I could not agree more I watch a lot of aviation related debriefs on crashes and accidents and Tucker is obviously a very skilled para motor pilot and so therefore it is a great service to the industry around his hobby for him to make these videos because they are invaluable in helping new people understand that this is not easy and you should not just grab one and jump on it and go fly With no training or practice and without significant studying the aerodynamics and flight characteristics and general aviation rules involving paramotors.
I'm a glider pilot and have not flown any parafoils. With respect to the stall/spins, both looked to me to have a very high AOA and little speed, a classic stall situation. I'm obviously not familiar with the pendulum effect, but with respect to a fixed-wing aircraft those conditions are dangerous in of themselves. As we say, ... airspeed is life, altitude is options. Thanks for your sharing and analysis. As pilots we do these things to keep each other safe.
I learnt flying in a Rhönlerche, or Ka-4. In 1982. And guess what? For your license you learn quite some theory. But during your first flights, this "airspeed is your life" is the first thing you learn. No matter in what trouble you get, keep flying a good speed. I have seen a student pilot in a SZD-51 Junior who got from the wing early, safety strip broke, a thermal I guess. But he was in a nasty position, too much altitude to land straight ahead, and not at a nice altitude for the normal landing pattern. So what he did was a low circuit, landing halfway the runway. But he realised now he had too much altitude. So on final he did a very very shallow right turn to the second airstrip. He told he did his best to do it, as coordinated as possible. And now he had plenty of space for flaring. When I think about this years later, what he had done right, was altering his landing pattern. But the result is a shorter final, and he had miscalculated where he would land. So he needed this escape manouvre. He was lucky to have that grass runway there. His alternative was landing on the farm behind the airfield gate. Cross the small road, land on the grass. No cows around, no problem. I've done a spin at 600 feet, mind you, first flight in Pilatus B4, feeling a thermal at the perfect moment to go back landing. Ah, try one turn. But in the Ka-8 you can circle at pretty low airspeed. Foolly automatic I pulled the stick a bit and did a right turn. That pulling was no good. Horizon was way too high. Shit, a spin! Stick pushed, full rudder left. Never seen grass that low. I had enough altitude left for making it to the airfield. Those are the moments you got to put the airspeed indicator on the yellow triangle at the landing speed. There are clubs having that indication in every plane they own. Life savers. And you bet I learned my lesson. Forget that last thermal, unless it takes you to the moon itself. And be more careful in a new plane.
I used to watch his videos a while back. I stopped because I grew tired of hearing him pretend to know things and pass off the WRONG things as fact. I'm very sorry he crashed, and I'm glad he is ok, but I'm not surprised he did.
@@PatJones82 It is difficult to try to maintain friendships when this sort of thing happens. If you say something before the accident you're considered a jerk, if you say something after the accident you get the feeling people are saying or thinking yeah? wait until it happens to you... I honestly don't know what the answer is. Made a ton of friends flying these things, but have also upset plenty of people. I've not spoken up loudly enough, only to watch people have accidents. I've held my thoughts when I see people saying wrong things especially well respected people for what ever reason... Very frustrating
@@YankeeinSC1 You are exactly correct. I'm in the same boat. When you speak up " you don't know what you are talking about" and when you don't, "well, you should have said something". There is no winning. The real problem is the people who are arrogant enough to assume they know everything when they don't, and they can't accept a genuine concern from another person. I've been flying fixed wings since 1992 and paramotors since 2018 and I'm still learning and am FAR from perfect. I WISH people would have said something to me before some of the dumb crap I've done! lol. :)
I’m wondering if the paramotor pilots are having a regular paraglider education. I’d say it’s pretty clear that this person knows nothing about pitch control. I glad that he’s ok.
@@oleksandrshneyder576they don’t. Paramotoring makes it easy to get into the air in perfect conditions. Training is bare minimum take off and landing skills. PPG to PG is like riding bicycles but PPG starts out with training wheels attached yet thinks they are ready for Tour de France. They really don’t know what they don’t know.
I am obsessed with this sport. I just discovered it and have watched over 15 hours of videos in the last day. I am planning to get lessons in Florida this summer and love your videos. You rock man!!
Hah. Sounds like me before I started flying. Soon, even Tucker's videos, as awesome as they are, just don't continue to scratch that itch for very long and you'll end up buying gear and flying. Just please take my advice and talk to an instructor before buying as there are so many factors to consider and you don't want to end up buying gear that isn't rated for your needs specifically. For example, buying an atom 80 motor but not having enough power to get off the ground, or buying a wing way too advanced for a beginner. I'm sure Mr. @TuckerGott would concur. Florida has some of the best. Aviator is top notch, but super high demand and could end up putting you on a long waiting list. One Up Adventures is also a great school.
@@tkallday98ify same here! But for me, it's less about heights in general, and more about the fear of not having situational control. Like, 25ft on a cherry picker lift is a hell no. Especially without any safety harness. Same with standing on narrow ledges high off the ground, or climbing a super tall ladder. But being on my paramotor, I feel more secure as it's a different type of heights where I'm harnessed in with a reserve chute and full control of my altitude and heading. If my motor dies, I always have an out within gliding distance that I can spot-land if needed.
Well done on the analysis. Pretty much spot on regarding all issues. The only thing I might slightly disagree on is Sean's incident probably could have been saved without smashing into the ground. I understand the concern that just letting go could have pushed him nose down into the ground, much harder than he did, but some combination of letting it fly quickly followed by arresting the surge, could have worked to avoid any crash at all. It's a fine line and ya have to do it exactly right. Definitely did a better job of calling out the cause of Sean's flight than Sean did and has done since. He really doesn't get it. It will likely happen to him again because he doesn't understand.
I was wondering same. I have no experience in back-flying and am by no means an expert. I am just wondering if the first pilot could have gone hands up before the spin, and the caught the impending surge about mid point? Looks like it could be close and maybe the result shown, WAS the best line of tact. At any rate, Im not too surprised to have seen this one. I commented once before on a vid of his, not to instruct students to turn so low while at initial climb. I hope the experience has made him a 'better' pilot/instructor.
I enjoyed that I could interpret the scenes as I saw them, and then hear the insight from your experienced eye. Got it every time, this time around! Don't make steep turning climbs just off the ground, never spill your forward energy, don't go up in turbulent air, if you're out of room, abort!
