Pretty darn amazing! A couple of things that strike me here. First is how fragile a paragliger is! It doesn't take much line fowling to completely screw one of those things. Second was his lack of control with his reserve. Do the reserve chutes not have steering toggles?
Finally I am glad the eagle was Ok and able to fly off in the end.
There are 46 species of eagles (Accipitridae) that live in the Indian foothills of the Himalayan Mts. Not quite sure why you think it had to be a Golden Eagle?
It does very much look like an Egyptian Vulture which is in the same family, Accipitridae, as an Eagle. So technically even if it is an Egyptian Vulture he is correct in calling it an eagle, I guess.
Originally posted by surestrike: Pretty darn amazing! A couple of things that strike me here. First is how fragile a paragliger is! It doesn't take much line fowling to completely screw one of those things. Second was his lack of control with his reserve. Do the reserve chutes not have steering toggles?
Finally I am glad the eagle was Ok and able to fly off in the end.
Friend of mine here in town who is a major manufacturer of both parachute canopies and paraglider canopies has said years ago that parachutes don't malfunction. Lines do, and in the thousand or so jumps I have done, I have to agree.
The reason he couldn't steer his reserve was because of the tremendous drag exerted by the collapsed main canopy. He was very lucky to have landed where he did. He could not cut the main away as one can with a collapsed or malfunctioning main parachute. He could easily have been killed. The whole thing came off really miraculously well for all concerned.
Posts: 11729 | Location: Florida | Registered: 25 October 2006
So you can't cut a paraglider away like you can a main chute? I agree he was lucky not to have at least been injured. Hell I'm surprised that big bird didn't get a chunk of him!
He couldn't cut that thing away, or he would've. He missed the rocky crest just to his left and was damned lucky not to get hung up in a tall tree with all that garbage over his head. If the bird hadn't been lodged in the lines, the collapsed canopy would have likely been above him and firing a reserve into that garbage often results in a double entanglement. He was so obviously shaken he repeatedly forgot to take his gloves off to get clear of the lines and had a real problem just getting his radio operating. Luckily, his friends were in line of sight and could talk to him. This could have ended very differently.
Posts: 11729 | Location: Florida | Registered: 25 October 2006
I have been flying paragliders since 1993, closest thing to a bird that we have. You can walk up to take off with a 10 to 15kg pack and then fly across the Himalayas - have a look at some of John Sylvesters flights - google him. This is the first instance I have heard of a birdstrike in nearly 20 years. One of the best flights I ever was with a Golden eagle - a tame one -was soaring wing tip tonwing tip with whilst pointer working below flushing hares - watching an eagle fold it's wings and dive away is spectacular.
Re reserves - the ones we use are more akin to rapid opening drogue chutes - you throw your washing at 50ft and you should be ok. They have tried steerable ones - they open much more slowly and are heavier.
Modern wings are now remarkably stable with a glide of 9 or 10 to one and 150 km regularly now flown across northern Europe. Yes there are fatalities every year, and sadly have known people who have been killed. Most of the time it's down to pilot error and flying in strong winds or in thermals way beyond their ability.
Have also flown light aircraft, helicopters and gliders - a paraglider to my mind is the purest form of flight - just you and the elements and when several thousand feet up over wild areas you suddenly know the feeling of being small and insignificant. Have also felt that in the African bush with lions nearby and you don't have a rifle - but that's another story!
Posts: 987 | Location: Scotland | Registered: 28 February 2011
Nobody ever said that the Russians don't have balls they do, I just like a lot more metal around my flying machines. And I will never jump out of a perfectly good airplane!
Posts: 1070 | Location: East Haddam, CT | Registered: 16 July 2000
