Return to the incident list: Incident List Fatal injury sustained when pilot flew into lee side rotor near high mountain peak. PPG Type: Foot Launch – Single Occupant Type of Injury: Fatality

Pilot Details

Age: 25 Weight: Gender: Male Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Intermediate – PPG 2 Pilot experience level: 10-50 hours

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Ozone Model: Roadster 3 Size: Unknown Paramotor Frame: Macfly Travel Frame with Vittorazi Moster 185

Incident Details

October 25, 2024 6:00 PM Location of the incident: Willard, Utah Type of Incident: Collision with terrain or ground obstacle

Pilot took off from the small town of Willard, Utah on Friday evening around 5:45pm. Reported winds on the ground were rather light in comparison to the area of the incident. 4-8 mph out of the South-Southwest.

Pilot immediately started to climb towards the mountains to the east. The mountains in question are quite unforgiving. Massive, shear cliffs with deep pocket canyons. All of it impossible to land on let alone hike to it easily. Flight only lasted 22 minutes but he spent most of the time climbing the 5000 feet towards the highest peak (Willard Peak). He climbed steadily along the range maintaining a decent distance from them.  The general direction the range runs is NW-SE. The reported winds at the neighboring peak 10 miles to the SE were saying 16-23 mph winds from the S-SE. I suspect the winds for him on climb out were fairly smooth but strong because that area would be exposed to wind directly.

As he neared Willard Peak, but still below it in terms of elevation, he turned to the north again for a couple minutes before turning back towards the south for the final time. When flying south, he approached Willard Peak a lot closer. The geography of Willard Peak is not a standard peak, there is a false peak that sits directly to the south of it but slightly lower. With that wind direction from the south, it would have created a pocket of lee side rotor that was previously unnoticeable when he was lower and farther out. As he approached and passed Willard Peak, it appears he hit this rotor aggressively and likely caused the wing to be unflyable. The pilot was at an altitude of roughly 50-100 feet from the nearest point of the ground. He plummeted quickly to the ground with no visible signs of a reserve toss. He struck the ground about 100 ft shy of the peak on the southwest side. I would assume there was some sort of line over or the prop potentially struck the lines of the glider in the extreme turbulence. Unfortunately the pilot was suspected of carrying a reserve due to seeing recent social media posts which showed a reserve was attached. It is unknown if there was an attempt to throw the reserve at all but the video does not seem to show it.

A lot of this information was obtained through Gaggle. Which is exactly how the family was able to notify SAR about a potential crash. After Gaggle notified his emergency contact, they were unable to reach him so they SAR was sent up to the last point the pilot was on the flight track. When they arrived to incident by foot, it was late and the pilot had already perished. It is unknown if he was dead on impact or not. After the next day, a helicopter was sent up to recover the body and gear.

By chance, there happened to be a couple on a drive up there and they had dash cam footage of the incident in real time. It’s far away but you can clearly see a “steady” aircraft drop instantly.

I’ve included screenshots of Gaggle flight tracks, google earth screenshots, 3D flight track recordings, and real photos of the area. I also included the dash cam footage of the crash. I am unaware if he was wearing a GoPro at the time either.

Flight Window: Evening Wind Speed: Strong Wind (10-15 mph) Type: Gusty / Thermal Activity / Dust Devil Phase of Flight: Cruise/In Flight Type of Injury: Fatality Collateral Damage: Analysis of the incident (additional input by the incident investigation team): Photos (if available): https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NTV8ZmlsZW5hbWU6SU1HXzQ3MjQucG5nfHNpemU6dGh1bWJuYWls, https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NTZ8ZmlsZW5hbWU6SU1HXzYxNTcuanBlZ3xzaXplOnRodW1ibmFpbA==, https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NTd8ZmlsZW5hbWU6SU1HXzQ4MjQucG5nfHNpemU6dGh1bWJuYWls, https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NTh8ZmlsZW5hbWU6SU1HXzQ4MjMucG5nfHNpemU6dGh1bWJuYWls, https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NTl8ZmlsZW5hbWU6SU1HXzQ4MzkuanBlZ3xzaXplOnRodW1ibmFpbA==

Video (if available):
Other Files (if available): https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NjB8ZmlsZW5hbWU6U2NyZWVuUmVjb3JkaW5nXzEwLTI2LTIwMjQtMTMtMTgtMTFfMS5tb3Y=, https://usppa.org/frm_file/aWQ6MTM1NjN8ZmlsZW5hbWU6NjU0ODYxOTUtRDczMi00MkM1LTg0OTItNDc4OEQ5MTYwMjY1LTEubW92

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