Home |
| |
Why Join USPPA?
Support Education,
Monthly Magazine,
Give the sport a voice,
Member Services Web,
Discounts on Materials,
Certification Program.
Price & Benefits
Click here to Join!
Please send questions
or comments to: theUSPPA@gmail.com
Had an incident?
Please share it with the
community—we all learn from
these and improve with time.
Submit only what information you
feel appropriate, but do submit! |
| |
 |
|
 |
Incident Details
General Information
Title: Banking it up and wakes don't mix well.
Date: 06/26/2010
Time: 20:05
Location: Main & Bliss area near Batavia, IL.
Pilot Information
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Pilot weight (without motor): 180 US Pounds
Rating:
Advanced (PPG3 or Equivalent)
Experience:
50+ Hours Solo
Incident Detail Information
Type of Incident:
Wing Malfunction or Deflation
Primary Cause:
Wake
Contributing Distractions:
Activity in Takeoff/LZ (Cars, People, Gliders, etc.)
Windspeed:
Calm
Wind Type:
Steady
Thermal Conditions:
None
Visibility: Excellent. No haze to speak of.
Surface:
Crop Field
Terrain:
Flat
Site Elevation: 650 (feet above sea level)
Phase of Flight:
Cruise
Purpose of Flight:
Recreation-Other
Safety Gear Used:
None
Helmet Full
Helmet Other
Protective Boots
Knee-pads
Elbow-pads
Wrist Guards
Reserve
Knife
Gloves
Strobe
Unknown
Communications:
None
Damage to Pilot's Equipment:
Minor (Less than 20% of New Price)
Wing: Nova Mamboo
Motor: Skycruiser Top 80
Injury Information
Pilot/Passenger Injury Severity:
None
Hosipitalization:
None
Injuries:
None
Head
Face
Neck
Chest
Back
Abdomen
Shoulder
Arm
Elbow
Forearm
Wrist
Hand
Pelvis
Thigh
Calf
Ankle
Foot
Knee
Unknown
Collateral Damage:
None
By-Stander
Other Pilot
Animal
Property
Unknown
Narrative: It was a nice calm, hot, humid evening. There may have been a wind of 1-2mph out of the NE. 5 of us were flying. The launch was not easy due to a high density altitude. The air was extremely smooth. There are corn fields on either side of a 2 lane country road. There is a clear path following a creek between the rows of corn that winds through the corn for about 1/4 mile. My friend and I were flying along this path several times trying to stay pretty well centered in it. We were both pretty low. There were several cars that had pulled off of the road to watch us. My friend had just turned from a SE direction to fly NW along the path through the corn and I was flying to the SE also. My intention was to do a 180 degree turn and follow him but not too closely. My altitude was less than 100' AGL and I banked it up pretty hard. The next thing I knew my wing had collapsed from the front and I was losing altitude quickly. The wing almost fully recovered and I throttled up to keep some momentum. There wasn't enough altitude so into the corn I went. It was an almost flat landing but with too much force and I came down hard on my cage. The frame is bent, my prop was destroyed, my cage netting was also destroyed and one of the radial arms [top right, tent pole like] was destroyed. I had absolutely no injury with the exception of a few mosquito bites while gathering my wing [which still needs to be fully inspected] and getting my gear the roughly 25' to the road.
The immediate collapse of my wing took me totally by surprise. I believe that my friend's wake and my own wake from my 180* turn came together to form just the right turbulence to severely collapse my wing.
Lessons learned: Even when the air is very calm a smart pilot will be looking at other factors that could be creating a turbulence problem. Banking it up close to the ground when approaching an area where there could be a wake from your own sharp turn or another aircraft recently passing is a very bad idea. This is particularly true if both your turn and your buddy's wake conspire against you. It could have been much worse!
In the future this pilot is not going to take this kind of a risk and hopefully you have learned something from my mishap and poor judgment!
Photo:
No photo on file.
|