I’ve never paramotored before and when I watched the first video I immediately thought the exact same thing you said. Too aggressive and long of a climb for the maneuver he just came out of, couple that with trying to brake left at the apex of the wing slowing down and boom. Would love to get into paramotoring though; been watching your videos for a while and it looks sooo much fun.
We have this exact situation in gliding when we have a cable break during winching. At the top of the parabola, he is in almost zero g. The wing is unloaded, and it is not stalled, even with close to no airspeed. As soon as the top of the parabola is over, the gravity returns, and he is loading a wing that has insufficient airspeed to hold the regular weight. If you engaged in a turn _before_ you got the airspeed, you are now stalled _and_ in an asymmetric lift condition which develops into a spin. Our rule is: once the cable breaks, you lower the nose, *wait*, recover the airspeed to the approach speed, _then_ turn.
This same issue occurs in airplanes. As load increases - stall speeds increase (exponentially). A turn at low speed trying to hold altitude can really bork your energy state.
Had been considering taking my paragliding to the next level, but having seen the drama needed with 2 stroke engines, timing, fuel mix, servicing, etc. I have trouble starting me mower! Sonive been checking out electric. The model you have behind you. It's in the cart ready for me to click and pay. I'm looking forward to the videos and a chance at a free one!
Some really good analysis of the three incidents. Clear info to hopefully prevent these from happening to others. That E motor looks interesting. There'll the the usual suspects, but it should still be a blast.
your explaining of the first crash you mage it so clear to understand . he used those breaks while coming out of a turn plus gliding upwards wow that is risky .
love that you’re reviewing the SP140. almost bought one but i plan on longer flights than the battery would allow. However… I also like the idea of being able to put it in a car, without the gas smell. Definitely going to enter the giveaway
I love these videos where you analyze paramotor crashes. its like youre doing the job of the F.A.A. when they arent doing it. Youre doing the real crash investigation. we are all human, we all make mistakes. the best we can do is share our mistakes so that others can learn from them, hopefully before anyone gets hurt. This is educational because it teaches people what NOT to do, and how to stay safe. its sad that tucker even needs to make a PSA to the youtube human reviewer about that.
As always, love these videos! I'm confident that learning from these has kept me safer. I'm looking forward to the videos covering the electric paramotor; I've wanted one for a while now, but my Nitro 200 is still going strong and the wife probably wouldn't care for me having two :) Maybe I'll get super lucky and win it :) Thanks again for all the work you put into these videos Tucker!
It's pretty rare to see people with a paramotor flying here in the Netherlands, but last week i saw 2 guys flying. First thing i thought : there you have Tucker ! lol
I've done this, massive balloon after trying to do a full throttle turn through a bonfire cloud 200ft above ground. After the turn I entered the massive balloon, as I lost tension in my lines I buried the brakes and then let off them, recovered like I knew what I was doing. Scary to think about if my timing was off, something I think about a lot.
@@jensfalck_TheSwede haha vafan jag såg inte att det var din kommentar förrän nu när jag fick avisering om att du kommenterat nåt😆 Nä alla har det inte
Not paramotoring myself, but I've been a glider pilot years ago, and all I see is him stalling his wing deliberately. Doing a steep turn alone gets you a higher stall speed. But he got through the steep turns. He stalled after he pulled all airspeed out of his wing. What is he making excuses about his wake? He can watch the video and see he totally did this himself. If he keeps denying, he will die in his next crash. You should do arobatics at an altitude where you have time to recover from mistakes. This low you will die one day. No offense, I'm just worried he has learnt NOTHING.
The cambered paraglider wings we fly have torque so that if unloaded, they tuck. If you take that intial characteristic and lower the attack angle it, it's even more prone to tuck. Then if you add power, even more prone. Pitching down and going fast in a paraglider makes it prone to tuck.
In this configuration, your center of pressure is not above you , lined up with gravity, but rather lagging behind you because you are under power. When you lesson the attack angle(with power on) ,you become more vonerable to forward downward collapse because you're already at a low attack angle. With your center of pressure already lagging behind you , applying brakes pushes the center or pressure rearward even further. The wing then goes into a negative attack angle with a sudden lift reversal and suddenly unloads. While this happens, the center of pressure has rotated fully rearward. On a non powered paraglider, the center of pressure is lined up with gravity vector, and can't lag behind. But with power it can lag behind. Power and low attack angle are a bad combination that approach collapse.
Hey Tucker, I'm not use to react to video's but I'm a paragliding instructor. I'm use to give safety course what we call SIV in french. Those incident are more complex. With the pendulum effect and the momentum of the actions are really precised. It's not talking about power in the glider of not. It's pendulum effect. If you like we can analyse the video with more details... Or if you get to Europe, I can guide you with some advanced exercices ;-)
It's been 10 years, since I last flew, but correct me if I'm wrong. Spin recovery is "Hands up", watch the wing, when it reinflates be ready to brake it hard so it doesn't overshoot and full frontal. If hands up doesn't fix it (higher rated wing), I believe the only way is to force it into a full stall first and then recover the stall. Fine if you are at 3,500ft, not fine at 300ft. Height is your friend. Always fly 3 mistakes high.
In powered paragliders , fast as possible means less stable. And more likely to have a sudden frontal lift reversal. In this condition, the center of pressure wants to go forward, or rearward but not stay centered above. Either problem will then cause collapse. When you go fast it's unstable.
Hey man question, what laptop do you use to edit your videos? I am new to filmmaking and would be super appreciative if you have any wisdom regarding it! Thanks!
Powering a paraglider puts your center of pressure behind you and not above you as it would be while gliding. In order to go fast and remain level you must reduce your angle. When you do, you make the wing prone to sudden tucking. You're making it easy to go to a negative attack angle ,and prone to a lift reversal cycle. In this configuration, any slight forward surge is sure to cause a negative attack angle and sudden deflation. While not under power, this problem doesn't arise because your center remains above you while gliding. The faster you go the more unstable it gets. Ready to deflat at any moment without warning. Powering a paraglider wing brings completely different dynamics not seen while gliding.
