August 27, 2016 Universal Paragliding Design Flaw (UPDF) PG fatality 1,502 At 60 meters above takeoff, this paraglider encountered turbulence and collapsed a wingtip, sending it into a spiral dive, possibly with some shroud lines wrapped over the tip. After a few spirals, the man impacted these steps face-first, splitting his skull open despite his helmet. One reporter described his brains oozing out the sides of his helmet. Those planning to choose between paragliding or hang gliding must understand this difference: Although you can kill yourself on a hang glider by attempting to do something you should have avoided doing, a paraglider encountering perfectly normal atmospheric turbulence can kill you, regardless of your skill level, when you least expect it.
https://www.gofundme.com/eric-dossantos-2w2tvek On September 29th while living out his dream by proximity wingsuit base jumping in Chamonix, France, Eric made a mistake that most people pay with their lives, he lost his speed and altitude and flew into a tree. Eric flew through a tree going over 90mph, he should have died, but and for the lack of a better word, it’s a MIRACLE he’s still with us. His injuries were “only” left scapula fracture, left acromian fracture, left neck abrasion, left clavicle fracture, 3 left side rib fractures, left hemopneumothorax, grade 1, liver laceration, head trauma, multiple scalp lacerations. ---------------- From Nolo Press: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/service-connected-disability-compensation-accidents-not-related-combat-military-action.ht
Service-connected disability compensation is available for most injuries you incur while you are on active duty for the military, assuming they result in disabilities.
Type of Accidents Covered by Service-Connected Disability
When you are active duty, you are considered to be on active duty for 24 hours a day, whether you are technically on duty or off duty at the time, so you can be service-connected for disabilities resulting from almost any type of accident that occurs while you are on active duty. This includes accidents that occur: while travelling to or from leave while on leave, and while on base during off hours.
Accidents Occurring on Leave
If you are at home on leave and hurt yourself while lifting weights, have a car accident, or slip and fall on the ice, you are eligible for disability compensation if your injuries cause a disability. In short, you are on active duty between the time you enlist and the time you are discharged or separated, regardless of whether you are on leave, on base, in combat, or in a bar. That said, if you are absent without leave (AWOL), you are not considered to be on active duty and will not be compensated for any injuries or illness you incur.
If You Were At Fault in the Accident
If your accident or injury was caused by your own willful misconduct, you will not be able to collect any benefits for the disability. Generally, alcohol and drug abuse is considered willful misconduct barring benefits for any resulting injuries, but in some cases, benefits will still be permitted if it is extremely clear that your use of substances did not cause the accident or injury. Read more about when alcohol and drug abuse keep you from getting veterans benefits. Related Ads
How to Prove Service Connection for an Accident
To receive compensation, you will have to prove to the VA that the accident resulted in a disability. This will require: proof that the accident occurred, such as: a police report about a car accident doctor or hospital records, or lay statements from witnesses (buddies, family members). a diagnosis or symptoms of a current disability, and evidence that your current disability stems from the accident. This will require medical evidence, preferably a medical opinion from a doctor accompanied by medical records. You cannot receive any compensation for short-term injuries that heal and have no long lasting residual effects, only for long-term injuries.
Secondary Service Connection for Additional Disabilities
In addition to seeking disability compensation for your primary injury, you can also seek compensation for any additional disabilities that stem from it. For example, if your shoulder is injured when you are lifting weights and this later leads to problems with your neck, you can seek additional compensation for the neck injury. This will require medical evidence that the neck injury was caused by the service-connected shoulder injury.
Aggravated Service Connection for a Pre-existing Injury
If you had a pre-existing injury, and an accident while you were on leave or away from the base made it worse, you can seek compensation for the worsening of your condition. But you will not be compensated if the pre-existing injury got worse of its own accord and not due to your accident. A medical opinion from a doctor will often be needed to prove that the accident made your condition worse than it would have been had it had just continued progressing naturally.
Time Between Injury and Disability
You are eligible for disability compensation even if it took years for an injury to manifest more severely, as long as you can prove the injury resulted from the original accident. Perhaps you were young when the accident occurred, and the symptoms didn't begin bothering you until quite some time after your discharge from service. You are still eligible for veterans disability benefits.
Protect Your Rights to Benefits While Still on Active Duty
If you have an accident while on leave or at any time during your military service, seek medical attention. Do this even if your injuries seem minor. This will create a paper trail that will make it easier later on to show a future disability stemmed from your accident. Even if you don't think you have been badly hurt in your accident, obtain all the records you can while you are still in service. This will help you later on if your injuries worsen and you, or your family, want to seek compensation from the VA. Read more about obtaining helpful records while still in the military.
How to Apply for Disability Benefits for Your Accident
You can apply for disability online, by filling out the Application for Veterans Compensation and/or Pension, or by contacting your local VA office. For more information, see our article on applying for VA disability benefits.
