Kiting Fatality Analysis, 2000 - 6/2006

[nab1000]

Rick first off your work is EXCELLENT! It's very educational and helpful.


Just one qeustion.... I always seen video of snowkiters jumping and getting caught in thermals and hovering 40-50ft off the ground.... has there been any reported deaths from this activity?



Thanks

[Kosh]

Rick first off your work is EXCELLENT! It's very educational and helpful.


Just one qeustion.... I always seen video of snowkiters jumping and getting caught in thermals and hovering 40-50ft off the ground.... has there been any reported deaths from this activity?



Thanks

Snowkiters or snowKITER as in Chasta?

[Tom183]

I agree with this so much I have to bring it back up!!! I see kiters staying until the storm is on thier ass. Most of these guys are seasoned locals who can kite when ever its windy. They just don't get it.

Yeah, most of the time they're fine but there's no guarantee the weather won't do something unexpected.

You can take a 1% risk once, and be fine. But take a 1% 50 times, and it's no longer a 1% risk.

[nab1000]

Chasta isnt the only snowkiter out there that does this.... ive seen many videos of tons of differnt kiters doing this.

[RickI]

Rick first off your work is EXCELLENT! It's very educational and helpful.


Just one qeustion.... I always seen video of snowkiters jumping and getting caught in thermals and hovering 40-50ft off the ground.... has there been any reported deaths from this activity?



Thanks

Thanks! If we can get more kiters to think about this stuff a bit more carefully we should all be better off.

I have been somewhat disconnected from accidents in snow kiteboarding. The only snowkiteboarding fatality that I have much information on deals with the snow kiter that was hit by severe weather in Alberta. More about this Here

Snowkiting has been around much longer than the water variety. As such losses may have started to occur quite a ways in the past, in Pre-Internet days. So retrieving such information may be tough both years back and even recently.

I would be willing to incorporate a section in the new accident database on snowkiteboarding accidents and incidents if there is interest in this out there.

Regarding paragliding with kite gear in the mountains, because that is exactly what this is. First, paragliding may have a time averaged loss rate of 88 per 100,000 per USHGA published records. This is a great deal more than the 6 to 12 per 100,000 estimated for kitesurfing.

So, paragliding appears to be more hazardous than kitesurfing. Now how hazardous do you think "paragliding" with gear that was never designed for this sort of activity might be? Instead of numerous high strength shroud lines, reserve chute, decades of safety and training evolution, well designed helmets you have canopies than can readily tear, only four long lines that can readily break, an LEI lifting surface that may be more prone to stalling and harder to recover than paragliding ram air wings, no reserve, no proper harness just a hook ... ? We're talking about something VASTLY more hazardous than paragliding and well beyond comparison to regular kiting. I haven't heard about any fatalities involving this, then again, I might not either. Good luck to anyone doing this. Unlike paragliding with proper kit you may be relying more upon luck than gear.

Talking about misusing kite gear for things it was never intended for, can anyone find a post that went up on here about a guy that was found dead of the roof of a building next to an LEI kite? The theory was the guy was trying to soar after launching off the roof of a higher building? I have yet to be able to find it again.

FKA, Inc.

transcribed by:
Rick Iossi

[aprok]

Rick, do you have any reported cases of Peter Lynn kite related fatalities?

[RickI]

Rick, do you have any reported cases of Peter Lynn kite related fatalities?

No, I am not aware of any fatalities involving Peter Lynn kites or foils. With the exception of the snowkiteboard fatality in Canada involving a foil.

It is important to note that the information regarding the type of kite used in these sad accidents is not always available. It is sometimes difficult to get a lot of the information due to the lack of observers or those willing to talk about it. These accidents leave despair, confusion and a general lack of desire to talk about it in some cases but not all. So the rest of us, living outside the tragedy, can be left with a lot of missing information at times and ways to potentially head off future accidents. Any help that is received in these cases is sincerely appreciated.

FKA, Inc.

transcribed by:
Rick Iossi

[kiteship]

Too right, Rick,

You do a great service here with your reporting. For me, I doubt there are very many unreported fatalities; newspapers love to report kiteboard fatalities and I doubt they miss very many--if any.

I too believe most serious/fatal kiteboard accidents can be avoided--and will be avoided, even if it means more and more localities requiring licensing or closure of dangerous beaches at dangerous times. I hope it won't come to this, but the deaths *will* stop.

In the meantime, kiters following a few simple rules (even only 3-4) could stop the vast majority of dangerous/fatal accidents:

Wear a helmet
Don't fly in gusty winds if the gusts are stronger than you would fly in as solid wind.
Never land upwind of objects you wouldn't voluntarily fly into
Never launch or land hooked in.
When tired, fly carefully. Be aware; *know* that this is a dangerous time, and simply be careful.

Most fatalities happen when riders are tired, at the end of a gusty session and without helmets. Yes, there are other factors, but these three are near universal and completely avoidable.

Patient says to doctor, "It hurts when I do this."
Doctor says to patient, "Don't do that."

Good luck!

Dave

thx for the info.

interesting read...wow, 54 is a lot! And I'm sure we are missing some death. I assume we are about 70 since 2000.

What about windsurfing or surfing? Any stats somewhere?

Can we say that over the years the number of fatalities have increased in relation to the increasing numbers of kiters?

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a quantity of unreported fatalities out there worldwide.

I have broken down losses per year, years of experience, age, month, season, wind speed, relative direction, location/activity, etc. and a great deal more. This summary will be posted soon. I suspect that a portion of the dramatic increase in 2005 was attributable to the increase in rider population.

I have little doubt that properly operated within reasonable manufacturer's wind specifications, flat kites could substantially improve the loss experience in our sport. By some indications, they may have already. How many people will be caught out pushing extremes with flat kites beyond recommended limits in time? Too many perhaps.

SBC Kiteboard will also be carrying more statistics and information in the next issue.

FKA, Inc.

transcribed by:
Rick Iossi

[The Ranger]

To my knowledge there have been no fatalities involving flat kites yet.

Unfortunately this is not right. Look at this (in Danish though):

http://www.kitesurferen.dk/phpBB2/viewt ... d%F8dsfald

This kiter used a Takoon Nova (bow). He died this summer after being pulled after the kite.

Anyway, keep up the good work, Rick.

[Lord of the Boards]

Rick, about the accident in Holland. I was to inform you about it, but I just didn't feel like it yet. It was a horrible day at the spot and I still feel horrible thinking about it.
75 kiters were on the water when I arrived. Wind was about 25 knots. Perfect conditions.

Still in the car, arriving at the spot Workum, a guy at the entrance told me to park on a different place, because of a serious accident. Right away I knew it had to be a kiteboarder. I also knew that some of my friends where already kiting, so I parked the car somewhere else (to give way to an ambulance) and rushed to the beach. I found all of my friends there. The ambulance had just arrived and they where working on the poor guy. It was a terrible site. One of our buddies was fighting for his life and all we could do was just stand there and do nothing.
After 15 minutes, a helicopter arrived. It took about a 45 minutes more to prepare him for his flight to hospital. After he left, everyone packed their gear and went home.

Now I know the following facts about the accident:
Wind was on-shore.
He was flying a Cabrinha CO2 8m2 for the first time.
He was lodted on the beach and landed on a grass field.
Then he was dragged onto the parking lot where he hit the front of a van with his head. His head hit a piece of iron that was sticking out of the bumper.

The accident happened on september 3rd. He passed away last weekend, age 23.

Ralph, rest in peace.........