Aight, started my training hopefully 1st flight session will be soon. Was looking into paramotors, just not sure if a electric is something that would be a good choice for me or not.
I hope you end up seeing this, when i met you at desert wells around a month ago i didnt recognize you had cut your hair so i thought my buddy was pulling my leg about you being there haha, it was cool meeting you and im glad we were able to meet eachother 😊
In the second video the air is not just turbulent but he appears to enter a particularly strong thermal a few seconds after take off. He climbs quite dramatically with the wing directly overhead for several more seconds. That rate of climb on a paramotor in still air will mean the wing is pitched a fair way back. As opposed to in this case where the wing remains directly above the pilot. The wing only stalls when he reaches the strongly sinking air at the edge of the thermal. Exiting a strong thermal usually results in a large and sudden change in the apparent angle of attack as the air you're in transitions from rapidly rising to rapidly sinking. This results in a feeling of weightlessness and a slight pitch back of the wing as it attempts to align itself with the new apparent airflow. The wing will usually stall with far less brake than normal at this exact moment. In moments of sudden and unexpected weightlessness it's a very instinctive response to attempt to support yourself by lowering your hands - which even when done slightly will apply enough brake to stall the wing as happens in this case.
It's something as a non-powered pilot often freaks me out with powered-paragliders. The ability you have to screw yourself up with pendulum and torque effects. Pendulum effect without the motor can be bad enough, if you weren't taught how to "check it" learning in a thermic area.
When powering a pg wing, the wing is somewhat behind you. It's not lined up with gravity like it would be if unpowered. In this condition of low attack angle, any forward surge will make the wing go to zero attack. It could even get a sudden lift reversal. This is because the wing is both lagging behind and at a low attack angle. You eliminate this dangerous configuration by taking away either component. You can fly safely in very low attack angle without power, however not with the wing lagging behind during powered flight. That dynamic produces the potential for the sudden forward tuck. Adding brakes during this configuration can easily cause a tiny forward surge which brings the attack angle to zero causing the extreme tuck.
The same initial bad judgement that kills so many military and civilian stunt pilots... starting a loop (or any stunt) too low to the ground. Aka, loss of situational awareness.
The trike, man, it's a harrier jet launch sequence. LOL That little red button they call the kill switch, the real nickname for it is! The credit card saver button. Ask me how I know, LOL
#1 100% pulled brake when the wing was pointed up and had barely any air flowing over it. He stalled the left side of the wing then buried both brakes rather than go hands up, let it cover and catch it when it surged forward.
depends on when/where. Ppgs land without power most of the time. Stopping an engine at altitude and spot landing under glide only, is a skill taught at a lot of schools. Motor or not, you still have a big 'parachute' (wing) above you.
Hey Tucker, perhaps you should contact MIT and get the specs on their new props (sort of helical props) be interested in seeing those tried on a paramotor
Is there a Tandem landing protocol about forward passenger lands on right foot and runs, then rear person lands on left foot, so as to avoid heel kicking and tripping?
I agree with half of the analysis on the first video. He climbed hard after a turn and absolutely stalled the wing. What I don’t agree is that he intentionally kept the brakes pulled to prevent the surge and resulting pendulum and hard impact. I believe that the pilot was so bad that he had no idea what hit him and he just froze and kept the brake pulled down. The result was the same, it’s good that he was in stall position and prevented a worse crash, but if his own analysis was that he his “own wake turbulence” then it’s not likely that he knew what was going on and you’re giving him too much credit.
My question about the electric paramotor is can it power the trike mobile and how much duration would it lose from doing so. Can't wait to see more about it.
It is clear from the first video that [Sean?] could not have been in his own wake because he had been climbing and at hit peak altitude when the wing went floppy. he would have been well above his wake and he was well to the audiance-left of where he made the initial 270 at takeoff.
The flight begins when youre still in your underwear rolling out of bed that morning, and thats where a good portion of these flights should end, before they hop into bad conditions or just arent making good calls. It happens, just gotta be humble and turn your flying time slot into a breakfast date with a friend
From somebody who's never flown but is considering it, it'd be nice to get advice aimed at a complete noob for avoiding these issues. The trike crash was simple enough, and I guess the second crash was probably failure to maintain equipment right, but the first crash is a lot less clear; would the 'right' thing to do be gain more altitude before really pushing into the more vigorous maneuvers? Was it all just about over-shooting that right turn?
You definitely want to be at higher altitudes when you’re doing big maneuvers and you don’t know what you’re doing. But primarily, it was pulling way too much brake at the wrong time.
The simple line is this: If you treat this thing slow and steady like a plane, you're going to avoid basically all of these problems. Don't fly into your own wake, don't make dramatic turns, don't push your engine too hard or let off too suddenly... slow and steady inputs. Most all of the problems you see on this channel are not only completely avoidable, but stuff that doesn't happen to newer or more careful-footed pilots. That's not to say these instructional analysis videos aren't worth looking at, it's just that they're really not that relevant to new pilots that get trained from proper instructors. Cheers. -A 2nd Year PPG Pilot
Hey I’m looking for someone who can do a tune up in a 1993 DK whisper it’s the model I fly. Also looking for a cheap wing I’m flying with the original wing that came with the set up 31 years ago.
The manufacturer, instead of boasting top speed rating,should mention that higher speed means instability. And that at the higher speed you're prone to collapse.
There is some variablity in the angles / speeds of stalls for paragliders because the shape of the wing changes with trimmer and/or speed bar positions, brake pull, weight shift etc. Plus a paramotor has two pitch axes and a thrust line that isn't necessarily fixed relative to wing.
I hesitate to post this because I think he is probably a decent guy but, I have known of Sean on YT since before he first soloed and then decided to start his own paramotor school and train others. In my personal opinion, he is not fully qualified nor experienced enough to be teaching this sport. Again, in my personal opinion, he started his own paramotor journey just 4 years ago, got some hours under his belt and decided to start his own paramotor training school when he was not experienced enough to be training others in a potentially very dangerous sport. I'll leave it there and I wish him the best but, hopefully this will be an epiphany for him.
This guy was my instructor for a few days, I quickly realized he was going to get me or someone else hurt. I left him and trained with another guy and it was the best decision I've made.
