Jetski and boat rush to rescue downed paraglider in Mekong River - he dies in hospital

[webfact]

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath had a video of a rescue attempt of a 39 year old paraglider (paramotor) enthusiast who plummeted into the Mekhong River.

 

The man was rushed to hospital in a pick-up but was pronounced dead in hospital after the accident yesterday.

 

The paraglider developed an engine problem as it rose into the sky at Suksamran Beach in Muang district of Bung Kan, NE Thailand.

 

He was fished out of the water by personnel on a boat and jetski who were in the area with tourists.

 

He was named as Watcharapong Khanteethao, 39, from Ban Muang, Sakon Nakhon, a member of an Isaan paramotor club.

 

He was a regular visitor to the area.

 

An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

 

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[hotchilli]

A rule of flying, always have a safe landing spot in mind if things don't go well.

[giddyup]

3 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

A rule of flying, always have a safe landing spot in mind if things don't go well.

Sully landed in the Hudson without a problem, and that was an Airbus 320.

[hotchilli]

1 minute ago, giddyup said:

Sully landed in the Hudson without a problem, and that was an Airbus 320.

Yeah but he had a life time of experience in flying many aircraft.

Not a kite with an engine strapped to his ar$e.

 

[giddyup]

Just now, hotchilli said:

Yeah but he had a life time of experience in flying many aircraft.

Not a kite with an engine strapped to his ar$e.

 

Do you know how experienced the pilot of the paraglider was?

[Srikcir]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Yeah but he had a life time of experience in flying many aircraft.

Not a kite with an engine strapped to his ar$e.

 

A regular visitor to the area and club member, presumably to paraglide, so likely experienced. No cause of death was given so was death simply caused by inexperience? 

[Gandtee]

18 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

A regular visitor to the area and club member, presumably to paraglide, so likely experienced. No cause of death was given so was death simply caused by inexperience? 

Engine failure and falling from a great height most probably.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, giddyup said:

Do you know how experienced the pilot of the paraglider was?

Not personally but judging by the outcome not experienced enough when things went pear-shaped.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, Srikcir said:

A regular visitor to the area and club member, presumably to paraglide, so likely experienced. No cause of death was given so was death simply caused by inexperience? 

My point was maybe not enough experience was practiced should things go wrong.

Most people after a few lessons can start the engine, head into wind and take off.

When you lose the engine, or mis-read wind direction and strength, up-drafts, down-drafts are all skills one must learn.

[giddyup]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Not personally but judging by the outcome not experienced enough when things went pear-shaped.

So any air accident is due to an inexperienced pilot?

[Hummin]

3 hours ago, Gandtee said:

Engine failure and falling from a great height most probably.

Engine failure and to low to reach the shore. Even without engine it is a glider with at least 3 to one glide

[billd766]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

A rule of flying, always have a safe landing spot in mind if things don't go well.

You should also take your mobile phone in case you need to call for help in an emergency and need a pick up. Most smartphones have a built in GPS as well.

[Enoon]

6 hours ago, Gandtee said:

Engine failure and falling from a great height most probably.

Engine failure after take-off (EFATO) was the origin of the incident.

 

Only a short distance from his T/O point, the shore, so not a "great height".

 

Not sure how those things perform given the possible "over controlling" that might occur in such a situation.

 

The big problem was that, even given a clean touchdown, he was strapped to a 20-50Kg (+?) weight which would have taken him straight under when he hit the water.

 

Because it was not a closed fuselage he would have had no protection from the impact and would have been "taking on water" immediately.

 

If not dead or unconscious at that point he would still have to contend with the parachute wing covering/smothering him......underwater.

 

I wonder how many times he had practised that escape procedure?

 

Death by Drowning.

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Enoon

[CanadaSam]

It's a para-glider!  Which means he should have been able to glide to a spot of his choosing.  I would think that something much more serious went wrong, perhaps a heart attack or similar, to prevent him from taking measures to save his life.  The drowning theory also holds merit, being unable to get out from underneath the thing when he hit water.

[Hummin]

11 minutes ago, CanadaSam said:

It's a para-glider!  Which means he should have been able to glide to a spot of his choosing.  I would think that something much more serious went wrong, perhaps a heart attack or similar, to prevent him from taking measures to save his life.  The drowning theory also holds merit, being unable to get out from underneath the thing when he hit water.

Did you read the report yet? 

 

here you can see how fragile a paraglider is. This is practice line twists or they call it riser twists

 

 

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, giddyup said:

So any air accident is due to an inexperienced pilot?

I take it you're not an aviator?

[bogozy]

The paramotor give a freedom, to ascend high. Contrary most of paramotor pilots likes to fly very low, just 10-20 meters above ground. Any mistake, or engine fail has serious consequence