So it seems that "active duty" means he is in the military. Thinking about the sad fact that too many military personnel take their own lives, I wonder if Mr. Dossantos' "accident" was actually an accident. Looking at the video, it's hard to believe that he didn't deploy his landing chute (if that's what you call it) at an earlier more suitable time before impacting the trees.
It could also be that he was a beginner wingsuiter and just used seriously poor judgement.
And that leads me to wonder, . . . how does one "learn" to wingsuit? Do they have "training hills" in anyway like those used for hang gliding and paragliding? Learning to do (illegal) BASE jumping would probably be a necessary first step.
Hmmmm, . . . So much to learn about these other dangerous sports.
wingspan33 wrote:Looking at the video, it's hard to believe that he didn't deploy his landing chute (if that's what you call it) at an earlier more suitable time before impacting the trees.
The flight in a swathe between trees was part of his flight plan. He "just" did not manage to fly into steep terrain after he was done with the swathe.
It could also be that he was a beginner wingsuiter (...)
He probably has quite a number of wingsuit flights under his belt. Else, this flight would have been borderline suicidal long before the actual impact. For starters, the exit he chose requires him to immediately achieve a stable flying position. A tumble after exit would have left him with next to no height for an emergency pull before he hits the talus. After the start phase he deliberately flies quite close to the wall (the fish eye camera perspective is deceiving). This is not recommended for a beginner who still has learn how to control the flight path. The deliberate path in a swathe below tree top level later in the flight shouts "expert-only".
(...) and just used seriously poor judgement.
Everything seemed smooth until a few seconds after the swathe. For some reason he did not turn to the right to follow the slope of the terrain. Apparently he misjudged the steepness -- either in preflight if he followed a planed line, or in flight if he spontaneously decided where to go.
Do they have "training hills" in anyway like those used for hang gliding and paragliding?
Their training hill is called "sky" be us wuffos. Seriously, people usually do loads of wingsuit flights from a plane before they jump from a mountain.
Learning to do (illegal) BASE jumping would probably be a necessary first step.
The suit the jumper wears makes no difference to the law. Legally, wingsuit flights are considered BASE jumps when started from anything not flying. That said, BASE jumps are perfectly legal in quite a number of countries. One of them is France, where Eric Dossantos had his disastrous crash.
MARGE VARIANO has been flying with Eagle for almost 10 years. She has been on more tours with us than any other pilot. She loves this sport, and here energy and enthusiasm make her presence an important part of our team. She has been teaching at our training hill, and helping out in the mountains and tours. She is always there to take amazing photos of the students and the team. She has helped our local flying club organize into a very well operated club. Marge doesn’t miss many good flying days, and she is always there to help people in any way she can.
Universal Paraglider Design Flaw (UPDF) She’d been paragliding with a group headed for Parma Park, but when she did not land, they began searching for her, finally locating a downed airfoil at the bottom of a cliff 1,500 feet below the peak...http://www.independent.com/news/2016/nov/28/paraglider-dies-thanksgiving-day/
One of the reasons so many people get into paragliding is the positive feedback they get from the press, who are yet to figure out the difference between the hang gliders that used to fill the skies above Santa Barbara and today's plague of soaring parachutes. Thanks to the press, the national hang gliding organization, the paragliding industry who took it over, and the hang glider pilots themselves, who allowed it to happen and own it, an entire generation has grown up thinking there is little difference between the two sports. An example is a newspaper article describing rescuers as "finally locating a downed airfoil..." There was no airfoil. Paragliders kill their pilots because the parachute's structureless airfoil fails to maintain its shape in normal atmospheric turbulence. When the canopy folds up, there is no airfoil. There is no aircraft. When a paraglider suddenly becomes a death trap, particularly under 400 feet where an emergency reserve does not have time to fully deploy, the skill level of the pilot doesn't matter. He is just a body falling out of the sky. The Santa Barbara area is racking up quite a history of prominent citizens killed by paragliders. Marge Variano, global paragliding fatality #1,529 by my records, was principal of Adams Elementary School; Gregory Knudson, #1,378, was a 747 captain with Cargolux; Ronald Faoro, #1,336, was a local veterinarian; and Bruce Wallace of Ojai, #271, was a founder of Amgen. Faoro forgot to fasten his leg straps and fell from his paraglider. Knudsen and Wallace, and probably Variano, died when their canopies collapsed within the Paragliding Dead Man's Curve (PDMC), where they were too low to effectively deploy their emergency reserve parachutes.
Interesting video. Not so much that it shows the accident, but for the speed in which the video loaded and displayed on my Dell. I've absolutely positively never seen that speed with Vimo or Youtube. I would like to investigate working with that type of program. I wonder how would one find out more how that program works?
The video shows a ram inflated jump parachute not a PPG. The drogue can be seen fluttering behind so it was likely a normal parachute deployment from an aircraft.
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