Most accidents happen for predictable and preventable causes: Poor training, steep maneuvering, especially near the ground, water and turbulence are big risks in that order. If water landing is a possibility, have an auto-inflating device in your paramotor. If turbulence or mid-air is a possibility, carry a reserve AND KNOW HOW TO USE IT. That requires rehearsal. But don’t think that carrying a reserve makes turbulence safe — most turbulence-related fatalities happened below safe deployment height. All the turbulence related fatalities happened in air the pilot knew was likely to be quite turbulent. A simple helmet would have prevented at least one fatality.
We don’t address the largest cause of serious injuries: prop strikes. That’s because, so far, they have only caused one fatality (head chop).
Training
Yes, I’m afraid training is risky. Self training is worse although it’s rarely fatal because those who attempt it merely get broken bones or prop injuries and stop trying. We don’t hear about many of them except through indirect stories. We also don’t always hear of fatalities from towing–when some bubba gets a paraglider on eBay, ties himself to a truck and tells his buddy to punch it. That rarely goes well.
Much of my drive to improve training methods (i.e. use of the USPPA syllabus) stems from this sad fact. We can never eliminate the risk, but some of these are easily avoided with no loss in fun.
Steep Maneuvering
It’s so insidious. We get comfortable at one level and move quickly to going steeper and/or lower. It doesn’t take much, just a little steeper and we get into a dive that doesn’t have enough room to recover. Or a small collapse throws us beyond our razor thin margin. Or the spiral.
Spiral dives, where G’s build up, are particularly bad because they’re easy to pull off and easy to misjudge.
Table below originally compiled by Mike Nowland, updated by Jeff Goin.
Accidents list causal factors in the order of relevance. For example, a motor failure may be the primary causal factor but, if it caused a fatal accident there was also a handling error. A PPG is so slow that any normal landing speed will almost never cause fatal injuries. Same is true with turbulence. It’s possible that a pilot could be hit with mother nature’s fury without warning, but darned unlikely–usually the air was known to be bumpy.
|
Code |
Skill Level | ||
|
SM – Steep Maneuvering Wa – Water Ha – Handling Error |
StSup
St |
Student, supervised by Instructor
Student, not being supervised |
Accidents:
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | Year |
| Unknown,
NY |
1996, New York, Solo Student with less than 5 flights is practicing flying. The instructor was working with at least two students at the time when he noticed one of them spinning from several hundred feet. It was late morning with probably level 2 or 3 level turbulence. He spun into trees then fell to his death. Probable cause: excessive brake that caused the glider to spin. Turbulence alone doesn’t cause spins—heavy braking does. | Ha,T | 1996 |
| Didier Plisson
France |
Low collapse and spin on prototype in competition | Ha | 1996 |
| Unknown
Portugal |
Panic jump over ocean, being blown offshore | Wa, Ha | 1999 |
| Jan Rowicki
IL |
Low turn near buildings, mech turbulence | Ha, T | 2000 |
| Dave Robicaux
FL |
Low acro, water, spiral dive that he rode all the way into the water. It’s not known whether the impact force was fatal or if he survived then drowned. | Ha,W | 2001 |
| Unknown
Italy |
Water, low, engine out (Bob Olejar PPC list) | Wa | 2001 |
| Dave Flood
CA |
Suicide | O | 2002 |
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | Year |
| Col. Barton George
Albuquerque, NM |
Mid-air collision, other pilot distracted, one high, one low, | Mid | 2006 |
| Sergio Villamizar
Wellington, FL |
Unknown, turbulence-related? Trike | Wa, T | 2006 |
| Julius Gee
UK |
Low level aerobatics (more here) | Ha | 2007 |
| Mike Rish
IN |
Flew into water, got out of harness, drowned swimming to shore | Wa | 2007 |
| Kim Young Min, owner of paramotor maker N-Zing
Thailand |
killed during a “speed race” (cross country) in Thailand. Initial reports suggest that his brake handle was sucked into the prop causing his wing to enter an unrecoverable spiral. | O | 2007 |
| Kevin Rymer Craig
UK |
High level acro w/ structural failure of paramotor (more here) | MF, Ha | 2008 |
| Martin Maxwell
Monument Valley, AZ |
Flew towards mesa with distant thunderstorm. Trike. (more here) | T, Ha | 2008 |
| Unknown
FL |
Trike launch, went into water, drowned | Wa | 2008 |
| Tim Wyeth
UK |
Turbulence at low level (more here.) | T | 2009 |
| Unknown
FL |
Foot launched Tandem, couldn’t reach brake toggle, went into water, pilot drowned, wife survived (Not USPPA rated, don’t know if certified). | Wa | 2009 |
| Bill Crosby
AZ |
Caught tree limb on wheel of trike while maneuvering steeply (more here). | Col, SM | 2009 |
| Andrew Azarskova
IL |
Extended his launch run onto an adjoining road and got hit by a truck. (added 6/14/2010) | O | 2010 |
| Mike Larronde
TX |
