Incident Details

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Inflight Drive Belt Malfunction - Schuylkill River

Drive belt malfunctioned during cruise flight along Schuylkill River. Pilot shut down engine to prevent internal damage and safely descended into grass field. Power lines prevented straight-in approach.

Incident Details

Hardware failure

Maximum — exactly determined

Cruising up the Schuylkill River when the drive belt malfunctioned. Pilot shut the engine down to prevent internal damage and descended into a grass field. EHV lines prevented a straight-in approach to the field adjacent a bark-park.

Belt condition missed during preflight. Pilot identified suitable landing areas during flight and used communication gear to coordinate pickup before landing.

Not deployed

Mostly correct inputs while reacting

Date & Location

June 5, 2012

Equipment

Fresh Breeze Monster

Dudek

Synthesis 34

34

Pilot & Flight

Age: 46

Hardware

Hardware failure occurredEngine failure

Links & Media

Incident Details: June 5, 2012 Location of the incident: Schuylkill River Type of Incident: Cruising up the Schuylkill River when the drive belt malfunctioned. I shut the engine down to prevent internal damage and descended into a grass field. EHV lines prevented a straight-in approach to the field adjacent a bark-park. Contributing Factors: – belt condition missed during preflight :-( – identifying suitable landing areas during flight – communication gear allowed pickup coordination before I even landed Pilot Details: Age: 46 Gear: Wing Brand/Model: Dudek Synthesis 34, Paramotor Frame: Fresh Breeze Monster

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