US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

This blog is all about the wonderful helicopters used in paragliding and the selfless crews that make mountain paragliding possible.
(See the related thread The Taxpayers of Paragliding for in-depth financial analysis.)

July 10, 2015

A 2004 Eurocopter EC145 of France's Securite Civile collects a 59-year-old parapentiste with head and shoulder injuries from Mt. Poupet in France.
The rear hatch makes loading critically-injured paragliders a snap. It holds nine passengers and crew, making it a first choice for tandem midair recoveries.
Buy your own EC145 for $5.5 million (medical equipment extra).


Another view of this EC145. For better memory retention, soaring parachutists should lay on their backs and hold the picture straight above their heads.

Request this helicopter
Ask for F-ZBPY for your next spinal fracture.

June 27, 2015

A Eurocopter EC145, possibly the ever-popular F-ZBPY, collects the corpse of a 35-year-old paraglider from Isere province after he flew into powerlines.


The French authorities graciously collect the bodies of soaring parachutists without any expectation of reimbursement.

June 25, 2015

A Eurocopter EC145 of the French Securite Civile delivers a 45-year-old paraglider operator with multiple fractures to a hospital in Grenoble.

July 3, 2015

A 2011 Airbus AS350B3e Ecureuil of Switzerland's Air Zermatt stows gear after rescuing a soaring parachutist from a lift cable.


The Airbus Ecureuil helicopter is available for purchase new for $1.95 million. It carries five and has a range of 346 nautical miles.

July 11, 2015

A 2004 Eurocopter EC145 of the French Securite Civile departs a crash site where a 57-year-old soaring parachutist fell helplessly when his canopy collapsed at 15 feet. Hang glider pilots who can't figure out how to seriously injure themselves landing in this field can experience what this paragliding crash was like by running really fast down the roof of a one-story house while embracing a Naughty Natasha blow-up doll, then jumping as high as you can while performing a somersault. Soaring parachutists who do not yet have a "paragliding limp" need only wait. Be patient, turbulence is a normal part of the atmosphere and it will eventually find you on landing approach.



Ride this helicopter
Don't go to Spain and ride in a crummy ambulance. For your next open fracture, request the 5.5 million dollar twin turbine F-ZBPT from the bankrupt socialist government of France.

July 13, 2015

A 6.4 million dollar Sikorsky/Westland HAR3A RAF Sea King helicopter leaves from a base in Wattisham, Suffolk, to search for a paraglider reported downed in the ocean. The aircraft is equipped with a hydraulically-operated main rescue hoist, an electrically-operated emergency rescue hoist and electrical connections suitable for powering medical equipment such as incubators. The SAR fleet of Sea Kings are fitted with a video/infrared detection pod, which is similar to the equipment used by police helicopters, to help search for casualties. All SAR crews are trained to operate using night-vision goggles over unfamiliar terrain. The standard SAR crew is made up of four members: two pilots, one of whom is the aircraft captain, a radar operator who acts as the winch operator at the rescue scene and a winchman, normally trained to paramedic standard, who will supply immediate first-aid and recovery services at the rescue site. -- RAF

July 6, 2015

The RAF rescues a helpless falling human from the cliff where his paraglider crashed.
The helpless falling human suffered neck and spinal injuries at impact.

From the Eagle's Blog:

eagle wrote:PARAGLIDER CRASHES INTO CLIFF ~ TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT
By Philip Diehl
Story Published: Oct 5, 2014 at 5:29 PM PDT ~ Story Updated: Oct 5, 2014 at 11:07 PM PDT
San Diego lifeguards and rescue workers plucked an injured paraglider off the side of a high cliff near the Torrey Pines Gliderport after he crashed about 3 p.m. Sunday.
The paraglider was loaded into a helicopter and flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital with serious lower back injuries.
The man was 47 years old and from outside the area, lifeguards said, so he may have been unfamiliar with the local wind conditions.
He was reportedly with a group of 20 paragliders from the United Kingdom who are touring paragliding sites in California and elsewhere in the United States.
See 6news Video at: http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/Par ... 82981.html
See 10news clip's at: http://www.10news.com/news/paraglider-c ... t-10052014

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