"Check it!"... no not like that! The correct response was to bury the brakes as the wing shot overhead, then stabilise it and waiting for your speed to recover. Even the first climb out. The wing surges there too, but he damps it, you can see however the glider is still sinking when he banks it into that turn (already tickling the spin dragons tail). Then he does it again. I have a video where this occurs to me on a ridge flight, I swung the glider 180* and hit a pocket of lift causing the glider to rocket upward about a 100ft. Wing flung behind me. I even felt myself leaning forward in the seat! But, I knew to keep my hands up, just keep "contact tension" on the brakes. Then when the stomach goes, bury the brakes one sharp deep pull and release. Let it fly. You only need to slow the wing so that it stops over your head and does NOT under any circumstances overtake you into a dive. Being less trained, I could see how a pilot might instead pull a single brake on the way up to, I don't know, steer away from the hill or another pilot. Yes, that would most likely cause a spin. At the height I was at, there would have been no time for the reserve and I'd have been bouncing and rolling down a mountain for a whlie!
I have watched probably 20 of your videos over the years and you have always made it look way too easy and so watching a couple of crash videos, I can completely see that that is because you have honed your skills incredibly well. I would see the spirals and intentional wing over stalls and things that they do for tricks in para Motors and I could tell obviously that required a significant amount of skill but now I can see that even just taking off and keep it in the air, requires a ton of skill and knowledge and training, and it is every bit as dangerous as flying or anything else because you can very easily crash and die if you are not disciplined or if you have a tendency to be reckless, then I would say this sport is not for you and I know it is not for me. Thanks for sharing.
Explaining the accident with the blue APCO canopy using the term "energy" is very inaccurate. From the point of view of aerodynamics, the term "energy" does not exist. The terms according to which you should explain the cause of the accident are inertia, load and speed. Correctly it should be like this: After catching after the first turn, the pilot's inertia is brought upwards, thereby dramatically decreasing the load acting on the glider (the pilot feels that the steering power is reduced), the glider reacts by slowing down (less load = less speed) and exactly in at that moment, the pilot drastically brakes the left side of the wing, it falls below the minimum speed for the given aerodynamic profile, the airflow breaks off and it falls backwards. The entire wing falls into a negative spiral.
First Video is a perfect full stall. I mean it would be better if it would be a SIV, 500m above a lake... without a motor and instead a life vest... But nevertheless ... a very nice full stall!
I don't hnow why the manufacturer is allowing this configuration of low attack angle combined with the wing lagging behind because it's being powered. In this configuration. In this configuration , any forward surge is sure to cause a frontal tuck due to a lift reversal. The same phenomena happens during aleron flutter on a rigid wing. The lift reverses back and forth. A fluttering trailing edge is the sign that you are about to do a lift reversal. You shouldn't put a paraglider in this configuration and not expect a sudden full lift reversal. This configuration cannot be achieved in non powered flight. If the manufacturer fully understand this ,they wouldn't allow this configuration that makes sudden lift reversal possible. Don't put lots of power with a low attack angle. Because under power your wing isn't over you, it's behind you ready to tuck at the tiniest forward surge. Your ready to do a sudden vicious lift reversal. The manufacturer should not be allowing this dangerous configuration that causes sudden tucks.
Its a completely unregulated activity - I've never even seen a paramotor in real life but I can claim i'm a 7'th Dan Black Belt Master Paramotor Poobah and ain't nobody can prove I ain't.
Glad these guys didn't incur more serious injuries. As a (hopefully) future pilot I think these crash analysis videos are invaluable.
I could not agree more I watch a lot of aviation related debriefs on crashes and accidents and Tucker is obviously a very skilled para motor pilot and so therefore it is a great service to the industry around his hobby for him to make these videos because they are invaluable in helping new people understand that this is not easy and you should not just grab one and jump on it and go fly With no training or practice and without significant studying the aerodynamics and flight characteristics and general aviation rules involving paramotors.
I'm a glider pilot and have not flown any parafoils. With respect to the stall/spins, both looked to me to have a very high AOA and little speed, a classic stall situation. I'm obviously not familiar with the pendulum effect, but with respect to a fixed-wing aircraft those conditions are dangerous in of themselves. As we say, ... airspeed is life, altitude is options. Thanks for your sharing and analysis. As pilots we do these things to keep each other safe.
I learnt flying in a Rhönlerche, or Ka-4. In 1982. And guess what? For your license you learn quite some theory. But during your first flights, this "airspeed is your life" is the first thing you learn. No matter in what trouble you get, keep flying a good speed. I have seen a student pilot in a SZD-51 Junior who got from the wing early, safety strip broke, a thermal I guess. But he was in a nasty position, too much altitude to land straight ahead, and not at a nice altitude for the normal landing pattern. So what he did was a low circuit, landing halfway the runway. But he realised now he had too much altitude. So on final he did a very very shallow right turn to the second airstrip. He told he did his best to do it, as coordinated as possible. And now he had plenty of space for flaring. When I think about this years later, what he had done right, was altering his landing pattern. But the result is a shorter final, and he had miscalculated where he would land. So he needed this escape manouvre. He was lucky to have that grass runway there. His alternative was landing on the farm behind the airfield gate. Cross the small road, land on the grass. No cows around, no problem.
I've done a spin at 600 feet, mind you, first flight in Pilatus B4, feeling a thermal at the perfect moment to go back landing. Ah, try one turn. But in the Ka-8 you can circle at pretty low airspeed. Foolly automatic I pulled the stick a bit and did a right turn. That pulling was no good. Horizon was way too high. Shit, a spin! Stick pushed, full rudder left. Never seen grass that low. I had enough altitude left for making it to the airfield. Those are the moments you got to put the airspeed indicator on the yellow triangle at the landing speed. There are clubs having that indication in every plane they own. Life savers. And you bet I learned my lesson. Forget that last thermal, unless it takes you to the moon itself. And be more careful in a new plane.
Hit his own wake 🤣 I hope that dude wakes up and realizes it was his ridiculous aggressive flight pattern that caused this.
I used to watch his videos a while back. I stopped because I grew tired of hearing him pretend to know things and pass off the WRONG things as fact. I'm very sorry he crashed, and I'm glad he is ok, but I'm not surprised he did.
