It's a paramotor, but the scenario is perfectly applicable to our aircraft.

Why in the hell did he fly up that tiny little canyon with hardly any altitude? It almost seems like he was looking for an outcome like what happened. He even says at one point something like "I knew I was gonna do that sometime"....

You've got to wonder how many accidents and deaths GoPro is responsible for. He never would have been there if he wasn't trying to get some "killer footage"...very appropriately named in many cases.

Pulling that much air, you really need to know which way is down hill.

Ouch.....just really OUCH!

I'll bet that left a mark. He keeps saying "I'm done", which I presume means he's done flying. Too bad....if you survive something like this, use it as a learning experience, and get back to flying.

MTV

I flew into a strip with a lot of those and a guy gave me a ride. It was pretty flat country with gentle rolling hills. It had an O-320 but seemed not to climb very fast. The slow speed made it seem safe but I think he had to stay ahead of the aircraft and know which way was down drainage.

contactflying wrote:...The slow speed made it seem safe but I think he had to stay ahead of the aircraft and know which way was down drainage.

Under powered, well past the point of no return, poor turn performance. Likely hot day. Outcome as good as he might have hoped for. If he decided to drop the hobby it might be a good thing. We don't need more fatal accidents that "prove" how dangerous GA is.

contactflying wrote:I flew into a strip with a lot of those and a guy gave me a ride. It was pretty flat country with gentle rolling hills. It had an O-320 but seemed not to climb very fast. The slow speed made it seem safe but I think he had to stay ahead of the aircraft and know which way was down drainage.

Really?? Paramotors are backpacks maybe you went for a ride in a powered parachute but I've never heard of anything bigger than a Rotax 912, and those are the really big ones.

Regardless, that was some weird, poor decision making by the pilot in this vid!

I am with MTV. Rub some dirt on it an go fly. I have done stupid things flying and in most everything else in life!! I just try to learn from them as I go. He started out good but as he got lower he also got slower (no money in the bank). I think he expected lower stuff behind the ridge. Posted the results for all to learn how many here would do that???
DENNY

Here's what I learned from this video:if you're going to fly in canyons at low altitude, you better know your aircraft's performance and you better pay attention. This is news? Sorry to be harsh but all I can say is, he did neither, WHAT A DUMB ASS! Nothing wrong with canyon flying, up or down, you just need to know your aircraft, the canyon and pay a bit more attention then this guy. This is the kind of thing that gives foot launched powered para gliding a bad name.

But at least the low cruising speed of that bag wing made the impact no big deal, glad he's OK, and I still want one of those things......

One of the features touted by salespeople for simple, inexpensive flying machines is how easy they are to fly. Misleading? At the certified level, and even experimental, we seem to have more respect for flying being a lifelong learning endeavour. This guy lacked training, and obviously lacked some experience that would have alerted him to the danger he was pushing toward. He now has that lesson and experience behind him. He even mentions that he's flown down that drainage before. My take is that he simply didn't know any better, and realized just a few seconds too late. He even comments that he should have just landed in the bottom of the canyon. It lands slow enough? Just fooling around near his regular strip, didn't recognize he needed a mountain flying introduction?

Hope he gets back in the saddle, and he deserves accolades for sharing this with his community. People often don't know what they don't know. It's happened to all of us.

Hammer wrote:You've got to wonder how many accidents and deaths GoPro is responsible for. He never would have been there if he wasn't trying to get some "killer footage"...very appropriately named in many cases.

+1

That was tough to watch and I respect the pilot for sharing the video so others may benefit from it.

I am a motorcyclist also, and the GoPro tends to capture people's crashes to make it easier for the orthopedic surgeon and the insurance company to figure out what the rider did to put themselves in the hospital.

mtv wrote:Ouch.....just really OUCH!

I'll bet that left a mark. He keeps saying "I'm done", which I presume means he's done flying. Too bad....if you survive something like this, use it as a learning experience, and get back to flying.

MTV

Flying is not for everyone...

I was married and got a divorce. I'm done. I'm not going to use it as a learning experience and get remarried.

