Incident Details

Pilot was flying near a high school football game when a US Army Chinook helicopter appeared unexpectedly as part of a military flyover during the national anthem. The helicopter changed heading directly towards the pilot. To avoid the violent propwash from the Chinook, the pilot performed aggressive maneuvers to lose altitude, descending 750 feet from 950ft to 200ft AGL. The pilot activated smoke system for visibility and turned away from the helicopter. At closest point, they were 1/3 mile apart horizontally and 200ft vertically. The helicopter passed upwind, creating turbulent air heading towards the pilot. To avoid the dangerous turbulent air, the pilot climbed and flew downwind, which resulted in flying over approximately 7 city blocks of residential homes. Pilot was equipped with reserve parachute and monitoring traffic via flight tracking app with ADS-B out audio cues. The chinook was traveling from a military base 50 miles away. Incident was also reported to NASA ASRS.

Unexpected military flyover during football game created dangerous situation with helicopter propwash. Pilot had to choose between flying through potentially catastrophic turbulence or temporarily violating Part 103 regulations by flying over populated area.

31 years old, 180 lbs, male, Instructor rating, 50+ hours experience

3.1 m/s

Moderate Wind (5-9 mph)

Evening flight, steady/laminar wind conditions

On the evening of September 26, a friend & I went for a powered paraglider flight. My friend's son was playing at a high school football game. We flew our powered paragliders near the game. We avoided flying over congested areas & open assemblies of people, per Part 103 regulations. I flew briefly 1,000ft+ over the lake adjacent to the high school, then departed north west. Unbeknownst to us, the US Army had scheduled a military flyover during the national anthem. The flight tracking app I use has audio cues for nearby air traffic with ads-b out. I was informed of a helicopter to the south. Shortly after this notification, I began looking for the traffic. I saw a chinook south of me, heading west. I took some pictures on my phone, because I thought that was very cool to see. Then the chinook changed heading directly towards me. Paragliders are not rigid wings, & susceptible to collapses from turbulence, especially the violent prop wash of a chinook. I immediately began aggressive maneuvers to lose altitude & quickly scouted a place to land if needed. Powered paragliders can safely & reliably land in a tennis court sized area. I also turned on my smoke system to make myself more visible to the helicopter. Mineral oil is injected into the hot exhaust gasses & creates smoke behind me. I fly around 25mph air speed & was quickly in close proximity to the much faster helicopter. I also descended 750 feet to an altitude of 200ft agl. At our closest point, we were 1/3 mile apart horizontally & 200ft of altitude. The helicopter passed me to the west, then north, & continued a north east heading. This pass was up-wind of me, & the resulting turbulent air was coming my way. I made the decision to climb & fly downwind, away from the potentially dangerous air. My flight path put me over a populated area of a town, roughly 7 city blocks of single family homes. I expect this flight path could be considered a violation of part 103; however, I wanted to avoid the potentially dangerous air that could result in an unrecoverable paraglider. My powered paraglider is equipped with a reserve parachute as a last resort. I do my best to fly safe equipment, in safe weather, & with a safe flying style. I do my best to abide by part 103 regulations. Unfortunately, this was a situation that I don't think I could have avoided being in. On the rest of the flight, I monitored the chinook on flightradar24. I was flying 50 miles away from the local military base & will think of military flyovers more while flying during football season. My friend had more clearance from the helicopter & no issues. I think a more accessible & affordable ads-b out-like device would be fantastic for ultralights, balloons, vintage aircraft, etc. See & avoid is a principle that is critical to the safety of all, especially as commercial drones begin to operate in the airspace. This was also submitted to NASA ASRS