@@PatJones82 It is difficult to try to maintain friendships when this sort of thing happens. If you say something before the accident you're considered a jerk, if you say something after the accident you get the feeling people are saying or thinking yeah? wait until it happens to you... I honestly don't know what the answer is. Made a ton of friends flying these things, but have also upset plenty of people. I've not spoken up loudly enough, only to watch people have accidents. I've held my thoughts when I see people saying wrong things especially well respected people for what ever reason... Very frustrating
@@YankeeinSC1 You are exactly correct. I'm in the same boat. When you speak up " you don't know what you are talking about" and when you don't, "well, you should have said something". There is no winning. The real problem is the people who are arrogant enough to assume they know everything when they don't, and they can't accept a genuine concern from another person. I've been flying fixed wings since 1992 and paramotors since 2018 and I'm still learning and am FAR from perfect. I WISH people would have said something to me before some of the dumb crap I've done! lol. :)
I’m wondering if the paramotor pilots are having a regular paraglider education. I’d say it’s pretty clear that this person knows nothing about pitch control. I glad that he’s ok.
@@oleksandrshneyder576they don’t. Paramotoring makes it easy to get into the air in perfect conditions. Training is bare minimum take off and landing skills. PPG to PG is like riding bicycles but PPG starts out with training wheels attached yet thinks they are ready for Tour de France. They really don’t know what they don’t know.
I am obsessed with this sport. I just discovered it and have watched over 15 hours of videos in the last day. I am planning to get lessons in Florida this summer and love your videos. You rock man!!
Hah. Sounds like me before I started flying. Soon, even Tucker's videos, as awesome as they are, just don't continue to scratch that itch for very long and you'll end up buying gear and flying. Just please take my advice and talk to an instructor before buying as there are so many factors to consider and you don't want to end up buying gear that isn't rated for your needs specifically. For example, buying an atom 80 motor but not having enough power to get off the ground, or buying a wing way too advanced for a beginner. I'm sure Mr. @TuckerGott would concur. Florida has some of the best. Aviator is top notch, but super high demand and could end up putting you on a long waiting list. One Up Adventures is also a great school.
Don’t do it.
Take it slow. Took me months of good training and kiting. Take it slow and master the basics!
Me too BUTTTTT I'm terrified of heights 😂😂😂😂 (and I'm an Airforce veteran)💀💀💀💀💀
@@tkallday98ify same here! But for me, it's less about heights in general, and more about the fear of not having situational control. Like, 25ft on a cherry picker lift is a hell no. Especially without any safety harness. Same with standing on narrow ledges high off the ground, or climbing a super tall ladder. But being on my paramotor, I feel more secure as it's a different type of heights where I'm harnessed in with a reserve chute and full control of my altitude and heading. If my motor dies, I always have an out within gliding distance that I can spot-land if needed.
Well done on the analysis. Pretty much spot on regarding all issues. The only thing I might slightly disagree on is Sean's incident probably could have been saved without smashing into the ground. I understand the concern that just letting go could have pushed him nose down into the ground, much harder than he did, but some combination of letting it fly quickly followed by arresting the surge, could have worked to avoid any crash at all. It's a fine line and ya have to do it exactly right.
Definitely did a better job of calling out the cause of Sean's flight than Sean did and has done since. He really doesn't get it. It will likely happen to him again because he doesn't understand.
I was wondering same. I have no experience in back-flying and am by no means an expert. I am just wondering if the first pilot could have gone hands up before the spin, and the caught the impending surge about mid point? Looks like it could be close and maybe the result shown, WAS the best line of tact. At any rate, Im not too surprised to have seen this one. I commented once before on a vid of his, not to instruct students to turn so low while at initial climb. I hope the experience has made him a 'better' pilot/instructor.
I enjoyed that I could interpret the scenes as I saw them, and then hear the insight from your experienced eye. Got it every time, this time around! Don't make steep turning climbs just off the ground, never spill your forward energy, don't go up in turbulent air, if you're out of room, abort!
Have you seen Anthony Villas crash? Wondering what your analysis would be. Luckily for him he survived and he has an explanation video.
Yeap, I'm curious about Tuckrs take on that one as well!
Love the sp140 in the background. Just ordered mine. Can’t wait for your review. Thanks for the content 👏👏
Thanks for the analysis, as always! You're saving lives, brother!!
I’ve never paramotored before and when I watched the first video I immediately thought the exact same thing you said. Too aggressive and long of a climb for the maneuver he just came out of, couple that with trying to brake left at the apex of the wing slowing down and boom.
Would love to get into paramotoring though; been watching your videos for a while and it looks sooo much fun.
Im glad this videos are allowed, I don't fly but im learning all the things you need to know before I commit to the sport,
We have this exact situation in gliding when we have a cable break during winching. At the top of the parabola, he is in almost zero g. The wing is unloaded, and it is not stalled, even with close to no airspeed. As soon as the top of the parabola is over, the gravity returns, and he is loading a wing that has insufficient airspeed to hold the regular weight. If you engaged in a turn _before_ you got the airspeed, you are now stalled _and_ in an asymmetric lift condition which develops into a spin. Our rule is: once the cable breaks, you lower the nose, *wait*, recover the airspeed to the approach speed, _then_ turn.
This same issue occurs in airplanes. As load increases - stall speeds increase (exponentially). A turn at low speed trying to hold altitude can really bork your energy state.
that trike ramping has me rolling! glad hes ok. he was committed!
I am waiting for that video of the that e-fan in the background! Hope the battery performance is usable.
Thanks Tucker for another great educational video! Happy flying.
These are your best videos, thank you for teaching the community.
Had been considering taking my paragliding to the next level, but having seen the drama needed with 2 stroke engines, timing, fuel mix, servicing, etc.
I have trouble starting me mower!
Sonive been checking out electric. The model you have behind you.
It's in the cart ready for me to click and pay.
I'm looking forward to the videos and a chance at a free one!
I’m curious how many people feel the same way as you. Or haven’t gotten into the sport at all and would only do it with electric.
The first guy doesn't know how aerodynamics work.
I believe he is or was a trainer too.
That last one was a "hold my beer" moment.
Looking forward to the electric video…I imagine the tech will only get better and better
I do enjoy these. There is always room to learn.
That 3rd guy really sent it!
