Extremely lucky day for everyone involved!

Great reserve throw by the pilot. Even looked like she took time to look for clean air to throw into. Lucky escape even so.

I hope all involved submitted an Aviation Safety Reporting System form (ASRS). The dude in the airplane is at fault from what I can tell.

in 14 CFR § 91.113:

Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so), the aircraft to the other's right has the right-of-way. If the aircraft are of different categories—

(1) A balloon has the right-of-way over any other category of aircraft;

(2) A glider has the right-of-way over powered aircraft.

(3) An airship has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft, except for an aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft.

(4) An aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft.[/b]

8GCBC wrote:I hope all involved submitted an Aviation Safety Reporting System form (ASRS). The dude in the airplane is at fault from what I can tell.

in 14 CFR § 91.113:

Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so), the aircraft to the other's right has the right-of-way. If the aircraft are of different categories—

(1) A balloon has the right-of-way over any other category of aircraft;

(2) A glider has the right-of-way over powered aircraft.

(3) An airship has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft, except for an aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft.

(4) An aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft.[/b]

This was in Austria, so FARs don't apply. That said, hopefully the local regulatory entity is looking into this.

That said, the paraglider was below the airplane, and it looked like the plane was coming right at it. Would have been REALLY hard/impossible to see below the nose.

Maybe. Just glad everyone survived. Good news is, that lady has one HELL of a story, complete with video to back it up.

mtv wrote:

8GCBC wrote:I hope all involved submitted an Aviation Safety Reporting System form (ASRS). The dude in the airplane is at fault from what I can tell.

in 14 CFR § 91.113:

Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so), the aircraft to the other's right has the right-of-way. If the aircraft are of different categories—

(1) A balloon has the right-of-way over any other category of aircraft;

(2) A glider has the right-of-way over powered aircraft.

(3) An airship has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft, except for an aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft.

(4) An aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft.[/b]

This was in Austria, so FARs don't apply. That said, hopefully the local regulatory entity is looking into this.

That said, the paraglider was below the airplane, and it looked like the plane was coming right at it. Would have been REALLY hard/impossible to see below the nose.

Maybe. Just glad everyone survived. Good news is, that lady has one HELL of a story, complete with video to back it up.

Are you implying the powered aircraft can run down gliders and get away with it in Austria?

8GCBC wrote:

mtv wrote:

8GCBC wrote:I hope all involved submitted an Aviation Safety Reporting System form (ASRS). The dude in the airplane is at fault from what I can tell.

in 14 CFR § 91.113:

Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so), the aircraft to the other's right has the right-of-way. If the aircraft are of different categories—

(1) A balloon has the right-of-way over any other category of aircraft;

(2) A glider has the right-of-way over powered aircraft.

(3) An airship has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft, except for an aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft.

(4) An aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft.[/b]

This was in Austria, so FARs don't apply. That said, hopefully the local regulatory entity is looking into this.

That said, the paraglider was below the airplane, and it looked like the plane was coming right at it. Would have been REALLY hard/impossible to see below the nose.

Maybe. Just glad everyone survived. Good news is, that lady has one HELL of a story, complete with video to back it up.

Are you implying the powered aircraft can run down gliders and get away with it in Austria?

That's not what he said at all, however quoting the FAR's as a regulatory reference for another country is "off base".

In addition the "intruder" is definitely not a Cessna 208, it's a Reims Aviation S.A. F 182 Q as per the Austrian Civil Aircraft Registry.

When flying along a mountain chain on the windward side, I tend to stay far away from the rocks to avoid hang gliders and paragliders playing in the ridge lift. This paraglider might have been flying cross country, and that would make the incident a little more understandable. The "wings" on these things tend to be made from bright colors, so they aren't that hard to spot. I suspect the paraglider will be replacing all of their flying strings due to the abrasion inevitable from such an encounter. I wonder if any noticeable damage was done to the plane?

