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Generally speaking, we only risk ourselves when we fly. But we must
always work to be sure it stays that way.
It is entirely incumbent on us to prevent our operation from risking
others. Continued self regulation depends on it. The incident below
shows what's possible and what's at stake.
PPG crashes into 2 on takeoff, seriously
injuring 1
This story told by Mike, a witness who was there with his
wife.
On the USPPA incident database this
doesn't sound so bad. The detailed description below highlights what's at stake
and how
our responsibility can never be minimized. We worry about losing sites
after annoying people with our noise, try chopping their faces off.
I've seen and read of some appalling risks taken with other people's
lives. Continuing a launch, motor screaming, to within inches of or even hitting
other people, doing stupid stunts with non-participants and other
dangerous actions. We
should collectively ratchet our tolerances to make sure we consider that
unacceptable. It's one thing when the parties are involved, quite another
when they don't know of the risks. Never minding the horror of
injury/death, this is probably the steepest slope to
extinction or regulation we could start down.
Behind
the brick patio is a 2 story public beach house with showers and toilets.
Being the first Saturday of a 3-day weekend (Monday is Umi no hi or Sea Day) there were many people at the beachfront
picnicking with BBQs and swimming.
The
PPGers were there when we arrived around 11AM. PPG
pilots had been using the open patio as a runway/takeoff point. Throughout the
day, the PPGs were taking off and flying overhead and along the beachfront
coastline on short flights. There was as few as one and as many as 4, all using the patio and beach as a take off point. Being the first time I had seen PPGs take off and land, I was
impressed at how quickly they could get off the ground.
At
the time of the incident, there were three PPGs in the area, 2 stationary and
one taking off. There was a light breeze coming from the South. The windsock
showed wind direction remained fairly constant all day.
The
PPG pilot attempted takeoff from the grass area, about 35 - 40meters in front of
people on the sand. He got a few feet (4-5?) off the ground and then quickly
lost altitude near the concrete wave break dragging his feet on the ground -
under power went straight into a group of 4. First hit was a young man (bumped
to the side) the PPG continued forward under power crashing through the coolers
and an umbrella set up. The young woman was struck. I saw the woman knocked back off her feet. At this point, the
wing fell from the sky and blocked my view. When the wing had come to rest on
the sand, I saw the woman again, her right arm convulsing. I was about 40 feet
away, on her left. I ran to see if I could help and saw that the prop had cut
the right side of her face. The right side of her face was open - like a book. I
yelled for my wife Marina (an M.D.) to help.
I have had quite a bit of First Aid
training but the extent of the injury was quite shocking. I did not know here to
begin, massive injuries, extensive bleeding, her face appeared to be coming
apart. My wife and I began first aid. She was unconscious and we could not find
a pulse. The engine had stopped. The PPG pilot was sitting in the sand, strapped
to the power unit staring at the young woman. The wood propeller had damage at
both ends.
My
wife applied direct pressure holding the face together, I yelled to others who
had gathered, to call an ambulance. She began vomiting blood. I got a pulse and
held her hands telling her she would be all right. With the bleeding controlled,
she seemed to regain consciousness. She moved her head to the side (her
neck was OK!) and coughed. Ice was applied and we waited for the ambulance.
The
woman was taken by helicopter to Aichi Medical University Hospital in Nagoya–we are in communication with the doctors at the hospital, at this point she has
lost an eye, many teeth, cut tongue and palate, the sinus cavity seems to have
cushioned the brain. She will undergo a second surgery Thursday
to reconstruct her cheekbones.
In
some ways, she was lucky, a few millimeters up, down or to the left and things
might have been much worse.
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1. Site where the accident happened. Latitude 34°43'48.75"N Longitude 136°52'29.34"E.
Physical area - beach front, brick patio and grass public space fronted by concrete wave breaks and then a sand beach.
This happened July 15, 2006, approximately 4PM in Chita-hanto, Utsumi Aichi-ken, Japan.
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