Full blown Dukes of Hazzard style! 😂🤣
when motoX meets ppg! Brett DOES NOT have commitment issues, for sure!
Dude these are hands down I always look forward to these videos from you! I love how you break in down! Epic stuff can’t wait for the new shirts!!!
Thanks for this videos, always we can learn something about them.
Glad you could tell people what went wrong. I enjoy your videos very much, thank you.
When I saw his brake @2:54 I said out loud "Well, there's your problem!"
Thanks. Always learning from these!
Very good information, thanks for posting
Some really good analysis of the three incidents. Clear info to hopefully prevent these from happening to others. That E motor looks interesting. There'll the the usual suspects, but it should still be a blast.
your explaining of the first crash you mage it so clear to understand . he used those breaks while coming out of a turn plus gliding upwards wow that is risky .
Very informative. Thank you 😊
love that you’re reviewing the SP140. almost bought one but i plan on longer flights than the battery would allow. However… I also like the idea of being able to put it in a car, without the gas smell. Definitely going to enter the giveaway
I love these videos where you analyze paramotor crashes. its like youre doing the job of the F.A.A. when they arent doing it. Youre doing the real crash investigation.
we are all human, we all make mistakes. the best we can do is share our mistakes so that others can learn from them, hopefully before anyone gets hurt. This is educational because it teaches people what NOT to do, and how to stay safe. its sad that tucker even needs to make a PSA to the youtube human reviewer about that.
Looking forward to the electric paramotor series teasing us in the background!
Is your boyfriend impressed? Nobody else cares.
Or was that a cruel April fools joke?
@@xploration1437 Are you okay?
@@xploration1437 what did fatlfit do?
@@Lildrxks782 their original comment was “first”.
As always, love these videos! I'm confident that learning from these has kept me safer.
I'm looking forward to the videos covering the electric paramotor; I've wanted one for a while now, but my Nitro 200 is still going strong and the wife probably wouldn't care for me having two :) Maybe I'll get super lucky and win it :) Thanks again for all the work you put into these videos Tucker!
It's pretty rare to see people with a paramotor flying here in the Netherlands, but last week i saw 2 guys flying. First thing i thought : there you have Tucker ! lol
I've done this, massive balloon after trying to do a full throttle turn through a bonfire cloud 200ft above ground. After the turn I entered the massive balloon, as I lost tension in my lines I buried the brakes and then let off them, recovered like I knew what I was doing. Scary to think about if my timing was off, something I think about a lot.
Go do an siv and it won’t have to feel like such scary stuff!
Both accidents are with Apco wings wings which have a unique feature "anti-stall". Still it happened 😮
First one was an f3 and it doesnt have that feature. Second obe might be an apco lift ez, hard to tell but that one has the feature
@@rickardjonsson4526 you might be right 👍🏻. I thought all Apcos had it.
@@jensfalck_TheSwede haha vafan jag såg inte att det var din kommentar förrän nu när jag fick avisering om att du kommenterat nåt😆 Nä alla har det inte
Great analysis!
Great video. Hope some people see this and learn something from it.
He went full dukes of hazzard on that last one! 😮😂
hell yeah i did 😅
Brett Duke joined the family! LOL 😆 🤣 😂 I'm not just a full send member..
I'm the president 😎 hahaha glad you're ok
Great video. Hey, how are you diggin' the new house and scenery? Looking forward to more videos of the area. Peace!
Very informative thanks.
Not paramotoring myself, but I've been a glider pilot years ago, and all I see is him stalling his wing deliberately. Doing a steep turn alone gets you a higher stall speed. But he got through the steep turns. He stalled after he pulled all airspeed out of his wing. What is he making excuses about his wake? He can watch the video and see he totally did this himself. If he keeps denying, he will die in his next crash. You should do arobatics at an altitude where you have time to recover from mistakes. This low you will die one day. No offense, I'm just worried he has learnt NOTHING.
That seems to be the concept of this channel. Making excuses for bad flying. Not the first time i see it here.
@@sputzelein What
The cambered paraglider wings we fly have torque so that if unloaded, they tuck. If you take that intial characteristic and lower the attack angle it, it's even more prone to tuck. Then if you add power, even more prone. Pitching down and going fast in a paraglider makes it prone to tuck.
In this configuration, your center of pressure is not above you , lined up with gravity, but rather lagging behind you because you are under power. When you lesson the attack angle(with power on) ,you become more vonerable to forward downward collapse because you're already at a low attack angle. With your center of pressure already lagging behind you , applying brakes pushes the center or pressure rearward even further. The wing then goes into a negative attack angle with a sudden lift reversal and suddenly unloads. While this happens, the center of pressure has rotated fully rearward. On a non powered paraglider, the center of pressure is lined up with gravity vector, and can't lag behind. But with power it can lag behind. Power and low attack angle are a bad combination that approach collapse.
Hey Tucker, I'm not use to react to video's but I'm a paragliding instructor. I'm use to give safety course what we call SIV in french. Those incident are more complex. With the pendulum effect and the momentum of the actions are really precised. It's not talking about power in the glider of not. It's pendulum effect. If you like we can analyse the video with more details... Or if you get to Europe, I can guide you with some advanced exercices ;-)
EARLY!!! W TUCKER!
Edit: Great video, hopefully they all recovered good!
And I did watch the whole thing
It's been 10 years, since I last flew, but correct me if I'm wrong. Spin recovery is "Hands up", watch the wing, when it reinflates be ready to brake it hard so it doesn't overshoot and full frontal. If hands up doesn't fix it (higher rated wing), I believe the only way is to force it into a full stall first and then recover the stall. Fine if you are at 3,500ft, not fine at 300ft.
Height is your friend. Always fly 3 mistakes high.
In powered paragliders , fast as possible means less stable.
And more likely to have a sudden frontal lift reversal. In this condition, the center of pressure wants to go forward, or rearward but not stay centered above. Either problem will then cause collapse. When you go fast it's unstable.
Hey man question, what laptop do you use to edit your videos? I am new to filmmaking and would be super appreciative if you have any wisdom regarding it! Thanks!
I use a Macbook Pro now. Really like it.
@@TuckerGott Cool, thanks!