Steep Spiral went nose over (vertical) and hit the water with no obvious recovery effort. (added 9/17/2010) | O | 2010 |
| Wojtek Hewig
Germany |
Induced collapse for purpose of testing wing. Complications caused a cravat and resulting steep spiral. He had a reserve but did not deploy it for unknown reasons. (added 11/30/2010) | SM, O | 2010 |
| Unknown
TX |
Student on trike flying DHV 1-2 wing under instruction. Got into an oscillation. Instructor radioed hands up but student continued inputs until impact (added 11/30/2010) | Ha
StSup, O |
2011 |
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | 2012 |
| Unknown
Armstrong, BC |
The article called it a training related crash. “North Okanagan Mounties are investigating the experience level…” |
O | 2012 June 7 |
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | Year |
| US Northeast | Pilot was footdragging on frozen river when the ice broke and he went into the water. One rescuer almost drowned attempting to save him. | Wa | 2013 |
|
Henry Ho, 48 Imperial Beach near San Diego, CA |
A student was practicing kiting at a school that does not require helmets. At some point he lost control and hit his head on a boulder or other very hard object. According to the San Diego medical examiner, he died from blunt force trauma to the head. |
T | 2013 July 1 |
| Kyle Wittstock Yanchep Coast, Australia |
From News Report, Another news report
Mr Wittstock, 22, had launched his paramotor on a vacant block a few hundred metres from his home at Yanchep, was believed to have flown for at least an hour before he lost control and spiraled into a garage door on Linksman Drive. St John Ambulance paramedics rushed Mr Wittstock to Joondalup Health Campus but he died soon after. The photos he posted online while on his final flight are now precious memories his family will hold dear. Mr Smith said Mr Wittstock was an adrenaline junkie and a sports and animal lover who was about to finish an apprenticeship under his cousin’s supervision. The men undertook their paragliding and powered paragliding training together and Mr Smith said the two usually flew together. He wanted to stress the highly regulated nature of the sport and that Mr Wittstock’s death was a freak accident. “We have laws, we have regulations,” Mr Smith said. “It’s not a cowboy sport and we don’t try to be cowboys. “If you ever see us, you’ll notice that we all behave, respect the sport and respect each other.” The cousins went to their first paragliding course about four years ago and had paraglider pilot’s licences. With further study, supervision and flying hours they qualified for their motor endorsement and to be able to fly alone. |
2013 Apr 15 |
|
| Chris Atkison Atkinson Dam, Lowood, Australia |
From New Reports and pilot reports after the crash. Paramotoring champion, 40 year old Chris Atkinson, died soon after launching about 6.30am. Two fellow paramotorists were in the air already.
It has been reported that he had recently removed part or all of his motor’s netting. While flying, a brake toggle went into the prop, wrapped up and pulling it into a spiral. Atkinson broke a world paramotor distance record, flying 284km at heights of up to 2.5km on a 3 hour flight from from Gatton to west Queensland on March 6, 2013. He broke it again flying 353 kilometres in four hours on limited fuel. |
2013 May 26 0630 |
|
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | Year |
| Jeff Carpenter
Near Chicago, IL |
From Chicago Tribune News
Tandem PPG Cart lost power and went into the Fox River. Passenger drowned. |
MF,Wa | 2014 June |
| Pilot Name Unknown
Malaysia |
A video was sent to two experienced paramotor pilots asking for an opinion of what happened.
The pilot was doing a low, moderate bank over the beach at about 70 feet. After getting half way around the turn it appears he increased the brake pressure and the bank quickly became much steeper, causing him to crash, nearly vertical, into the sand. It looked like a fairly standard moderate bank (45 degrees) that was pulled pretty quickly into a spiral dive. |
Ha | 2014 |
| Gregorz Krzyzanowski
Paramotor Fatality Poland |
Pilot was flying a modified tandem rig solo with ballast instead of a passenger. Polish authorities blamed the “unauthorised” attachment to his tandem spreaders which caused a failure.
It was a connection to the riser hook-in loop whose purpose was to pull the risers aft (or forward — not sure) while in flight. The idea being, presumably, to provide fore/aft balance. He fell from around 200 feet. Here is a report with pictures. It shows the failed parts but does not describe the accident sequence in detail. |
UN | 2014 June 16 |
| Jeff Toll
Beaver Dam Road Niviuk Doberman 16
|
While trying out a 16 m slalom wing he crashed into a field, coming down nearly vertical from at least 100′ and possibly much higher. There were wires nearby but no evidence he hit them. Nobody saw the initial problem but one pilot did see the last part of his fall. It’s possible he was using speedbar since he had mentioned it before flying.
