Incident
- ID:
- SFFL 119
- Incident category:
- Speed Flying Fatality List
- Date:
- 25. 09. 2025
- Time:
- —
- Cause of death:
- Impact obstacle
Equipment
- Wing:
- Unknown › Unknown
- Wing size:
- —
- Safety devices:
- None
Personal
- Name:
- Kenton Davis
- Age:
- —
- Weight:
- —
- Gender:
- Male
- Nationality:
- American
- Experience level:
- Intermediate
- Experience description:
- Paragliding since 2018 Speedflying since 2020
- Time on wing:
- —
Circumstances
- Conditions:
- Cloudy/Foggy
- Factors:
- Impact into trees Clipped tree in flight
Description
It was our fourth flight of the day. Three of us were on launch; Kenton launched second, with about 15 seconds of separation between each pilot. He cleared the Gimmelwald cables easily with plenty of altitude, then dove into the Mürren waterfall line. As expected, I lost sight of him after his first dive and continued my flight.
When pilots one and three landed, Kenton was missing. After checking alternate landing areas, we immediately called for rescue.
The helicopter located him at the top of the waterfall, with his wing caught on logs and his body submerged beneath them, still holding his toggles, showing no signs of struggle. On his dive to the top of the waterfall, Kenton had impacted the trunk of a tree about 7–9 inches in diameter. He sustained severe head trauma, and we believe he died instantly on impact.
Soon after he was located, fog and clouds closed in, creating whiteout conditions that delayed recovery until 46 hours later. He had been flying with a helmet-mounted GoPro, but no camera was found.
Kenton was well rested, sober, and always flew within his skillset, usually leaving margin for error—until this flight.
Kenton was a bright light to everyone who knew him, making each person feel like his best friend, even on first meeting. Fly high, fly safe—we love you, Kenton.
Police Report
https://www.police.be.ch/.../news/medienmitteilungen.html...
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