Flyhound wrote:When flying along a mountain chain on the windward side, I tend to stay far away from the rocks to avoid hang gliders and paragliders playing in the ridge lift. This paraglider might have been flying cross country, and that would make the incident a little more understandable. The "wings" on these things tend to be made from bright colors, so they aren't that hard to spot. I suspect the paraglider will be replacing all of their flying strings due to the abrasion inevitable from such an encounter. I wonder if any noticeable damage was done to the plane?

A “replacement” of skivies might also be in order…

This is just a big fat oh shit thing I think . They are both at fault for being out flying I guess you could say on this one . I get the whole sailboat rules and non powered. Vrs powered right away thing but . …I almost hit a weather ballon right in my face once about 10 seconds after I let some jumpers out . …… sounds like everyone made it out in one piece on this one . Good deal .

8GCBC wrote:

mtv wrote:

8GCBC wrote:I hope all involved submitted an Aviation Safety Reporting System form (ASRS). The dude in the airplane is at fault from what I can tell.

in 14 CFR § 91.113:

Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so), the aircraft to the other's right has the right-of-way. If the aircraft are of different categories—

(1) A balloon has the right-of-way over any other category of aircraft;

(2) A glider has the right-of-way over powered aircraft.

(3) An airship has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft, except for an aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft.

(4) An aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft has the right-of-way over all other powered aircraft.[/b]

This was in Austria, so FARs don't apply. That said, hopefully the local regulatory entity is looking into this.

That said, the paraglider was below the airplane, and it looked like the plane was coming right at it. Would have been REALLY hard/impossible to see below the nose.

Maybe. Just glad everyone survived. Good news is, that lady has one HELL of a story, complete with video to back it up.

Are you implying the powered aircraft can run down gliders and get away with it in Austria?

No. That said, in most of the world, an "accident" that really wasn't avoidable in any resonable fashion is PROBABLY not going to be punished by a death sentence. I'm betting the Cessna driver is having some heart to heart talks with "authority", whomever that may be.

Flyhound wrote:When flying along a mountain chain on the windward side, I tend to stay far away from the rocks to avoid hang gliders and paragliders playing in the ridge lift. This paraglider might have been flying cross country, and that would make the incident a little more understandable. The "wings" on these things tend to be made from bright colors, so they aren't that hard to spot. I suspect the paraglider will be replacing all of their flying strings due to the abrasion inevitable from such an encounter. I wonder if any noticeable damage was done to the plane?

There's a map of the paraglider's flight, and yes, she had covered a LOT of territory.

mtv wrote:

Flyhound wrote:When flying along a mountain chain on the windward side, I tend to stay far away from the rocks to avoid hang gliders and paragliders playing in the ridge lift. This paraglider might have been flying cross country, and that would make the incident a little more understandable. The "wings" on these things tend to be made from bright colors, so they aren't that hard to spot. I suspect the paraglider will be replacing all of their flying strings due to the abrasion inevitable from such an encounter. I wonder if any noticeable damage was done to the plane?

There's a map of the paraglider's flight, and yes, she had covered a LOT of territory.

Mike, do you have a link to the paraglider's track? I think I have seen it posted somewhere but can't find it again.

Place where this happened is about 35 mins flight (@100 knots) from my homebase. The airport Zell am See (LOWZ) is a very well visited GA airport as it offers a nice restaurant, is situated near the lake and the town of the same name. Flying there is very scenic and it is a convenient stop for flying through the alps from north to south or vice versa. It is also just a short flight away from southern Germany which means that it is also often visited by pilots who otherwise don't fly in the mountains too much. LOWZ is a towered but uncontrolled field (no radar) so they are passing on to you the traffic information that they get by radio. Despite being just at the edge of the alps, this is not an easy airport, with a nonstandard pattern due to hills close by and requiring flying close to terrain in the pattern. Also the runway is shorter than what many of the visiting pilots are used to and traffic is channeled by the valleys. Check the VAC if you are interested.

