During climb out at 40-50ft, a harness strap buckle broke and the loose end was caught by the propeller, causing vibration. Pilot performed a safe turnback and landing.
Maximum — exactly determined
Last year the pilot adjusted harness straps to make the motor sit higher on his back, increasing the length of loose ends of both bottom harness straps. This year, he replaced his E-Prop with Vitto Fast Acceleration prop and removed the prop spacer, but didn't check if the harness strap ends could now reach the prop. During the incident flight (#4 after prop replacement), during climb out at about 40-50ft, he heard something catching the prop and felt excessive vibration. Initially thinking his windbreaker jacket got sucked into the prop, he decided to do a turnback and landed safely on the field. After landing, he discovered the starboard lower strap of the harness loose, the plastic buckle missing and about an inch of the strap's end showing damage from prop contact. The trailing edge on one of the prop blades had a damaged area of about 2Ă—0.5 inches.
Configuration change (prop replacement without spacer) reduced clearance between propeller and harness straps. Loose ends of harness straps were long enough to reach the prop after configuration change. Plastic harness buckle broke, allowing strap to contact propeller. Either the strap buckle broke first allowing strap to reach prop, or loose end reached prop first which broke the buckle - unclear from video.
Not deployed
Mostly correct inputs while reacting
August 3, 2025
08:30:00
United States
Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania
Footlaunch
Parajet Maverick
Moster 185
15 m
Male, 43 years old, 210 lbs
1.3 m/s
Light Wind (1-5 mph)
Light and Variable
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</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div class="zn_pb_wrapper clearfix zn_sortable_content" data-droplevel="0"> <section class="zn_section eluid03b5e099 section-sidemargins section--no" id="eluid03b5e099"> <div class="zn_section_size container zn-section-height--auto zn-section-content_algn--top"> <div class="row"> <div class="eluid29aaa6a4 col-md-12 col-sm-12 znColumnElement" id="eluid29aaa6a4"> <div class="znColumnElement-innerWrapper-eluid29aaa6a4 znColumnElement-innerWrapper znColumnElement-innerWrapper--valign-top znColumnElement-innerWrapper--halign-left"> <div class="znColumnElement-innerContent"> <div class="zn_text_box eluid9b0444df zn_text_box-light element-scheme--light"> <p> <div class="frm_grid_container"> <div class="frm12"> <p> Return to the incident list: <a href="https://usppa.org/incidents"> Incident List </a> <strong> Plastic harness buckle broke, harness strap went into the prop </strong> <strong> PPG Type </strong> : Foot Launch – Single Occupant <strong> Type of Injury </strong> : No Injury </p> <h3> Pilot Details </h3> <p> <strong> Age </strong> : 43 <strong> Weight </strong> : 210 <strong> Gender </strong> : Male <strong> Highest rating held at the time of the incident </strong> : Intermediate – PPG 2 <strong> Pilot experience level </strong> : 10-50 hours </p> <h3> Gear Details </h3> <p> <strong> Wing Brand </strong> : <strong> Model </strong> : <strong> Size </strong> : <strong> Paramotor Frame </strong> : Parajet Maverick with Moster 185 </p> <h3> Incident Details </h3> <p> <strong> August 3, 2025 8:30 AM Location of the incident: </strong> Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania <strong> Type of Incident </strong> : Prop Strike </p> <p> Last year I adjusted the straps on my harness to make the motor sit higher on my back. That increased the length of loose ends of both bottom harness straps, but I checked that they’re short enough and do not interfere with the prop. </p> <p> This year, I replaced my E-Prop with Vitto Fast Acceleration prop and removed the prop spacer. It didn’t cross my mind to check whether the loose ends of the harness straps are now long enough to catch the prop. </p> <p> The incident flight was flight #4 after the prop was replaced. Flights 1-3 before that didn’t uncover the issue as loose ends were wrapped around the straps and were not “dangling”. During the incident flight, during climb out, at about 40-50′, I heard something catching the prop and felt excessive vibration. Initially I thought the part of my windbreaker jacket got sucked into the prop, so I decided to do the “impossible turn” and landed safely on the field. </p> <p> After landing, I discovered the starboard lower strap of the harness loose, the plastic buckle missing and about an inch of the strap’s end showing damage from the contact with prop (“fluffy”). The trailing(!) edge on one of the prop blades had a damaged area of about 2×0.5″. </p> <p> From the video recording its not clear whether the strap buckle broke first and that allowed the strap to go into prop, or the loose end of strap was able to reach the prop first and that broke the buckle. I believe I did not see the straps end being loose during preflight check. That said, after checking the length of loose end of the port side harness strap (was still wrapped around the strap), it was determined it is long enough to catch the prop. </p> <p> Bottom line: 1. Add an extra buckle to the bottom straps to keep loose ends secured. Wrapping them around is not a solution. Also consider other methods to secure loose ends especially if you’re not that tall. 2. Any change in configuration (like replacement of one prop with another model) should be considered a high risk and the whole frame should be checked for any possible loose elements that could reach the prop. </p> <p> <strong> Flight Window </strong> : Morning <strong> Wind Speed </strong> : Light Wind (1-5 mph) <strong> Type </strong> : Light and Variable <strong> Phase of Flight </strong> : Takeoff <strong> Type of Injury </strong> : No Injury <strong> Collateral Damage </strong> : None <strong> Analysis of the incident (additional input by the incident investigation team) </strong> : <strong> Photos </strong> (if available): </p> <p> <strong> Video </strong> (if available): <strong> Other Files </strong> (if available): </p> <p> Return to the incident list: <a href="https://usppa.org/incidents"> Incident List </a> </p> </div> </div> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div> <footer class="site-footer" id="footer" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/WPFooter" role="contentinfo"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-4"> <div class="widget widget_zn_mailchimp" id="zn_mailchimp-1"> <div class="newsletter-signup kl-newsletter-wrapper"> <h3 class="widgettitle title m_title m_title_ext text-custom"> USPPA – Paramotor Newsletter </h3> <p> Subscribe to our mailing list for USPPA news and other Paramotor related topics. </p> </div> end newsletter-signup </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-4"> <div class="widget widget_text_contact" id="text_contact-1"> <h3 class="widgettitle title m_title m_title_ext text-custom"> GET IN TOUCH </h3> <div class="textwidget contact-details"> <p> Contact Us: <a href="https://usppa.org/contact-us/"> Click Here </a> </p> <p> USPPA 500 Westover Dr. #2384 Sanford, NC 27330 </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> end row end row <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-12"> <div class="bottom site-footer-bottom clearfix"> <ul class="social-icons sc--clean clearfix"> <li class="social-icons-li title"> GET SOCIAL </li> </ul> <div class="copyright footer-copyright"> <p class="footer-copyright-text"> © 2023. 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