According to a paraglider pilot who was there: “He was flying level and straight from what I remember. I was filling my fuel on the ground about .25 mile from where he went down. He did mention he wanted to try the Dobermann with his speed bar and it was hooked up. The farmer at the field indicated he saw the wing horseshoed before he started dropping. That’s when he shouted and I looked up. When I arrived [snip] He was situated between the lines (about 10 feet) and the wing fully extended.” The wing was sent in for inspection and no problems were noted. As it happens, I have now flown that same wing several times since the accident and have observed no unusual behaviors. |
UN | 2014 Sept 19 |
| Dean Eldridge Paramotor Fatality
Siurana Airfield, Northern Spain Ozone Prototype 19 |
From Emilia Plak article in 2015-Sept issue of xc magazine.
Dean Eldridge was testing a 19 m Ozone prototype wing using a Thor 200 engine. He and Emilia had been out doing competition type flying, including low-level figure eight patterns, in the diminishing turbulence of evening. They were using 6 foot tall sticks in place of pylons Emilia had landed and was packing her own gear when she heard the crash happen behind her. Nobody saw it. |
UN | 2015 |
| Daniel Wyatt, Bribie Island, Australia |
From News Report.
Daniel Wyatt had at least 30 hours’ paramotor experience but sought the guidance of a well-experienced paragliding mentor before taking to the skies on Sunday, as recommended by the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia. ‘‘He was trained to fly and he was legally flying at the time,’’ the federation’s operations manager John Twomey said. ‘‘He sought to fly in company, because he was new to powered paragliding and that was no doubt to ensure that somebody could tell him the conditions on the day. He was flying on Sunday afternoon north of Woorim Beach on Bribie Island when he lost control and crash-landed near the water’s edge. Horrified beachgoers reported seeing the motorised paraglider lose power and spiral to the ground. Mr Wyatt, from Newmarket, suffered a number of serious injuries upon impact. His friends witnessed the crash landing and phoned for help, while two police officers and bystanders rushed to his aid. Mr Wyatt’s mentor did not see the crash. |
2015 Apr 15 |
|
| Reinder F. Schilsky III from Jacksonville, FL
Paramotor Fatality Quincy, IL |
Reported by News Outlet, June 13, 2015, and pilot familiar with it
Adams County Coroner James Keller reported Reinder F. “Buddy” Schilsky III died at 10:46 p.m. Friday in Blessing Hospital’s emergency room from injuries sustained in the crash. He was taken by ambulance to Blessing Hospital. 2015-11-14 Update. Reinder was under instruction and on his first solo. After takeoff he started oscillating. In spite of radio instruction to go hands up, he did not respond. After a traveling nearly a mile, the oscillations worsened and he hit the ground in a steep bank. |
UN | 2015 June 13 |
| Lithuanian Rolandas Sakalauskas
Paramotor Fatality Poland |
Pilot was flying a task at the 2015 FAI World Paramotor Slalom Championships when his wing contacted a pylon, collapsed enough to cause a dive into the ground. He died at the hospital.
Reported by TV24 and Ryan Shaw who was also competing in the event. |
HA | 2015 July 5 |
| James Mixer
Paramotor Fatality Near Quincy, IL |
Reported by Michael Mixer and others.