https://eaip.austrocontrol.at/lo/260515/Charts/SECONDARY_%20LOWZ/LO_AD_2_LOWZ_14-2_en.pdf

Because the town, lake and mountains are quite scenic, this place is also visited A LOT by non-flying tourists, especially also from the Middle East and Asia. And there are many other activities like paragliding, mountain biking, skiing, white water rafting etc. Also the Hohe Tauern National Park is close by. Telling you all this so you get a feeling for how busy this place can be and to explain why there is at least one (not sure, probably there are more) companies that offer commercial sightseeing flights.

Trying to relate just the facts, as far as I could put them together from various sources:
The Alpenflug 182 was on such a commercial flight, piloted by a 28-year old local/regional pilot with (at least) 2 passengers onboard. The collision happened about 3 NM west of the lake, near the Pinzgauer hut ("Pinzgauer Htt." on the chart).
The 182 was on a southerly heading, coming from the Glemm Valley in the north, presumably (not confirmed) for a landing back at LOWZ RW 07.
The paraglider had taken off at Schmittenhöhe, one of the most frequented paragliding spots in Austria (several thousand take offs per year) and was flying around the area for some time before the accident. The whole area around this place is highly frequented by paragliders (reportedly there can be several hundred in the air on good thermal days) and also gliders.

While the paraglider first stated that she was flying straight when she was hit, it seems that she later said that she was circling in a thermal.
She was not carrying a FLARM device. I don't know if the Cessna is FLARM equipped but many planes in the alps are nowadays. Some people say that with the amount of paragliders in the air at this spot it would have been useless anyway or rather more of a distraction than it would actually help.

The paraglider pilot made a statement after the video on her Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYxIulmjOZ3

The key points translated into English:

I wasn’t anywhere I wasn’t supposed to be!
No, I didn’t have FLARM.
I was circling in thermals.
No, as a paraglider, you can’t give way to a small plane.
Motorized aircraft should give me the right of way.
Generally, aircraft circling in thermals must be given way.
The pilot of the plane landed safely.
Yes, I know who it (the Cessna pilot) was.
The official procedures will go their way without drama through the proper legal lawsuits.

… and to the naysayers and those who chime in even though they have no clue and badmouth either the pilot or me: hopefully you’ll never be at fault or innocent in an accident and then have to read your own comments about it…
It’s simply a flying area where paragliders, as well as gliders and powered aircraft, do their laps.
There are rules, and accidents still happen. Maybe this whole thing will help everyone fly a little more carefully again.
I realize that a paraglider, just like a glider to us, is often hard to spot—even though we’re brightly colored.

Would Flarm have made a difference? I don’t know; it’s not 100% reliable either—but my next variometer will definitely be one WITH Flarm!

To the Motor/Glider Flying Community
Perhaps a little more and more focused visual awareness, and generally a bit more cautious flying in an area where you’re always sharing the sky with us “snails”! You should expect to find one of us lurking behind every hilltop!

Pilot said he didn't see her. He was charged with negligence.

This was posted in a German forum by somebody who claims that he has flown the same aircraft in the past:

The operating company (a commercial sightseeing flight operator based in LOWZ) regularly uses the sparsely populated lower Glemm Valley for climb-outs in order to gain the necessary altitude for flights to the high-altitude reservoirs in the Kaprun Valley (Moserboden, Wasserfallboden) while minimizing noise for local residents. This arrangement has been in place for decades with the flight operations control center in LOWZ and various resident representatives. In doing so, the operator is forced to cross the gliders’ “Pinzgau stroll". My colleague didn’t want to lose altitude; he was in the middle of a maximum-effort climb. In the C182, forward and downward visibility is severely limited at that pitch angle. This isn’t meant to be an excuse, but it might help those unfamiliar with the area better understand how the accident happened.

The "Pinzgau stroll" is the highly frequented area west of Schmittenhöhe, where the collision happened.