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A paraglider pilot making a low pass made ground contact when the right flex wing partially collapsed. Wake turbulence from a preceding paraglider may have contributed.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 893220 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201006 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Ultralight |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Route In Use | None |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Wing |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70 Flight Crew Total 4400 Flight Crew Type 4 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter |
Narrative:
While flying a destiny paraglider in low wind conditions; I was making a low/level off approach to practice maintaining altitude approximately 5-10 feet above the ground. Approximately 2/3 of the way down the grassy area (2000ft); I believe I encountered some wake turbulence from another paraglider that was approximately 30-60 seconds in front of me. The parachute partially collapsed on one side which set in motion a pendulum effect. The machine swayed side to side as well as forward. I initially added full power to recover. Upon touching down at an angle; I did not believe the machine would continue to fly; so I reduced power to idle. The machine touched down at an angle and came to rest without flipping.the biggest perception with regard to human factors that I take away from this is that I did not have in my mind to touch down. I was going to fly down the grass strip and then go around at the end. In the future I will plan every approach as if I will touch down and plan accordingly. The second is to recognize the effect of 'bad' air on a soft wing at low altitudes. In addition; this could include buildings; structures; trees etc.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A paraglider pilot making a low pass made ground contact when the right flex wing partially collapsed. Wake turbulence from a preceding paraglider may have contributed.
Narrative: While flying a Destiny paraglider in low wind conditions; I was making a low/level off approach to practice maintaining altitude approximately 5-10 feet above the ground. Approximately 2/3 of the way down the grassy area (2000ft); I believe I encountered some wake turbulence from another paraglider that was approximately 30-60 seconds in front of me. The parachute partially collapsed on one side which set in motion a pendulum effect. The machine swayed side to side as well as forward. I initially added full power to recover. Upon touching down at an angle; I did not believe the machine would continue to fly; so I reduced power to idle. The machine touched down at an angle and came to rest without flipping.The biggest perception with regard to human factors that I take away from this is that I did not have in my mind to touch down. I was going to fly down the grass strip and then go around at the end. In the future I will plan every approach as if I will touch down and plan accordingly. The second is to recognize the effect of 'bad' air on a soft wing at low altitudes. In addition; this could include buildings; structures; trees etc.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.