Speedflying crash

Wasnt going to leave this vid up for long but i guess its a good indicator of what can happen. Its an old vid of mine from early 2007 a couple months into my speedflying career. I have lost the whole clip and only have these few seconds left.
Took off on a mountain top in what felt like light winds, as i went over the vertical face the updraft was not what i was expecting! I went straight up vertically on a 12m2 wing at 90kg all the while having front tucks that kept popping out and happening again. I had two choices push forward into the washing machine, god only knows how much worse it would have been out there. The second options was to turn over the back, downwind and make an emergency landing. I had no choice and took the second option and proceeded to hit the only pile of rocks on the mountain.
Was very lucky and was only knocked out and got away with facial cuts and a very nice mark down my helmet which made all the difference!
That was 2 years ago now. Since then i have flown more than 10 different speedwings of varying sizes in varying conditions. A valuable lesion was leanred that day and it has served me well since.
Stay safe all!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• speedflying
• speedriding
• paragliding
• skim12
• speedwing
• speed
• flying
• riding
• crash

[ellocokiwi]

Phew! Glad you are ok! I've had a couple scary near-eating-rocks-encounters on my 12m bullet, nothing like a downwind into a pile of rocks! Nice work for staying alive! BSBD!

[0eden0]

Cheers, yes i was lucky thats for sure. Learned a lot that day! Its been a couple years now and i havent made the same mistake twice!

[plantaromegalia]

Hi- very glad you were ok and kept flying. I am a big fan. Can you give a little insight on what you do now to avoid this? I may be a little dense but I haven't figured it out yet.

thanks

[0eden0]

The simple answer is dont launch if its not perfect, each persons perfect will vary but always stick to your own standards. If youre not happy listen to your gut, its normally right! I shouldnt have launched that day but was new to speedflying and speedflying was a new sport so I was learning for myself and the sport in general. Very careful now and eliminate risks where i can. If people are starting out, keep it simple is a good mantra, light winds and a nice long launch.

[0eden0]

Yes im fine thanks. Its an old vid of mine from early 2007. I posted it to highlight something in a thread on the PG forum thats all. I was lucky, i got knocked out but all i had was cuts to my face and a nice mark down my helmet.

[thomasjr3033]

That didn't look like the best spot to land on...

[v12tommy]

wow, hope you are OK. Those rocks where you landed looked pretty scary.

[TheNovaAxon]

You have been very lucky. Glad you are alright, up and flying.

Blue Skies! (& Happy Landings)

[AdrenalineAddicted]

Did not look pleasant...you alright?