A low time pilot, Jamie Mixer, with about 30 flights, most of them on carts, was doing one of his first first foot launches. He took off, turned mostly crosswind and started left-right oscillating. In spite of instruction telling him to turn into the wind then to reduce brake input, the oscillations got steeper. About the 7th swing he went suddenly steeper and crashed at a moderately steep angle. He didn’t appear to get higher than about 20 feet but it was still fatal. A doctor, who must have worked on him at the hospital, said that he had an enlarged heart that may have made the consequence much worse. The 220 pound pilot was on a 60 pound motor and 28 meter EN-B Elektra wing. According to Jamie’s mother, the coroner uncovered that Jamie had an enlarged heart, saying that adrenalin could have caused a dislocation of the valve during the launch. |
StSup, HA | 2015 Nov |
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | Year |
|
Name not given Gormanston Beach, Co. Meath, Ireland |
The paramotor was foot-launched by the Pilot from Gormanston Beach. Witnesses observed it climbing out over the sea where it was seen performing a number of orbits and steep turns during which the paramotor would descend to the surface and climb back to its original altitude. It was then observed entering a rapid spiralling descent. It impacted in shallow water approximately 150 metres (m) from the shoreline. The Pilot was fatally injured. |
Ha |
2016 |
|
Name withheld, 37 Pilling, Lancashire, England
|
Accident report reveals that a low time pilot was flying a Jojowings Instinct paraglider on fast trim in turbulent conditions. In this condition the glider would be equivelant to an EN-D wing. The accident itself was not witnessed. |
Unknown |
2016 |
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | Year |
|
Arthur Levy, 48 |
News reports that he crashed while flying at the beach. It’s probably the the wing suffered some sort of deflation while the pilot was maneuvering with full speedbar since videos indicate frequent use of speedbar during moderately steep maneuvering on a competition wing (Doberman) with some reputation for deflation during full speedbar use. Related: Pilot was involved in 2011 midair with Richard Weston. |
Unknown |
2017 |
|
Richard Biggerstaff Arkoma, OK |
The pilot did a “nose over” spiral, where the wing is pointed nearly straight down, from over 500 feet all the way to the ground. It is likely he passed out since no recovery attempt was made according to at least one witness. |
HA |
2017 May 26 |
| Name, Location | Cause | Causes | 2018 |
|
Possibly “Jim” Salton Sea, CA |
According to a pilot who was apparently there, Gordon Miller on a Facebook post said: “It was his first flight. He had been here a few days, watching other pilots and decided to become a pilot and traded a motorcycle for some old gear. Someone said the wing looked too large for him.The pilot was going to launch regardless of advice so an instructor agreed to be on the radio with him. He launched, flew about 1/4 a mile, heading downwind. Was heading towards some power lines and then pulled nearly full brakes then let up and wing surged clear in front of him. He dropped straight down from 100 feet and landed face first. Died on impact. Gordon added later “As he was launching, cage hit the ground slightly, causing a section of netting to come off. A bystander told the guys on the radio “you should tell him to land and inspect what happened.” An eyewitness, Ryan Southwell, reported on another post: “I was camped outside the main airfield and was just putting my gear away when my friend and I looked up above us to see why this guy’s motor was shut off about 100ft away from us. He then buried his brakes under his butt and held it. We knew what was about to happen and it did. He dropped almost straight down (assuming he knew he was landing out and was possibly avoiding the direction of some power line of yonder). Full stall from 80-100 ft up. The glider seemingly shot forward at the end and the impact was so significant that we knew is was going to be really bad. We ran over to him and got there first. Out of respect I won’t go into details of his immediate condition but there was little if any life left in him. But I have a deep admiration for the trained personnel that were pilots and spouses that jumped in with amazing authority to do their best to help this man’s life. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. I heard his name was Jim. I can’t remember his last name. He seemed to be in his 50s. Thank you to all who assisted in the physical support at the time of the accident and post-emotional recovery. If I was ever in an incident I would hope I would be in such company.” |
HA |
2018 Feb 3 |
|
Eric Shaw Colorado |
Crash was not witnessed. Videos show that he enjoyed steep maneuving. He Was likely flying an Ozone Speedster 22 on a Parajet motor. |
Unknown |
2018-05-12 |
|
Westley Portwood Pocatella, ID |
Nobody saw the accident but it occured in a mountainous area, around 3:30pm. Given the summertime time of year it would likely have occasional strong turbulence. The pilot was found near his launch site and did not normally wear a helmet. |
Unknown |
2018-08-20 |
|
Bogdan Si Andreea, 35 |
The pilot was working carburetor issues on his Nirvana Rodeo on the ground. He had removed the harness and was adjusting the carburetor. An individual on the scene indicated complete decapitation at the neck with a large quantity of fragments scattered over a 50 foot radius. All three blades of the propeller were destroyed. http://stirileprotv.ro/stiri/socant/tanarul-ucis-de-elicea-parapantei-relatarile-prietenilor-un-accident-banal-la-sol.html A sketchy translation reads: The victim’s boyfriend: “A trivial accident on the ground though it seems to be related to aviation, it does not have, was a paramotor, made up of wing and engine. He played with the wing because there was no flight time. He left the wing further and had the problem of accelerating that engine, placed it on a paraphernal stand, on the ground, trying to see why it did not accelerate. |
Prop Strike |
2018-03-01 |
|
59-year-old Michael McGuire |
A trike pilot on a particularly heavy (302 pounds including 8 pound reserve) machine pulled a steep turn and suffered structural failure. He was ejected from the craft and suffered fatal impact injuries. A full investigation was performed by a trained investigator, with tests paid for by USPPA in the report below. |
Ha, Structural failure |
2018, July |
2010-04-01 Thanks to Mike Nowland whose 2005 compilation was used and to Steve Scruton on UK fatalities.