaust breaking another rubber mount and putting two very sizeable dents in it as well. Still useable, but now with two very ugly dents. Not sure what it will sound like in the future. Somehow, and I am not sure, the strap over the fuel tank failed. No fuel tank damage. I suspect the exhaust bumped that strap. Then, the airbox was whacked pulling the rubber carb mount out of the airbox. No damage there other than s small abrasion on the airbox. That whack also dislodged the Bing carburetor from the reed valve connection. This is probably what assisted the engine to die immediately as it had no fuel. Finally, the quarter panel of the cage that bumped me in the back of the head, had a 8″ piece of missing aluminum missing from the vertical top strut as well as it snapped at another spot on the horizontal part next to the velcro strap adjacent to my side. The other blade of the prop had no damage. Mr. Fetz, can you repair and balance this prop? One blade is untouched, and the other size I have remaining two 2″x3″ pieces of hub support. I’m missing about 21″ of the tip??? BTW John, I have a care package ready to ship your way containing 4.5 props and that’s excluding the carnage from Saturday. As far as safety, I always fly where I have a safe LZ to put my feet on. With this incident, it was no different despite the stronger winds. I also wear a helmet about 98% of the time and was wearing one this time. Nothing hit the helmet other than the cage frame piece from gravity when I bent over after landing, but it could easily have been worse. I did not conduct a preflight prior to this flight. Whether it would have shown a prop about to fail, I do not know. Just prior to the prop failing, there was no indication of vibrtion or other noise the situation was about to turn bad.

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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