Justin Baumgartner

Justin Baumgartner flew down the wall on his "new" r3x 9m. It all looked smooth and relaxed. When he disconnected from the wall he was gliding straight to the landing, directly over the landing field. It was already a weird approach for a 90° and it looked like he was thinking about what he should do. He might have gotten away with a 90° instead he went for a 270° over the right side. He was too low and canopy and body impacted about the same time, in full speed.
First responders did CPR immediately, but he probably died on impact.

It was a totally preventable accident. A friend talked to him 1 hour before the accident and told him, not to do rolls and turns low to the ground. He flew a 13 Line before this wing. Parakites sit between a speedwing and paraglider and its “ease” of flying gives people a false sense of confidence.

He like many fatalities on this list was young and progressed way too fast. He skipped learning to paraglide and went straight into speedflying. He didn’t have a license and was only flying for 1-2 years max. When you skip steps and downsize too quickly you do not develop the sight picture required and feel of the wing to recognize when you are too low before it’s too late. You also don’t know what you don’t know until you have a wake up call or worse. Some people get lucky and get a second chance, sadly Justin did not.

Hopefully this fatality serves as a reminder of the risks of progressing too fast. Our condolences to his friends and family.

https://www.bluewin.ch/en/news/switzerland/21-year-old-speed-flyer-dies-in-landing-accident-2701100.html

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