An excellent day of flying, which in the afternoon was marred by a delicate situation, which could have been serious. Fortunately, under the circumstances, everything went well. But let’s go ahead later in this story with the details.
In the morning we meet at Villa Pesquera Isabela. There a large group of pilots and family members from Team Kamikazes gathered, along with international pilots, Dan Bushman, Deron Freeman and Evan Purdy and their respective families.
Kamikaze Pilots and Family Present in the activity…
Luis Ruiz and his son Noah Enrique
Pablo Cruz and his wife Millie
Mario Muñiz and his wife Ivonne
Efrain Guzmán and his son Efrain Orlando
Wilkins Torres, his wife Brenda and son Wilkins Jr.
Sammy Badillo
Jomar Crespo
Jason Scheurer
Fio Lopez
The morning…
The morning began with clear skies, and stronger than expected easterly winds. 15 mph wind conditions were the norm for the day. This was taken advantage of by each of the pilots and school students present at the activity.
Evan Purdy – Took the opportunity to fly Luis’s fast and sporty paraglider, Sky Z-Blade, for which he had great praise. His son Owen was playing with Luis’s son, Noah Enrique, with the small paragliders in the area, and they also took the opportunity to get a little wet in the beach.
Deron Freeman – After practicing paragliding on the ground for a while, he went out to fly as if he had never had several months of inactivity. And do it very well.
Dan Bushman – After practicing inflating for a while on the ground using the Reverse method, he went on a cross flight in the direction of Guajataca in Quebradillas. This was eventually complicated by an unexpected situation, but we’ll come back to this story later…
Mario Muñiz – Every time Mario manages to fly and the winds are over 12 mph, for him is like Fish in the Water…, he does a Cross flight around the area.
Fio López – He was practicing inflation with his Dudek paraglider, but he doesn’t have much confidence in it, so he kept polishing his skills on the ground.
Efrain and Orlando – They continued with their paragliding inflation practices, and they were working hard all day. The time for his first “solo” flight continues to get closer.
Pablo Cruz – He was assisting the students on ground. He took the opportunity at one point to give a Towing Fly to the little Noah Enrique.
Jason Scheurer – Returning to Team Kamikazes activities after more than a year away. He was giving “Break In” to his new Paramotor Parajet Maverick, and practicing with his paraglider in the process of flying again.
Jomar Crespo – He was helping Luis Ruiz with the students’ inflation practices. Specifically with Jason Scheurer, and when the situation arose with Dan Bushman in Quebradillas, he was helping in rescue efforts. He flew later in the day in Isabela. THANK YOU!!!
Wilkins and Brenda – They were practicing with paragliders on Ground. At some point, while Wilkins goes flying, Brenda kept practicing hard. She is already demonstrating great mastery of paragliding. Will her fly soon? Stay Tuned…
Dan Bushman and very delicate situation in Quebradillas…
I must mention this story as an example to prevent situations similar to this in the future. A pilot who avoids this situation, reading this story, will make it worth…
Dan has been flying Paramotors for about 2 to 3 years mostly in Iowa, USA. And this week he has been visiting Puerto Rico flying with Luis Ruiz and the school. In addition to flying, he is polishing his skills, and is good to note that this is the first time he has flown in relatively “strong” wind conditions on the beach coasts. This is a different experiences than flying in Iowa where the normal thing is to take off and fly in low wind conditions and without wind “rotors” created by obstacles…
That said, he took off in the Paramotor at around 11 AM. His flying plans is to fly in the direction of Quebradillas to take visuals of the Tunnel, and maybe a little more further. The wind, although constant and laminar though the Coast but have considerable intensity…
Upon arriving at the Guajataca Tunnel area in Quebradillas, and due to his little experience in this type of wind conditions as explained before. Dan left the line of strong but constant winds and entered the area of the river and the people who were kayaking in the area. Upon entering this area of Guajataca, its location in flight and the wind was completely blocked by the Guajataca mountain. Without noticing, he entered the shadow of the wind, the turbulence zone.
This turbulence caused his paraglider to collapse and left Dan in a very delicate and uncontrollable position. He managed fortunately to fall into a swampy area that absorbed the fall. This could have been way much worse if he had fallen on a solid object or ground…
Fortunately, Dan emerged from this situation without injuries although the Paramotor suffered structural damage and his paraglider was pinned by some trees in the area.
Upon being notified by Dan of the situation, Luis Ruiz and Jomar Crespo went to the rescue from Isabela. The news of a Paraglider pilot on ground spread very fast on the Local News… In addition, the area’s emergency agencies were mobilized to the water and mangrove canal and their actions were very fast and efficient. Eventually, the collaboration of Joel and “Guajataca Boat Rental” was needed to gain access to where the paraglider was stuck.
The pilot Jomar Crespo did an incredible job in recovering equipment due to his experience in his professional work. Thanks again!!!.
Later we met in Isabela with the rest of the pilot family and discussed the situation and how to prevent it in the future. Thank God this didn’t get any worse and Dan was in very good health.
Photos…