Powering a paraglider puts your center of pressure behind you and not above you as it would be while gliding. In order to go fast and remain level you must reduce your angle. When you do, you make the wing prone to sudden tucking. You're making it easy to go to a negative attack angle ,and prone to a lift reversal cycle. In this configuration, any slight forward surge is sure to cause a negative attack angle and sudden deflation. While not under power, this problem doesn't arise because your center remains above you while gliding. The faster you go the more unstable it gets.
Ready to deflat at any moment without warning. Powering a paraglider wing brings completely different dynamics not seen while gliding.
Tucker
I have a question about the electric over gas which one is better for heavier pilots.
Thx
Aight, started my training hopefully 1st flight session will be soon. Was looking into paramotors, just not sure if a electric is something that would be a good choice for me or not.
Parabéns meu amigo ,seus vídeos são ótimos.
João marcos do brasil . abraço.
I hope you end up seeing this, when i met you at desert wells around a month ago i didnt recognize you had cut your hair so i thought my buddy was pulling my leg about you being there haha, it was cool meeting you and im glad we were able to meet eachother 😊
❤Love the Content @Tucker
In the second video the air is not just turbulent but he appears to enter a particularly strong thermal a few seconds after take off. He climbs quite dramatically with the wing directly overhead for several more seconds. That rate of climb on a paramotor in still air will mean the wing is pitched a fair way back. As opposed to in this case where the wing remains directly above the pilot. The wing only stalls when he reaches the strongly sinking air at the edge of the thermal. Exiting a strong thermal usually results in a large and sudden change in the apparent angle of attack as the air you're in transitions from rapidly rising to rapidly sinking. This results in a feeling of weightlessness and a slight pitch back of the wing as it attempts to align itself with the new apparent airflow. The wing will usually stall with far less brake than normal at this exact moment. In moments of sudden and unexpected weightlessness it's a very instinctive response to attempt to support yourself by lowering your hands - which even when done slightly will apply enough brake to stall the wing as happens in this case.
It's something as a non-powered pilot often freaks me out with powered-paragliders. The ability you have to screw yourself up with pendulum and torque effects.
Pendulum effect without the motor can be bad enough, if you weren't taught how to "check it" learning in a thermic area.
9:26 - A footaunch instructor taught me, "You cannot jump into the sky."
Great disclaimer sir.
When powering a pg wing, the wing is somewhat behind you. It's not lined up with gravity like it would be if unpowered. In this condition of low attack angle, any forward surge will make the wing go to zero attack. It could even get a sudden lift reversal. This is because the wing is both lagging behind and at a low attack angle. You eliminate this dangerous configuration by taking away either component. You can fly safely in very low attack angle without power, however not with the wing lagging behind during powered flight. That dynamic produces the potential for the sudden forward tuck. Adding brakes during this configuration can easily cause a tiny forward surge which brings the attack angle to zero causing the extreme tuck.
The same initial bad judgement that kills so many military and civilian stunt pilots... starting a loop (or any stunt) too low to the ground. Aka, loss of situational awareness.
The trike, man, it's a harrier jet launch sequence. LOL That little red button they call the kill switch, the real nickname for it is! The credit card saver button. Ask me how I know, LOL
Yo Tucker, I am 350 pounds.Is there a parameter you could suggest for me. Or will I have to do a trike because of how heavy I am?
Depends. Do you still get out of your appartement?
@sputzelein I'm 6 foot 6 I get around fine
#1 100% pulled brake when the wing was pointed up and had barely any air flowing over it. He stalled the left side of the wing then buried both brakes rather than go hands up, let it cover and catch it when it surged forward.
What up Tucker? Electric Paramotor review coming soon?
I’m starting my practice on Saturday 👍🏼
is case of power loss how dangerous are these things?
depends on when/where. Ppgs land without power most of the time. Stopping an engine at altitude and spot landing under glide only, is a skill taught at a lot of schools. Motor or not, you still have a big 'parachute' (wing) above you.
Hey Tucker, perhaps you should contact MIT and get the specs on their new props (sort of helical props) be interested in seeing those tried on a paramotor
That electric paramotor is so interresting!! :D
Is there a Tandem landing protocol about forward passenger lands on right foot and runs, then rear person lands on left foot, so as to avoid heel kicking and tripping?
Hi Tucker,
In the first example is there a way to recover from that situation?
I agree with half of the analysis on the first video. He climbed hard after a turn and absolutely stalled the wing. What I don’t agree is that he intentionally kept the brakes pulled to prevent the surge and resulting pendulum and hard impact. I believe that the pilot was so bad that he had no idea what hit him and he just froze and kept the brake pulled down. The result was the same, it’s good that he was in stall position and prevented a worse crash, but if his own analysis was that he his “own wake turbulence” then it’s not likely that he knew what was going on and you’re giving him too much credit.
My question about the electric paramotor is can it power the trike mobile and how much duration would it lose from doing so. Can't wait to see more about it.
Central NJ just had a bad earthquake. Crazy.
Readington in Hunterdon county was the epicenter
It is clear from the first video that [Sean?] could not have been in his own wake because he had been climbing and at hit peak altitude when the wing went floppy. he would have been well above his wake and he was well to the audiance-left of where he made the initial 270 at takeoff.
The flight begins when youre still in your underwear rolling out of bed that morning, and thats where a good portion of these flights should end, before they hop into bad conditions or just arent making good calls. It happens, just gotta be humble and turn your flying time slot into a breakfast date with a friend
That's how a guy I know died in his cirrus. Should have stayed in bed
From somebody who's never flown but is considering it, it'd be nice to get advice aimed at a complete noob for avoiding these issues. The trike crash was simple enough, and I guess the second crash was probably failure to maintain equipment right, but the first crash is a lot less clear; would the 'right' thing to do be gain more altitude before really pushing into the more vigorous maneuvers? Was it all just about over-shooting that right turn?
You definitely want to be at higher altitudes when you’re doing big maneuvers and you don’t know what you’re doing. But primarily, it was pulling way too much brake at the wrong time.
The simple line is this: If you treat this thing slow and steady like a plane, you're going to avoid basically all of these problems. Don't fly into your own wake, don't make dramatic turns, don't push your engine too hard or let off too suddenly... slow and steady inputs. Most all of the problems you see on this channel are not only completely avoidable, but stuff that doesn't happen to newer or more careful-footed pilots. That's not to say these instructional analysis videos aren't worth looking at, it's just that they're really not that relevant to new pilots that get trained from proper instructors. Cheers.
