[JoeF]

Bee may have been gotten into the mouth of a paraglider rider: they both died:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22563914

================================
The article uses a term for paragliding dropping to ground that I have not see before or used: "precipitation".
Hmmm?

[Rick Masters]

Use ctl- and ctl+ to view map.

Joe, my four years of Latin from high school have provided me with a lifelong interest in etymology and understanding of the Romance languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian.

Precipita and its Spanish variants are used in describing sudden falls.

Precipitate: happening very quickly or too quickly without enough thought or planning

Origin of PRECIPITATE
Latin praecipitatus, past participle of praecipitare, from praecipit-, praeceps (see precipice)
First Known Use: 1528

Synonym Discussion of PRECIPITATE
precipitate, headlong, abrupt, impetuous, sudden mean showing undue haste or unexpectedness. precipitate stresses lack of due deliberation and implies prematureness of action <the army's precipitate withdrawal>. headlong stresses rashness and lack of forethought <a headlong flight from arrest>. abrupt stresses curtness and a lack of warning or ceremony <an abrupt refusal>. impetuous stresses extreme impatience or impulsiveness <an impetuous lover proposing marriage>. sudden stresses unexpectedness and sharpness or violence of action <flew into a sudden rage>.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precipitate

Precipita does not undergo machine translation well. Google:
"Un parapentista se precipita sobre una finca privada de Adeje"
>>A paraglider is precipitated on a private estate of Adeje<<
A human translator might say
>>A paraglider has a sudden fall onto a private estate in Adeje<<

In English, precipice is defined as
- a very steep side of a mountain or cliff
- a point where danger, trouble, or difficulty begins

Origin of PRECIPICE
French, from Middle French, from Latin praecipitium, from praecipit-, praeceps headlong, from prae- + caput head
First Known Use: 1613

Curiously
Caput mortuum (plural capita mortua) is a Latin term whose literal meaning is "dead head" or "worthless remains"

[JoeF]

Valuable reply and work, RM. Thanks.

parapentista precipita

ParapentistaPrecipita.JPG (80.07 KiB) Viewed 6127 times

[Rick Masters]

Embarrassing Aviation Week paragliding puff piece met with push-back by hang glider pilots

This gushing load of dreck just got printed by one of my favorite and most respected aviation magazines.

"Why your next airplane should be a paraglider"
http://aviationweek.com/oshkosh-2015/wh ... paraglider

Thankfully, I see intelligent responses beginning to flow in:
_________________________

Discuss this Article

Jul 20, 2015
An honest introduction to paragliding must mention collapse. Paragliders are parachutes modified to enhance soaring characteristics at the expense of stability. There is no air frame to maintain the shape of the airfoil so thermal turbulence or gusts can cause the canopy to collapse. When this happens below effective emergency reserve deployment altitude - about 400 feet - the operator is placed at serious risk, regardless of skill level. Of the 1,348 paragliding fatalities I am aware of, most involved a collapse shortly after takeoff or during landing approach within this altitude regime where turbulence from ground heat is most likely to be encountered. The majority killed were experts. Most aviators are apprehensive at the thought of their aircraft suddenly falling out of the sky at any altitude but soaring parachutists are a breed apart.

Jul 20, 2015
The risk of canopy collapse is the primary reason many people prefer hang gliders. They also have substantially better into-wind penetration. The downside is that they are less maneuverable and much less portable.

Jul 20, 2015
The author of this article wrote: 'Accidents happen, just as in riding a motorcycle'. I certainly hope that author didn't operate an airliner with this same attitude. It is possible to reduce risk and reduce accidents by making wise and educated decisions about equipment used for any type of activity and especially aviation. One of the most important safety decisions a soaring pilot can make is what type of aircraft to fly .. one with a firm airfoil and frame ... or one without such a structure. Most of the paragliding enthusiasts I know get defensive and often angry when the subject of their pressurized wing collapsing/deflating in turbulence is brought up. The argument really comes down to sacrificing safety for the convenience of portability. Accidents are reduced when safety is the chosen priority.

[Rick Masters]

July 22, 2015

Horrible death at festival in Erzincan ! / Erzincan'daki festivalde korkunç ölüm!

Video
http://hurriyettv.cubecdn.net/2015/07/2 ... 6_240p.mp4

The first report I received said this was a paragliding accident.

[JoeF]

http://www.dailysabah.com/sports/2015/07/22/video-shows-tragic-death-of-american-base-jumper-in-eastern-turkey Ian Flanders. B.A.S.E. jump (foot-launch gliding canopy).

Participating in Turkey's first ever Wingsuit Exit jump as part of the 2nd day of the International Culture and Nature Sports Festival in Erzincan's Kemaliye district, Flanders had the tragic accident when the parachute cord got wrapped around his legs and he plummeted to his death from an altitude of 2,500 meters.

[Harry]

I love this topic. It is VERY educational and RM is right. The videos of collapsing airfoils says it all. I've had loops that went bad from turbulence and I'm still here today because my wing remained flying even while locked upside down with me laying against the wing. I was flying a rigid wing and the rudders got me righted as I was too low to even attempt throwing my chute.

[wingspan33]

I recently did some research in regard to a PM to a new member of the US Hawks. I was actually surprised at what I found out. However, I also was NOT surprised!

By way of the USHPA's own yearly accident report summaries for 2013 - 2015, over the last 31 months the USHPA has documented 20 collapsible canopy fatalities - all of which were foot launch related.

Over the same period only 2 Hang Gliding foot launch related fatalities have occurred.*

Very literally speaking, foot launch related Hang Gliding fatalities are 10% of PG fatalities over the last 31 month period!

To put it in another way, collapsible canopy occupant deaths are 10X higher than their foot launch hang glider pilot counterparts.

From one more perspective - 2 hang glider pilots = 100% of the hang gliding foot launch fatalities over the last 31 months.

2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2 equals how many Collapsible Canopy foot launch fatalities took place over the same time (in the US). Can this difference be described as defining collapsible canopies as 1000% more dangerous than flying foot launched hang gliders (according to recent stats)?

Hmmmmm . . .



[* Please Note: 5 additional tow related HG fatalities also took place in that time.]

[Rick Masters]

Hang glider pilots of the USHGA did not expect HUGE fatality numbers when it accepted soaring parachutes into its ranks.
The result has been a BLACK EYE for hang gliding with SIGNIFICANT liabilities in participation in hang gliding, public perception, insurance and site loss.
Hang glider pilots should reconsider the adoption of soaring parachutes, as it did with ultralights, and assist them with forming their own SEPARATE organization, as it did with ultralights.
Why isn't this happening?
Hang glider pilots are not complaining.
As soon as their feet leave the ground, they think everything is fine.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/ ... -rio.shtml

I have documented 231 paragliding fatalities globally since January 1, 2013 (31 months).
Unlike the USHPA list, it includes USHPA member Bud Wruck of Texas, who died in a paragliding accident on July 3, 2014.
This is a small part of a much larger total of 1,315 paragliding fatalities beginning in 1986.
That is a much larger number than ALL hang gliding fatalities since the beginning in 1972.

[Frank Colver]

Rather than absolute numbers what would be useful would be accidents as a percentage of the number of people flying or hours flown per unit time. This is important because people can always brush off the paraglider statistics by saying; "well there are a lot more paragliders in the air, than there are hang gliders, so of course the accident numbers will be higher".

Does anybody have any idea what the accident per flight or per hour flight ratios are?

FC