On Monday 8.8. at 20:30 p.m. there was an air accident involving a motorized paraglider with serious injuries on the asphalt modeling area of Karízek in the Rokycany district. A pilot at the age of 39, holder of the Pilot MPK qualification since 08/2015, took off from the modeling area on a Walkerjet XC 200 backpack with a removable landing gear in combination with a Blaze GT 21 glider. It was one of his first flights with this PK, which he had in that owned for only a week. At the same time, he was not retrained for this type of glider with an auto-stabilizing profile, which is equipped with different controls than he was used to. Neither the PK nor the undercarriage was flown and approved for operation in combination with the chassis. According to witnesses, the pilot was making turns near the surface at a low height of about 5 m. During the sharp left turn, the MPK collided with the ground. The impact occurred first with the nose wheel and the left main wheel of the MPK. During the technical inspection, it was found that at the time of the impact, the PK trims were set asymmetrically to the minimum speed, below the indication of their normal operating range. At the time of the impact, the right PK trim was set almost to the stop in the sense of minimum speed and the left was enabled to indicate the minimum operating range. The PK trims were set asymmetrically in such a way that they amplified the turning from the reaction moment of the propeller. It is believed that this, together with a vigorous turn to the left when using higher engine power, may have resulted in the left half of the canopy stalling and collapsing, with subsequent loss of height and impact with the ground.
Recently, we have noticed an increasingly frequent occurrence of not being able to pilot canopies with a self-stable pilot profile without proper retraining. Such a pilot typically flies with a group of more experienced pilots equipped with fast wings and tries to match them in order to keep up with them and be able to fly excursions. He flies a classic wing which he is learning to control and the others fly much faster and encourage him to switch to the faster type of parachute they have. After all, "who doesn't fly on an autostable, it's as if he didn't even exist"... In the end, he buys a fast wing, doesn't take the retraining offered by the seller (because the "boys" will already teach me) and suddenly he's in the air and doesn't know exactly what to do with it. He discovers that there are far more controls with which he has no experience. After all, my parachute didn't even have any trims. He doesn't know how to deal with the enormous range of trimmings, and what are the stops sewn on here? When you dare to loosen the trims, the steering disappears somewhere unnaturally high. And what about those little drivers who crouch pinned at the loose ends? So I'd rather not touch them yet, so as not to spoil anything. The driving is too much for me. But how does he go about it? Why didn't I just ask someone? So I'd better trim it completely so that it doesn't fly fast and at a sufficient height above the ground I'll start to attract the drivers so that it lands softly... Well, the inevitable result will appear by itself shortly after. Does it seem fictional or is it a true story? It really happened and unfortunately not once. Similar things are currently happening with small deviations.
Those of you who encourage your fellow riders to go higher speeds and faster canopies, please remember that everyone needs to learn the basics first before they can be as good as you. You are their role model, and they will imitate you. However, you also had to learn it yourself. And those of you who are considering a fast wing because you want to be as fast and good as your friends, consider your experience well and don't be afraid to ask a school or an experienced instructor for retraining on the canopy you intend to buy. And if they advise you that you should wait a little longer, they certainly don't say it for nothing.