No more than this schlump is going to fly a different paraglider up a canyon again...

I sent this video link to my daughter and asked her please do not marry this guy. We already have enough stupidity in the family!

Best,

Tom

Paramotoring, or powered paragliding, is a really fantastic form of flight. It shouldn't be confused with powered parachutes which use a full trike airframe for rolling takeoffs and landings. I think the latter can be LSA but can also qualify for Part 103 if it's light enough.

The sport is seeing a big jump in popularity as of late, likely driven by young Youtube sensations who love to fly low and land in McDonalds parking lots. The fact that it's part 103 compliant tends to attract those who might eschew proper training, but make no mistake, paragliding is delicate business. I've never experienced anything that puts you in such intimate consort with micrometeorology or the faintest lick of wind. It takes some skill to do it well. And the wing only tolerates positive g's, making dirty air a very sporting event.

I'm firmly of the opinion that safety is 5% aircraft and 95% pilot.

I would tend to blame an accident like this on a lack of community education/knowledge, but there are immensely knowledgable mountain flyers in the paragliding community. Like any discipline, you don't know what you don't know, and this particular type of aircraft is seen as the ultimate low flyer. Young internet people are hopping on the Youtube bandwagon so they can go drag their feet through hayfields at speed. To be honest, that does sound fun. That might be me if I didn't have kids.

I like to think that we enjoy a unique level of enlightenment about these hazards just based on the nature of our community, but I wouldn't hesitate to share exact examples of aircraft impacting rising terrain.

Does anyone here NOT know how this guy go into this situation or why flying up a canyon at such low level is dangerous?

So was this a paramotor or powered parachute? U would have guessed the later do to the wheels that you see at the beginning. But I don't know a whole bunch about these things...

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A1Skinner wrote:So was this a paramotor or powered parachute? U would have guessed the later do to the wheels that you see at the beginning. But I don't know a whole bunch about these things...

This guy was flying a powered paraglider (PPG) / paramotor. The other guy with wheels in the beginning of the video looked to also be flying a ppg with a trike. My understanding is that a powered parachute generally has a rectangular hershey bar style wing and the wing brakes (trailing edge control) are linked to a foot bar on the wheeled trike or quad. PPGs on the other hand fly an elliptical wing with hand actuated wing brakes, these wings are very much a paraglider wing rated for the pilot/motor weight, these are backpack units but have the ability to also be mounted on a lightweight wheeled cart.

I think Z's post above hits the nail on the head about the rising popularity and (sometimes lacking) training culture. I often watch some of the YouTubers like Tucker Gott and he is quite impressive, the Paradigm team at OSH this year was very cool. I will say, if you watch enough of his videos, he does put an emphasis on proper training. Some of the big motovloggers are also transitioning into PPGs, but I really like WoodysGamertag as he usually has a more conservative approach to flying, how to maintain safety, and good neighbor relations. He has been documenting his PPG adventures including safety courses, which are very fun to follow.

With all that said, I really want to get into PPGs and I've always thought it would be cool to disassemble the unit, throw it in the back of my Pacer and go explore some really cool areas using the 'real' plane as transport there and back!

coloradokevbot wrote:I've always thought it would be cool to disassemble the unit, throw it in the back of my Pacer and go explore some really cool areas using the 'real' plane as transport there and back!

You know that you are back-country when the pacer is your cross-country rig

Scolopax wrote:

coloradokevbot wrote:I've always thought it would be cool to disassemble the unit, throw it in the back of my Pacer and go explore some really cool areas using the 'real' plane as transport there and back!

You know that you are back-country when the pacer is your cross-country rig

Haha after flying a Pietenpol for a while, the Pacer feels like an airliner! And I think that if I get into PPGs, it will maintain my appreciation for Pacer utility

I saw one of those youtube paragliders decide to go up to 15,000. I don't think he had any sort of oxygen setup.

It may have been all in my head, but it sounded like his speech got a little slower above 12,000. Oxygen gets kinda thin up there.

I love any sort of flying, but you need to make sure you think things through no matter what your in.