Return to the incident list: Incident List Recognizing and Avoiding Power Oscillations in Fli PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

Age: 54 Weight: 160 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: Dudek Universal 1.1 25.5M Size: Paramotor Frame: Scout Carbon with

Incident Details

October 2, 2019 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

Not long out of training, I was flying in the evening at the regular field. Made a low pass over the LZ to check the wind direction before landing. Winds at the surface were approaching calm. The sun was pretty low and there was just a slight shear at 100 feet or so. This evening, that’s where I was leveled off for the low approach. The wing would surge and lag slightly at that layer. Rather than (correctly) checking that with some brakes, I was adding throttle on the dives and chopping throttle on the climbs to stay level. It didn’t take long for that to get completely out of control. Within what seems like about 3 or 4 oscillations, I was like a kid on swing, modulating power at all the wrong times, losing a little altitude every cycle. With continuous power I could have climbed out of this mess (and the shear), but I was too busy chasing the horizon going up and down. On the last swing forward I was feeling light in the lines (not good), made one more swing back and halfway forward again before hitting the ground. Luckily, my feet were up, so the frame took the impact instead of me. I was very lucky to hit the ground at the bottom of a swing and walk away with no injuries. Lessons learned: My PPG training covered oscillations, mostly for the side-to-side scenario on landings. I should have paid more attention in class to the ones that throttle (and brakes) can bring on. When my mishap started, I fixated on solving, with throttle, a problem that a little application of brakes would have handled nicely.

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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