Category: Uncategorized

Mike Bennett tells of his incident

My friend Mike Bennett was injured while flying alone at the Snowflake sports Park.   He asked me and the couple of other guys who knew to keep it quiet and to give him some space.  
Today he came out and here it is …. Thanks Mike

Well I will stir things up. Some of you know I had a little accident this past labor day where my spinning prop met with the side of my head. Long story short, my engine was cutting out at higher RPM so I landed to adjust the carb. I had the motor running and I verified that it was still cutting out and it was. I then took the engine back to idle and adjusted the high jet needle a 1/16 of a turn. I braced myself like I always have one foot on the bottom bar, left hand on the top tube of the frame and one foot back with the throttle in my right hand. Well I hit the throttle and it went to 8000 RPM’s in a split second. I was kinda not really ready for the instant on and by back foot slipped off a weed mound and I started to fall backwards. At that point the motor started to lift off the ground with only my left arm to hold it off. It seemed like slow motion as the motor was slowly coming towards but in reality I only had a split second to just turn my head to the side (instead of hitting me in the face) before being hit by the spinning prop.

Next thing I know I am on the ground laying on my back the motor is still running at idle laying on the J-bars and my head is buzzing big time and me left ear was ringing like it never before. I got the engine stopped and my first thought after that was I cut my ear off. So I checked my ear and it was still there but when I pulled my hand away it was covered in blood. My phone was next to me on the cargo carrier but I just could not dial the phone as my hands where shaking too much.

I was flying alone at Snowflake so I did the only thing I could think of which was to get in the car and head towards Rogers house. As I got in the car I saw my head in the rear view mirror and realized this is not good at all. I got in the sub and floored it up towards the house honking the horn the whole way. By the time I got to the house, Roger and Pat were already coming out. Their daughter who just happened to be visiting was a trauma ER nurse and took over right away. I was conscious the whole time and was doing great until the ambulance got there 25 minutes later.

The ride to the hospital was fun as well. The guy put two IV’s in my hand which was still sweaty from flying that morning and as he turned away for a minute to talk with the driver about the best way to get to the hospital, they popped out. So he had to put them back in and them put a third one in my arm. My head was pointed towards the front of the van so every time the driver hit the brakes all the blood in my body would start towards my head and it would just POUND. Anorther 25 minutes back to the hospital.

After the first CAT scan and getting stitched up (somewhere around 60 stitches), they told me I had a major concussion, some bleeding and bruising in my brain but it did not crack the skull. I spent 28 hours in ICU and with a second CAT scan, the bleeding and bruising had gone down so they sent me home.

Just over two months later I’m back to 100% other than a scar. The hair is growing back inside the scar already and by next year this time most of it would not even be visible so I am very lucky. So that is why I have not been flying  (at all) working on paramotors, talking on the forums nor did I tell many people about it until I was ready. Yes I will be flying again very soon with some changes. The first change is for the first few flights I will be trike-ing. However I have a few project going on like finishing a powder coating oven big enough to powder coat PPG frames. I have the standard black and I want to Change the color of the used trike I bought from Alex so I will not fly unil that is finished which is looking to be about the first of the year. Note: I will be offereing my powder coating services as well as continuing my PPG repair services to the PPG community for a reasonable price.

A couple things I learned in this process, first don’t fly alone. If I had got knocked out I could have bled to death. Second, always think that the engine will spin up faster than you are used too. Yes the throttle was not stuck but it spun up sooooo fast like I have never seem before, I got caught off guard, it can happen. Third make sure you are properly braced when taking a motor to full throttle. I plan to use my cargo carrier with the frame locked in before I make field adjustments again. Last is (at least for me), my wife really loves me. In the hospital I was saying I was done flying and bless her heart so said “Don’t say that, you know you love flying too much, just take a break and you will get back too it.” She also did say “However if you do anything like that again, you are done flying!”

I have pictures on my web site if you are interested but be warned the first one is very graphic. The next two show the netting where my head went through and the rest show stitches and healing with the last one picture two months.

