ftp://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/competitions/reports/pg_euro_09.pdf


Stephane Malbos ()
writes about safety issues at the 2006 European Paragliding Championships

The FAI 9th European Championship took part last July (
http://www.ojovolador.com/press/
and http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/).
Again, paragliding showed that it is a dangerous sport. We recorded fourteen
incidents/accidents. They are described in the Jury report as follows:


• "Day 1 – After a collapse during the flight a Portuguese pilot fell into the
trees; the pilot was not injured but had to be removed by helicopter.


• Day 3 – a Spanish pilot crashed into the cliffs and needed helicopter
evacuation to hospital. The heli took quite a long time – nearly 1:10h – to
arrive and had to return a second time with a Doctor on board before evacuation
finally took place. The pilot suffered multiple factures and internal injuries
but was able to travel to Spain to another hospital before the end of the
competition.


• Day 7- A pilot from the Czech Republic damaged a foot seriously while landing
at the official landing place after a ‘cravatte’ in his wing at low level. He
was forced to abandon the competition. Also a German pilot crashed in to a tree
up-wind of the landing field while avoiding cables and hit the ground; in spite
of the apparent severity of the landing, the pilot did not suffer major
injuries. Finally, another pilot approaching the landing field saw the cables
too late and ended up with his wing hooked around them, fortunately without
injury or damage. (Note these were traction cables which do not carry electric
current)


• Day 9 – A Portuguese pilot flying close to a ridge crashed into the cliff
while trying to avoid another pilot. The pilot had no injuries, but had to wait
a long time to be rescued by helicopter.


• Day 10 – In turbulent conditions a Norwegian pilot in landed in high trees
after a collapse; after rescue he needed hospitalisation for check-up for
possible concussion, but was able to proceed with the competition. Also this
pilot had to wait a long time because he was so deep in the trees that the
helicopter could not spot him from the air.


• Day 11 – Pilot 125 deployed the reserve but was able to land safely; also a
French pilot had a low-level collapse approaching goal but escaped uninjured in
spite of making a crash landing.


• Day 12 – Due to very turbulent conditions five pilots deployed their reserves
but no injuries were reported. The day’s task had to be stopped.


• Minor accidents in this championship occurred mainly when pilots encountered
low level turbulence while attempting out-landings on the course."


Even with a safety always at the forefront of the Meet and Safety Directors'
concern, we ended up with too many casualties and we are lucky there was no
fatality. We are at awe in front of such a global failure. We believe that
working on safer competition will be a long term job, and we can only make a few
suggestions to improve the situation.


As Switzerland’s Team Leader put it, there are two kind of injured pilots, the
Zeros and the Heroes. The Zeroes fly in areas where they shouldn’t be, specially
too low downwind behind mountain crests. The Heroes fly too fast too close to
the ground to make goal.


The Zeros…


It is a fact that the average pilot in an European Championship is not as good
as an average pilot in a PWC meet, and better than the average pilot in a World
meet. CIVL will have to make a choice between upgrading the quality of pilots in
Cat 1 meets (probably by making the selection criteria more difficult), or
convincing the organisers that, because of the poor level of the pilots, the
tasks have to be set accordingly.


It will be a intricate and difficult choice. Section 7 – 2.2 speaks of pilots of
“all nations”, and what if some nations are excluded because of the new
criteria? And of course the pilots will want challenging task in a Cat 1
championship. And the organisers will want 150 pilots.


The Heroes…


Some way has to be found so the pilots’ race to goal is done at a sufficient
high so the pilots can safely throw their chute if anything gets wrong.


The Florida World Championships adopted a good solution (speed and distance
lines are different). Others exist, but they more or less all imply that only
GPS time will be taken into account, as the pilots will be too far from ground
to permit a precise manual recording of times and positions.


The Safety Director, Fred Escriba flew most of the tasks. He believes that, when
appropriate, it is very positive. That it gives a much better understanding of
what’s going on than following the task in a car. That it should be encouraged.


Again, these are only a few suggestions, for the organisers.