SAFA Skysailor Magazine

18 SKY SAILOR March | April 2021 It is rare that we see fatal accidents arise from events occurring at altitude. The majority of AIRS reports involve collisions with terrain or vegetation during the launch or landing phases, or when scratching low. This is mainly due to the nature of the terrain we fly over – launches are not on high peaks and are relatively close to the surrounding landscape. This contrasts with more mountainous terrain where there may be a greater vertical separation between launch and valley floors. When we do see events at altitude, these mainly occur in the heat of competition with mid-air collisions in the gaggle, or reserve throws when things have gone wrong at speed. Generally, these involve minor injuries from the initiating event, or fractures when landing under reserve in challenging terrain. So, when we saw two fatalities involving well-known inter- national pilots flying at high altitude, separated by two years in time and the Pacific Ocean, but with many similarities, our attention was grabbed. Let’s look at the most recent first. On 22 August 2020, James ‘Kiwi’ Johnson was attempting a long distance cross-country flight in Nevada, USA. The alarm was raised that evening when he had not reported in at his intended destination. James was not found until a month later. In a twist of irony, while Cross Country magazine was reporting on the circumstances and search effort for James, he had been the pilot on the ground filing reports for the magazine when Xavier Murillo went missing in Peru in July 2011. Unlike Xavier, James was flying with a satellite tracker, a Garmin InReach. Search and rescue teams headed to the last reported location from the device but there was no sign of him. Over the course of the next week the search effort continued without success. The official search by the local authorities was suspended on 31 August, but unofficial efforts continued. Volunteers combed through satellite imagery of the area in an effort to locate any sign of the pilot or equipment. As time passed, it looked like James’ disappearance would join the aviation mysteries of Scotty Marion, Steve Fosset, Amelia Earhart and MH17. Then, on 16 September, a member of the public found the wing, 16km down track from the last reported position and not attached to the harness. The search was reactivated and two days later Kiwi was found deceased under a tree. James was 56 years old, he had been a member of the flying community for over 30 years and was a hugely experienced pilot, having flown from locations all over the planet. He was also reported as being active in the psychedelic community, but it is pure speculation to infer there was a toxicological consequence involved. Anecdotally, we have heard that he was not very fit. James was carrying a supplemental oxygen system, but it is unknown if it was delivering at the time of the incident. His wing was an Ozone Zeno, size Large. When found, a number of lines had broken, and a number of C-lines had ripped from the wing. Data recovered from James’ instruments indicate that something happened after he had been flying for three hours and was at an altitude of 4230m (13878ft) asl, and 2200m (7217ft) agl. The data indicates that the incident occurred while he was climbing in a thermal with a final 20 second average ascent rate of +5.4m/s. The log then indicates a peak climb of 13m/s followed by an abrupt change of trajectory. There is then a short two second interval of low-speed level flight, before entering a tight spiral dive peaking at -23m/s. Soon after this, it is suspected that a number of lines failed, followed by the wing and pilot entering an unstable freefall. The reserve parachute was not deployed. These details are taken from a report written by Ozone, and available on the Cross Country web site here . The reason this accident set off bells is that there are so many similarities to AIRS #942, the fatal accident of Pierre Naville on 8 December 2018. As reported previously in these pages, Pierre was on an expedition through Central NSW with other foreign and local pilots seeking to break distance records. At the time of the accident Pierre was 67 years old and a tobacco smoker. Like Kiwi, Pierre failed to report in on the evening of the flight, but other team members were not overly concerned as Pierre was prepared to spend a night in the bush fol- lowing an out-landing. Local police were contacted though, and decided that due to high temperatures expected the following day, preparations would commence that night for a search the next day. Pierre was flying with a SPOT satellite tracker, but it had ceased transmitting. The search commenced the next morning based on the last transmitted position, and Pierre was located deceased soon after. At the scene it was evident that a high energy, rotating impact with the terrain had occurred. Pierre had not deployed his reserve parachute. Pierre was also flying an Ozone Zeno wing, size Medium, and when found the lines were twisted. There was damage to the wing consistent with a ground impact of considerable force. Pierre’s electronic equipment was extensively damaged, but the flight log data was able to be extracted. Pierre launched under tow at 12:30pm from a gravel road south of Poopelloe Lake, approximately halfway between Cobar and Broken Hill (NSW). Five hours later, he had reached an altitude of 3760m (12335ft) asl and was 189km from the launch site. Two Fatalities: A World Apart and Eerily Similar by Iain Clarke – SAFA Safety Management Officer