Injured paraglider had no formal training

A PARAGLIDER who suffered serious spinal injuries in a crash on Mount Leinster had completed about 100 flying hours but had no formal training, an investigation has found.

The Department of Transport’s air accident investigation unit found the pilot of the free-flying, foot-launched glider lost control of his craft when he did not have sufficient height to make a recovery.

According to the accident report, the pilot, who was not named, arrived on site at Black Banks, northeast of Mount Leinster, at about 11am on May 30th, 2010, with the intention of taking part in a cross-country flight.

He set up his equipment, met friends and in about 90 minutes they got airborne. They tried to find suitable thermal conditions to provide a sizable lift, but failed.

The pilot landed from his first flight shortly before 1pm. However, on seeing other paragliders acquiring thermal lift over Mount Leinster, he got airborne again in an attempt to join them for the planned cross-country flight.

An eyewitness account indicated the pilot was operating parallel to and close to a ridge when the paraglider pitched 90 degrees forward and spun to the right.

In his post-accident interview, the pilot considered that he had wrongly estimated his altitude and subsequently realised he was too low crossing the ridge. He had tried to slow one side of the craft to widen his flight circle. He recalled the paraglider did three turns to the right, descending into the mountainside from a height of about 15 metres (50ft).

While the air accident investigators determined the pilot was “in paragliding terms relatively experienced”, it concluded that “self-taught individuals . . . may not fully appreciate the technical limitations of their paraglider, in particular in relation to the flight envelope and stall speeds/characteristics, as well as recovery techniques, meteorological phenomena and risks associated with flying close to mountainous terrain”.

In terms of a probable cause, the investigation determined there had been a “loss of control while manoeuvring close to the stalling point”.