-A 2nd Year PPG Pilot
Hey I’m looking for someone who can do a tune up in a 1993 DK whisper it’s the model I fly. Also looking for a cheap wing I’m flying with the original wing that came with the set up 31 years ago.
Brake input with power? 🤷♂️
Yeah, it's not like using brakes and gas at the same time in a car.
Really nice videos bro support from india
Oh man I was like number 666😮 glad to be a fan bro. Keep on rocking 🤘
I wanna see a collab with ProjectFarm where y'all test out all of the 2-stroke oils!
The manufacturer, instead of boasting top speed rating,should mention that higher speed means instability. And that at the higher speed you're prone to collapse.
Toroidal blade, for para-
motor's ?
how ya digging Arizona bro?
Going to want to know the total weight of the electric unit and comparison to gas machines.
A ridged wing will stall at any speed, but only one critical angle of attack. Same for parawings?
There is some variablity in the angles / speeds of stalls for paragliders because the shape of the wing changes with trimmer and/or speed bar positions, brake pull, weight shift etc. Plus a paramotor has two pitch axes and a thrust line that isn't necessarily fixed relative to wing.
Ok. I,m waiting to hear from the shop if my truck is done.
I hesitate to post this because I think he is probably a decent guy but, I have known of Sean on YT since before he first soloed and then decided to start his own paramotor school and train others. In my personal opinion, he is not fully qualified nor experienced enough to be teaching this sport. Again, in my personal opinion, he started his own paramotor journey just 4 years ago, got some hours under his belt and decided to start his own paramotor training school when he was not experienced enough to be training others in a potentially very dangerous sport. I'll leave it there and I wish him the best but, hopefully this will be an epiphany for him.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of under qualified instructors in this sport. 🙁
This guy was my instructor for a few days, I quickly realized he was going to get me or someone else hurt. I left him and trained with another guy and it was the best decision I've made.
@@Jppg-er6me Again, he may be a good guy but, from what I can tell, he always seems to be chasing the next thing to make money with.
@@rogerr1296 if you only knew.
"Check it!"... no not like that! The correct response was to bury the brakes as the wing shot overhead, then stabilise it and waiting for your speed to recover.
Even the first climb out. The wing surges there too, but he damps it, you can see however the glider is still sinking when he banks it into that turn (already tickling the spin dragons tail). Then he does it again.
I have a video where this occurs to me on a ridge flight, I swung the glider 180* and hit a pocket of lift causing the glider to rocket upward about a 100ft. Wing flung behind me. I even felt myself leaning forward in the seat! But, I knew to keep my hands up, just keep "contact tension" on the brakes. Then when the stomach goes, bury the brakes one sharp deep pull and release. Let it fly. You only need to slow the wing so that it stops over your head and does NOT under any circumstances overtake you into a dive.
Being less trained, I could see how a pilot might instead pull a single brake on the way up to, I don't know, steer away from the hill or another pilot. Yes, that would most likely cause a spin. At the height I was at, there would have been no time for the reserve and I'd have been bouncing and rolling down a mountain for a whlie!
I have watched probably 20 of your videos over the years and you have always made it look way too easy and so watching a couple of crash videos, I can completely see that that is because you have honed your skills incredibly well. I would see the spirals and intentional wing over stalls and things that they do for tricks in para Motors and I could tell obviously that required a significant amount of skill but now I can see that even just taking off and keep it in the air, requires a ton of skill and knowledge and training, and it is every bit as dangerous as flying or anything else because you can very easily crash and die if you are not disciplined or if you have a tendency to be reckless, then I would say this sport is not for you and I know it is not for me. Thanks for sharing.
Explaining the accident with the blue APCO canopy using the term "energy" is very inaccurate. From the point of view of aerodynamics, the term "energy" does not exist. The terms according to which you should explain the cause of the accident are inertia, load and speed. Correctly it should be like this: After catching after the first turn, the pilot's inertia is brought upwards, thereby dramatically decreasing the load acting on the glider (the pilot feels that the steering power is reduced), the glider reacts by slowing down (less load = less speed) and exactly in at that moment, the pilot drastically brakes the left side of the wing, it falls below the minimum speed for the given aerodynamic profile, the airflow breaks off and it falls backwards. The entire wing falls into a negative spiral.
My new nickname for the kill switch is, the credit card saver.
First Video is a perfect full stall.
I mean it would be better if it would be a SIV, 500m above a lake... without a motor and instead a life vest...
But nevertheless ... a very nice full stall!
I don't hnow why the manufacturer is allowing this configuration of low attack angle combined with the wing lagging behind because it's being powered. In this configuration. In this configuration , any forward surge is sure to cause a frontal tuck due to a lift reversal. The same phenomena happens during aleron flutter on a rigid wing. The lift reverses back and forth. A fluttering trailing edge is the sign that you are about to do a lift reversal. You shouldn't put a paraglider in this configuration and not expect a sudden full lift reversal. This configuration cannot be achieved in non powered flight. If the manufacturer fully understand this ,they wouldn't allow this configuration that makes sudden lift reversal possible. Don't put lots of power with a low attack angle. Because under power your wing isn't over you, it's behind you ready to tuck at the tiniest forward surge. Your ready to do a sudden vicious lift reversal. The manufacturer should not be allowing this dangerous configuration that causes sudden tucks.
What if the electric paramotor battery catches on fire like Tesla's do? Do you jettison the pack and have a stomach mounted parachute?
What is the equivalent of these breaks on a plane ?
Just fyi, Sean is a instructor at his own ppg school.
That’s scary that an instructor would make that mistake, and then not know what they did wrong. 🫤
Yeah, that's absolutely terrifying that he doesn't know that was very obviously a spin to stall.
Its a completely unregulated activity - I've never even seen a paramotor in real life but I can claim i'm a 7'th Dan Black Belt Master Paramotor Poobah and ain't nobody can prove I ain't.
@@woolymittens For sure, lots of clueless paramotor (and paragliding) instructors out there. I appreciate the freedoms FAR part 103 gives us though.
Yikes.