Chris Williams's paragliding accident analysis (14 Feb 2023)

Описание: A Zoom presentation on possible reasons for a paragliding accident at the Alton Barnes White Horse in the UK on 14 Feb 2023.

[Update April 24: I had my heart surgery in March, discharged from hospital 4 weeks ago today! The genius surgeon was able to repair my torn aortic valve leaflet rather than repair the whole thing. Still open heart surgery though, with the very long recovery caused by having my sternum opened up, heart stopped and me kept alive via a heart / lung bypass machine while he did his great work. Sternum wound now healing nicely and I'm building my fitness very gradually. Heart feels great!]

[Update Nov 23: I had a shocking new diagnosis at the end of October; a completely new injury from the accident that I was previously totally unaware of. I had been monitoring my blood pressure since 2021 and noticed a sudden large change in my diastolic BP (bottom number) from 60s to 40s coincident with my accident. I'll not go into the many failings of my GP service in failing to diagnose anything wrong, but suffice to say I now have a diagnosis of a serious heart condition that will require open heart surgery to rectify. The impact tore one of the leaflets in the tricuspid aortic valve in my heart. So the valve is leaking 'torrentially', according to the surgeon I saw last week, back into the left ventricle. I am on his 12-month waiting list for valve replacement surgery, but not at the back of the list; I won't survive that long!]

[Update 01 Jun 23: Soon after my accident I set up a JustGiving fundraiser to try to pay for my helicopter rescue, approximately £3,000. Final total £7,300. In the UK, air ambulance helicopter rescue is funded by charity only; no government funding. Amazing generosity from all my 200+ supporters. Thank you. 😃👍 Read the fundraising story here:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/chris...

Health update 01 Jun 23: I had spinal surgery 2 weeks ago. The broken bones in my neck did not repair themselves as hoped during the 3 months I had been wearing the hard collar 24/7. I had 7 vertebrae fused together with titanium rods and screws. A long and slow rehabilitation now, but the pain is manageable. I'm just grateful, as always, that the immediate result of my accident was not worse; I could so easily have died on scene or now be in a wheelchair. It's all relative!]

Viewer discretion recommended as the presentation does show indistinct (not graphic) video of me falling 72 feet to the ground and a CT scan image of my broken neck (no nerve damage!).

Apologies for the abrupt ending! I only have the free basic version of Zoom which cuts out at 40 minutes. We'd pretty much finished by that point anyway.

Some pilots have asked about the wind speed on the day. In the UK we tend to fly in quite strong winds, certainly compared to flying in the Alps. This hill is quite low and shallow so needs a decent breeze to make it soarable if there are no thermals. So for this flight I think the wind must have been about 12-14 mph (19-22 kph). I had no issues ground handling and walking with the wing so it wasn't at all gusty. A short while after the accident a friend top landed and reported the wind to be about 18mph (29kph).

Some of the links mentioned in the video:
BHPA Training Guide (page 8 for paraglider pre-flight checklist)
https://www.bhpa.co.uk/pdf/BHPA_EP_Tr...

My pilot profile in the BHPA monthly magazine, Skywings
https://www.bhpa.co.uk/sport/bhpa/sky...

If you have any other questions do add them below and I'll try to answer them! :-)