Home Forums Safety Accident report – paraglider landing accident at Marshall

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  • #13376

    Accident summary

    On March 10, approximately 5 PM, an instructor was landing with a new student on a tandem flight at Marshall and hit unexpected sink during a top landing.  The sink caused a higher than expected descent rate at touchdown and the student lifted his legs at touchdown rather than using his legs to cushion the touchdown.  Student hit the ground on his tailbone and immediately stated he was in pain.

     

    Conditions

    The recorded winds at Marshall were 7-10 MPH south at 5 PM on July 10.

     

    Emergency response

    The pilot was driven to a hospital from Marshall.

     

    Injuries

    Compression fracture of the vertebrae

     

    Damage

    None noted

     

    Pilot involved

    The tandem pilot was properly rated to give commercial tandem instruction at Marshall.

     

    Root cause

    Unexpected sink caused higher than expected descent rate at touchdown

     

    Proximate cause

    Approach was toward the back side of the Marshall complex which increased the possibility of encountering sink conditions.

     

    Corrective action

    Instructor has improved his tandem prelaunch and prelanding briefings to emphasize that new PG pilots tend to pull up their legs as the ground approaches and it is important to overcome that tendency and keep one’s legs out.

    Additionally, the instructor will only make tandem approaches at Marshall toward the front of the hill to minimize the chance of hitting sink.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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