Category: log entry

Goin’s report On the most recent fatality.  The accident rate among new pilots is rising.
http://www.footflyer.com/Safety/Incidents/2017/Spiral.htm

Tragedy: Paramotor Fatality From Spiral

2017-05-26 Endless Footdrag Fatality | Fatalities | Steep Maneuvering Risk Article

On Friday evening, several hours after I had left, tragedy struck when Richard Biggerstaff was, according to two witnesses, doing a spiral from which he hit the ground. There was a small post-impact fire that was extinguished almost right away. Another pilot who was flying with Richard at the time, saw the whole thing from the air. He landed and rushed over, reporting that “he’s gone” by the time another witness arrived at the scene.

They were high, over 1000 feet AGL according to the flying witness, when the spiral was initiated. It was almost certainly a “nose-over” spiral where the pilot and wing are pointed nearly straight down, rotating quickly.Richard had received probably 30 flights of training elsewhere and came to Bryan in Austin, TX, for a day of brush up after a 9 month hiatus.At the Endless Footdrag, Richard had been flying fairly aggressively including steep spirals. Bryan had talked with him about it.

The most likely explanation is that he blacked out before impact and never knew what happened. There are, of course, other possibilities–accident investigation is rife with examples of early assessments being wrong. But most of the time the obvious reason is the correct reason. Hopefully we can get enough evidence to rule out equipment failure or other even less likely causes.
He was flying normally-functioning, appropriate gear: a Nirvana motor and Universal wing. These details are so utterly irrelevant because they have almost no bearing on this kind of spiral. It’s a characteristic of paragliders that when the bank goes beyond a certain point in a round circle, it automatically devolves into a nearly straight-down condition that locks in: no input is required to stay like that.
Blackout can happen in seconds depending on several factors. It’s possible that, by the time someone notices their visual field closing in (graying out,) it’s too late. Beginner gliders are just as susceptible as advanced ones. Being heavily loaded makes it easier to get into but I don’t know the glider’s size. I suspect he was over 9 lbs / sq meter which makes starting a spiral easy.
Round, steep spirals are remarkably lethal.
My heart goes out to his connections–those whose lives were intertwined with his. I joked with him several times while he was out in the field kiting with Bryan West who was helping him on various wing handling skills although, to my knowledge, he was not one of Bryan’s students, at least originally. He was also an airplane pilot who flew his plane to the event. Clearly he had a love for life and flight that most of us share.

Round Spirals

We all need to help spread the word about how absurdly dangerous this maneuver is. I’ve covered it in articles here, the book, and various magazines but it’s easy to melt into our overall risk.

History shows this one to be a particularly lethal recurring theme.
One problem is that it’s an extremely easy maneuver to do. They all look the same whether done by newbie or inexperienced pilot. So someone aspiring to keep up with their aggressive peers or just wanting to explore can get right into it. And, as these videos show, blackout happens so quickly!
We need to do a better job of educating those we influence on the risk of steep spirals AT ANY ALTITUDE. You only black out once and, to my knowledge, it’s *ALWAYS* a death sentence.
At Fly-Ins
How much more do we push it at fly-ins? As of this writing I’ve been at 4 events since 1999 where pilots have died; three of them were due to aggressive maneuvering. Is it possible our exhibitionism is getting the best of us?

If I were an event organizer, knowing what I do now, and it was my primary field, I would likely ask pilots to only come if they’re willing to fly like grandmas and grant permission only to those with a history of successful acro or steep maneuvering. Events would get smaller, of course, but that would be a trade for making them safer and more likely to continue.
Lets Face It
What we do has risk. I’m a proponent of evidence-based understanding, using empirical evidence to inform our understanding. How we then act on that is a personal choice but damn lets make sure everyone at least knows where the risk is. I do risky things, we all do, to some degree, by strapping these things on. But some things are really bad and steep, round spirals are among the worst. Low, steep maneuvering is another that, although not as lethal as spiraling, has caused a few and caused a lot of maiming.

I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone what to do or not do, after all, I do my share of lowish, moderately steep maneuvering, but just want to share knowledge about what’s at stake.
This is a tragedy on many levels obviously the worst being the pilot, his family and friends. Also for Britton who has lost his primary training field as a result. And to those of us who have lost a fellow flyer doing what we all love.
Life is precious and so terribly fragile. Live it well.