The deadliest rescue accident in the history of paragliding
July 29, 2022: Once again, unregulated joyriding results in a mass-casualty incident
It was the deadliest rescue accident in the history of paragliding.
A local joyrider with a passenger from out of the country fell against the talus slope of a steep cliff shortly after taking off from the Gudauri Ski Resort. Although the previous Georgian regime had purchased some French Super Pumas, ostensibly for mountain rescue, they had been outfitted with plush interiors instead of rescue and medical equipment, and then used for the personal convenience of the ruling elite. So an immense and ancient twin engine, 24-passenger Mil Mi-8T transport helicopter of the Border Police, produced in the Soviet era and generally acknowledged as unsuitable for mountain rescue, was dispatched by the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
One of about 20 Mi-8s operated by Georgia, it was manned by pilot Zaza Loria, an esteemed airman with 30 years of experience, his copilot, two crew members and two medics from the Ministry of Health. As they hoisted the two hapless paragliderists aboard, the tail apparently struck the cliff face or a tree, and snapped off one of the three vertical rotor blades.
Onlookers started screaming, capturing the moment on cell phones, as the helicopter suddenly began to spin. After one or more full rotations, the out-of-balance rotor caused its hub to fail and both hub and rotor flew off. The huge helicopter went wildly out of control, spinning faster and twisting onto its side. It plummeted hundreds of feet to a deadly impact in the rugged ravine below, erupting in a massive, flaming explosion that was immediately obscured by a towering column of billowing black smoke. All aboard were killed except, miraculously, the joyrider himself, Nugzar Razmadze, who was evacuated to the First University Clinic for emergency surgery for a concussion and damaged limbs.
Razmadze is now the target of an investigation to determine if air transport traffic rules under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of Georgia were violated by his tandem joyriding flight.
more on this accident at USHGA.AERO
_______________
This pre-publication excerpt is from Ghosts of Wind and Cloud by Rick Masters
Vol. X: The Silken Jungle: 2018-2022, p. 283-284
"Hard to watch",
but easy to, "Master" the concept of "A REAL AIRCRAFT", which probably would never have to be rescued like that, except by some friendly helpers, after you made a good crash landing in the top of that tree you'd picked out, unlike this poor sole. who had his wing fail outta the blue.
Rest in peace the crew of the helicopter.
Hang Gliders are relatively easy to "untangle", Paragliders, impossible. What a psychological concept.
Maybe this investigation will finally severely limit these, "Cash Cows", from plying their snake oil to the unaware. I saw tandem paraglider flying on Gold Hill start, and I new we would hardly ever see a Hang Glider in the air again.
Smart Hang Gliders did wait for the wind to come up so parachutes were out of the question,
and then they had the air, free from floaters and spiral divers,
Thanks' Rick, for once again posting words and videos, which actually make you think about a most dangerous sport, recreational as it is, and how you see things from a pilot's point of view.
How can you possibly recreate yourself in a collapse you've seen before, and to boot, another person sitting in your lap screaming, halop-halop" Ha.. TY Rick for, "nesting behaviors of a .......
Could they also be busted for, "illegal exhibition" of an unairworthy aircraft?
C:+o)