Incident Details

Pilot was flying along the shoreline heading south with a SE wind. There were two 300ft tall towers inland to his right about 100ft away when he caught what was believed to be turbulence off the side of the building. At 40ft altitude, the wing started bouncing him around. He applied brake pressure to keep the wing inflated when at 20ft, he found himself in a parachutal stall. The left corner of the main section of cage took the impact and absorbed it. Pilot walked away unharmed. No damage to the motor or netting except the main section of cage the motor mounts to. A second pilot following the course of the first pilot was waved down early. An earlier pilot in the day opted to fly 300ft higher than the towers and never had a problem.

Pilot encountered rotor turbulence from two 300ft tall towers while flying too low (at tower height level). The turbulence caused wing oscillations which the pilot attempted to control with brake input, but this led to a parachutal stall at very low altitude. Contributing factors were flying at insufficient altitude near tall obstacles and possible excessive brake input while trying to maintain inflation.

Age 55, weight 150 lbs

Parachutal Stall PPG Type: Type of Injury: Pilot Details Age: 55 Weight: 150 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level: Gear Details Wing Brand: Model: MacPara Size: Paramotor Frame: I-Flyer with Incident Details December 20, 2008 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident: Pilot was flying along the shoreline south with a SE wind. There were two 300′ tall towers inland to his right about 100′ when he caught what was believed to be turbulence off the side of the building. At 40′, the wing started boucning him around. He applied pressure to keep the wing inflated when at 20′, he found himself in a parachutal stall. The left corner of the main section of cage took the impact and absorbed the impact. Pilot walked away unharmed. No damage to the motor or netting except the main section of cage the motor mounts too. Pilot was very lucky he wasn’t higher and stalled from a higher altitude. A second pilot following the course of the first pilot was waved down early. An earlier pilot in the day opted to fly 300′ higher than the towers and never had a problem. Flight Window: Wind Speed: Type: Phase of Flight: Type of Injury: Collateral Damage: Analysis of the incident (additional input by the incident investigation team): Photos (if available):