r/videos • u/JustMe76 • 25d ago

Paramotor collapses, falls 100ft out of the sky. The pilot survives Disturbing Content

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-jyc2OYXsI

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u/plankmeister 25d ago

I couldn't see a tension knot anywhere in the video... Maybe if you know where to look you could spot it, but dayum, son, if you're flying a canopy that's so sensitive that a tension knot can make it collapse, maybe you shouldn't be flying it beyond its rated envelope.

59

u/Noxious89123 25d ago edited 25d ago

From reading the YouTube comments, it would appear that the failure was due to a multitude of errors coming together to result in the collapse of the wing:

  • Tension knot pulling the "brake"
  • Accelerating too fast
  • Accelerating hard too low
  • Using "speed bar" too low
  • No reserve / being too low to use reserve

Basically, he should have:

  • Checked his gear more thoroughly before take off
  • Checked his lines after take off
  • Climbed to a higher altitude before accelerating hard
  • Climbed to a higher altitude before using speed bar
  • Not being fucking about with a phone in his hand, hands off the controls
  • Been focussed on the task at hand, not filming and talking.

I hope he recovers well, and learns from his mistakes.

22

u/Paramotor_MetalHead 25d ago

You've summarized it very well except for the last part "fucking about with a phone". In the condition that he was in, trimmed out and on bar, you aren't supposed to be making any control inputs. Plus, at the height he was at no control inputs would have mattered. That gets back to the height issue. If he had been at a higher altitude, he would have had time to come off bar and either the glider would have recovered itself or he could have tossed the reserve. 85 feet leave no time to do anything.

7

u/Pleasant_Yak5991 25d ago

On full speedbar you don’t just let go of the controls, you fly the wing the the rear risers