Meanwhile, we cringe as we await learning of the "other places" which emergency parachutes are attached to soaring poarachutists in India. As a hang glider pilot who always flew with my parachute attached to my aircraft at the carabiner, I don't know much about which part of his body a paraglider's reserve parachute is attached to. I hesitate to think about it. In fact, I don't want to think about it. It's all bad.
International paragliding tourism is primarily a sport of the well-heeled elite. On the World Cup competition circuit, competitors want new paragliders because they "bag" out in a short period of time. This slows them down. Thus paragliders are frequently sold or traded away in poor countries and used by the growing numbers of new enthusiasts from those countries until they fail from UV degradation, wear or end-of-life issues common to thin material and stitching. Money-making tandem paragliders are the most sought-after and extreme wear on some of these being used commercially has been noted all over the poorer Third World This latest incident in India may be a case in point. The "maneuvers" mentioned may not have been violent tumbles or other agressive flying. Perhaps it was just a turn on final. After all, the failure couldn't have been very high for the passenger to have survived. Two observations point to this conclusion. First, the joyriding Nepalese commander was flying from an obvious high site without a parachute. Likely, it was not a choice but a necessity. He may not have been able to afford or obtain one. There is even the possibility that the paraglider had not been designed as a tandem, was too small and he was doing everything he could to avoid extra weight, such as flying without a parachute and choosing only small passengers. Second, the paragliding association spokesman, clearly wary of the potential government clampdowns common in India after paragliding accidents, described the 5,000+ ft launch as a "low" site where parachutes would not have time to deploy, which is obviously not true, and he refused to change his story about a tree collision the following day despite the emergence of witnesses who claimed they saw the paraglider split in two. This denial was apparently an effort to avoid scrutiny by the authorities, which might reveal safety violations to which the paragliding club had turned a blind eye. Why would they do this? Because the clubs invariably receive a percentage of the authorized pilot's income for the privilege to fly from their site and in some cases, have access to legal counsel retained by the club in the event of an accident. More: https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/kalimpong-paraglider-split-in-mid-air/cid/1676570
Paragliding November 24, 2018 (cont.) Here is the video of what happened in India. At 13 seconds in, you can clearly see the right main suspension carabiner fail during a turn. It is unbelievable that anyone survived this.
WARNING: BARF BAG REQUIRED A higher resolution video:
The unlucky passenger was lucky to have crashed through that corrugated roof. It absorbed the enough energy of the crash to save his life, if not his leg, much in the same way a hang glider's airframe protects the pilot. The impact must have ripped off his helmet like it did his shoes. You can see one go flying into the air. Note the passenger's ugly open leg fracture, so very common in paragliding accidents. Oh, you did? Pass the barf bag.
I guess the commander thought he was a lucky guy. Wishful thinking is a vital component of paragliding. What me worry? No helmet. Didn't need one. No parachute. Didn't need one. No brains. Don't need them anymore... Here's a bit of speculation. See the paraglider draped over the roof? Now look at the section of paraglider floating in the sky. A nice, clean cut. There is no white fabric on that section. Red leading edge. Yellow wing. Now look at that piece hanging off the roof. The white fabric is out of place, apparently part of the center section and also the center part of the leading edge. You never see paragliders with center sections of one color like that. The leading edges are always the same color, aren't they. Go ahead, show me a picture of one with a different colored center section if you can find it. I can't. I bet, since it is so difficult to get tadem gliders over there, this guy made his own by adding a center section from another paraglider. Or a bedsheet. And I bet he's not the only one to have done it. That add-on stitching must have failed. I'd love to know what kind of thread he used. Look at the moment of failure. He is looking up at the canopy as it begins to rip apart. I bet when it failed, it filled and took much of the loading, transfering it instantaneously to the right side. That's when the carabiner failed But you don't see the G-forces on the men because the stitching simultaneously ripped out entirely and, since the carabiner failed, the whole left section went floating away. You really take your life in an idiot's hands when you go joyriding in India for US$45. More https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/video-clip-shows-kalimpong-paraglider-snap-before-crash/cid/1676857
Paragliding This is a little dated but I just found it. Armin Holzer's last posted video. Probably made at the end of November or perhaps the beginning of December, 2015. He killed himself doing the same thing in the same place, I think, on December 4th. Hope the rush was worth it... http://www.valledifassa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/armin-holzer-monte-piana.mp4
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by JoeF » Sun Nov 25, 2018 5:13 pm 