Mike Goes Down! #744

Mike is down here

Joe’s flight

Slight incursion into Punta Gorda airspace.
Good flight for me.  Not so much for Mike.  Bob’s write up tells it better than I
05-09-2014
Yorkshire LZ
Flight 19
Flight time 01:52
PIC 16:32
45 miles covered
Allup wt 280lbs
Wx: clear 10/vis, 80°F
LVL 0-3 BUMPS
Mike Lange
Joe Onofrio (trike)
A planned flight turned into a locate, assist and extricate adventure.
I was testing my phone cradle strapped to my thigh, headset with radio cabling running under shirt and Mic switch running inside left sleeve. The setup and takeoff was normal but the phone fell out during the run. I noticed it as I was configuring for cruise. During my quick approach and landing I forgot to grab brakes.
Should hv landed before Mike who had setup in the exact location but I was hot and was landing with tip steering only, geez. To fast for me to run so second base slide was in order, just clearing Mike’s wing with motor power. After explaining to Mike about the phone, he called it and it was right between us in working order. Reset the wing and off I go again. Only gloves were forgotten.
The plan was to meet Joe Onofrio at Wal-Mart distribution center than fly north checking out a POI and possible LZ’S, none checked out. Arriving at the rendezvous waypoint, Joe was bugging out to the south as we arrived. He had an appointment with contractors. I’m the only one with communication.
My waypoints were two to three miles apart. Mike generally flies in my blind spot, so I navigated along my preprogrammed waypoints. After crossing a large plowed field with Mike in tow his silencer departed and broke the prop forcing him to attempt a 180 back to the plowed field, but altitude was not on his side and an orange grove landing was inevitable. He sent me a text at 8:07 though I wasn’t paying attention to anything on my phone except navigation until arriving back at the LZ and noticed Mike hadn’t landed at 08:37. Checking msg’s Mike sent me ” Muffler fell off. Broke prop stuck in trees ” Mike was unable to send me his location, so I flew between waypoints close to where he thought he had landed. He said he was stuck in a tree so I focused on large trees around dirt fields between waypoints and not orange groves, though eventually I saw him waving his arms alongside an orange grove. Thinking I needed to check fuel and land in an area for takeoff, I chose the plowed field next to the Orange grove though after landing it was apparent it wud be a difficult launch, I chose to call it a day knowing our location was within a hundred yards of vehicle rescue.
Their was only a ditch crossing with water, mud and man eating fire ants to the groove.
I text Joe our pickup location. Mike and I climbed an orange tree to untangle the Paraglider without damage. Probably took an hour plus with success. Joe arrived, help with the wing extraction and took some pictures. We loaded all equipment in the pickup and departed back to the LZ.
1) Radios are a hassle but worth the effort.
2) Learn how to send your location with your phone if able.
3) Water and a cold ass Corona at the LZ
Sun reflecting off navigational markers in Charlotte Harbor

Walmart Distribution Center 

Leaving class D Airspace Oops!

Mike’s garage trophy

They took risers off but what a tangled mess

Smiling Mike

We bagged us a wing from this here tree!

737 to 740 Lots of air time!

It’s been windy the last two mornings.  Yesterday I landed after only one lap around the air park and this morning I stayed up but only because I could penetrate and it was predicted to start moderating after dawn.
After the flight I stopped at the house where 4 separate crews were taking care of business.   Garage doors, roof,  floors and pool.  I has an hour before an appointment to have my hearing tested so I went over to the lot by Eric’s house and kited the wing until it was dry.  It’s a pretty good trick with 2 big palms, one at each wingtip.  As soon as I let the wing drift it would catch the rotor off the palm and start to loose pressure.  Its a nice area to dry things out.

The best news was that while I was trying to decide what I was going to do this afternoon, Mike texted and invited me to fly his LZ at 6:30. Good air and good times.

Picolino.


                          Playing “Mast Monkey” while servicing the wind indicator.

I have been waiting for a morning where the weather was  favourable and this was not it.   Strong winds from the East, combined with incoming tide made exiting the canal system a challenge.  The air was moving but it was dirty twitchy stuff caused by flowing between the houses and round the palms.  The best you can do is find the puff , sprint through it and coast to the next, keeping in mind that the next area of wind could be coming from any point of the compass.   It’s good practice but not very satisfying.

Fortunately, it’s a short distance to open water.  Unfortunately, the last leg the one that leads out to the Harbor, is 250 yards long and today it had a strong tidal current. As the tide came in, the entrance was like the mouth of a bottle being filled.  I tacked several times with zero velocity made good.  Ferrying back and forth I felt like  I was in a kayak paddling up stream.  At one point I caved in and broke out the short blade paddle that is stowed in the bow.  Stroking furiously,  I moved the boat through the canal into Charlotte Harbour.  There, I was met with 12 to 15 knots of wind directly on the nose.  The water was confused, with a two foot swing from peak to trough.  No matter what point of sail I chose, there was no path that would prevent water from sloshing over gunnels, swamping the boat.  Perhaps a couple hundred yards farther out there was a proper fetch with consistent seas but I would be sitting in a bathtub long before I got there.

So, I turned downwind and raced back into the main Canal.  I had planned on sailing North, past Fishermans Village and stopping at the Tiki Bar for lunch. But, since that wasn’t going to happen I thought  it might be a good time to try flying the Spinnaker.  I rigged it for a long downwind to the last turn at the end of the gran canal.  It flew with mixed success occasionally it would fill and draw but mostly it sucked up to the jib. To be honest, I should have taken in the jib to allow clear air for the spinnaker but that would have entailed stopping at somebody’s dock and I didn’t feel like doing that after the fight to the entrance.  I got it up and inflated….that’s good enough, for the first time.



Back to Shell Creek and the Red Neck Yacht Club Flights 734 735

After flying Gaspirilla Island I returned to Shell Creek for a couple of nice long flights.  Mike and I went north and played around past the Walmart Dist. Warehouse and enjoyed smooth air.

This morning we flew with Bob H and Rodman Gomez out to the Red Neck Yacht Club.  I climbed to 1200 feet and caught up with the guys just as we were arriving at RNYC.  It looks like a lot of fun, there are tracks for ATV races and what looks like strips for drag boats.  There is a small ultra lite airstrip and if we sign a waiver there is no fee for flying there.
After landing we went out for breakfast and back to the airport to see if we could hook up with Frank Moss.  He wasn’t there but we did stop at Sky Dive SW Florida to see about getting a reserve repack.
I don’t think they are too fond of us.  We got another lecture about what we were allowed to do and where we were not allowed to launch and land.  The next time I go out there I’m going to bring a USSPA Waiver for their files.  

Red Neck Yacht Club

Joe.                                   Bob.                     Rodman.                        Mike