Paragliding incident: 7/31/2020 Ed Levin: Departure from controlled flight resulting in a stall.
Conditions
Wind: West - light at 1750; W/NW ~15 mph w/ higher gusts around LZ.
Equipment
Wing: Nova ION4; Harness: Advance Progress 3; Reserve: Companion SQR120
Incident description
I was on a downwind leg, hoping to catch a thermal in front of 600. I turned around late, ending up deeper and lower than I ever want to be in that general area. Following a clockwise turn that felt normal, and once I was again facing west, my wing stalled. I didn't experience any prior warning signs. I recall having positive ground speed while heading into the wind, not using excessive brake input, and not feeling the wing falling behind me. After examining the video frame-by-frame, it appears that the left side of the wing stalled first, and it's consistent with my body turning left. I believe that a sudden change in airmass played a role, but my flying didn't help increase the margins to avoid a stall.
I looked up and determined that my wing may not be flying soon enough. Aware of my altitude, I looked down to locate the reserve handle, and instinctively tossed it out in one big swoop away from the wing. The reserve opened fully, and very quickly. I didn’t have time to pull the wing in, and although not pretty, my landing resulted in no injury. Actually, not a scratch, but some neck pain from the helmet as I was trying to keep my head up on landing.
Immediately after landing, I radioed Mike G. (my flying buddy) that I was fine, and also announced on the emergency frequency (147.495) that I was fine, but got no response. I packed up the gear, and walked to the 300ft launch where Mike gave me a ride down.
Apparent Cause: Insufficient speed margin to maintain controlled flight during a sudden change in airmass (thermal, wind direction, rotor)
Speculation
Unfortunately, the video isn’t 360, and key visual clues are missing to truly reconstruct how the wing entered the stall, which is the part that I’d love to figure out. When I first described what happened, I referred to the incident as a full frontal collapse, my impression under the wing being that the leading edge of the wing collapsed down and back.
Takeaways (in no particular order)
- The reserves work remarkably well
- Throwing the reserve may be a limited shelf-life option
- No regrets for throwing
- Get the lightest (but safe) helmet!
- My neck hurt because I was trying to keep my head up as I "landed"
- I want a 360 camera now
- It would be a great way to analyze and learn
- Can I fit a SAS-TEC back protector in the Progress 3?
- Didn't land the way I was hoping to
- Pay even more attention to the wing, and dial back on tight turns
- Keep running what-if scenarios in your head while flying, driving...
- Have a flying buddy on a shared radio frequency
- Thanks Mike G. for the ride down from 300
- Nobody responded on the emergency frequency: 147.495