Incident
- ID:
- SFFL 6
- Incident category:
- Speed Flying Fatality List
- Date:
- 03. 02. 2009
- Time:
- —
- Cause of death:
- —
- Launch site:
- France › Haute-Savoie › La Clusaz
Equipment
- Wing:
- —
- Wing size:
- —
- Safety devices:
- —
Personal
- Name:
- David Deloche
- Age:
- 35
- Weight:
- —
- Gender:
- Male
- Nationality:
- French
- Experience level:
- —
- Experience description:
- —
- Time on wing:
- —
Circumstances
- Conditions:
- —
- Factors:
- —
Description
David Deloche [35] from Grand-Bornand, was found dead after a dramatic speed riding accident having had a fall of at least 250 m. He took off around noon from the Couloir des Croix, above l'Aiguille des Calvaires (2300 m). As required by the regulations, he moved off-piste. Speed riders must fly 100 meters over cable lifts and 50 meters off groomed piste. What is known is that hikers found his body around 14h 30, at the bottom of the Couloir, at 1800 meters.
News clipping:
LA CLUSAZ Speed-riding accident: a fall of at least 250 meters Dramatic speed riding accident (*) Tuesday at la Clusaz. David Deloche, 35 years old, resident of Grand-Bornand, died after falling at least 250 meters.
Skiing with his feet and sailing above his head, the man had taken off around noon from the vertiginous corridor of the Crosses, above the Aiguille des Calvaires, at 2300 meters above sea level. It had taken off in front of the Massif des Confins.
As required by regulation, it evolved off-piste. Speed riders must fly more than 100 meters from the cables of the ski lifts and 50 meters from the groomed slopes.
What happened to him? A gendarmerie investigation will have to determine this. What we do know is that hikers found his lifeless body around 2:30 p.m, at the bottom of the corridor, 1800 meters away. They called the firefighters who alerted the safety service of the station's runways. The skier sent to the site could also only note the death of the flying skier.
Three soldiers from the PGHM of Annecy and five belonging to the brigade of Thônes and the provisional post of the gendarmerie of Saint-Jean-de-Sixt arrived immediately as reinforcements. The body of the victim was brought down into the valley by the helicopter of the Chamonix air section. The athlete was not a novice in the discipline. Part of the new trends in sliding sports, the latter is supposed to provide strong emotions. An official take-off site is proposed by the station of the Clusaz to its followers, in the Combe de Borderan.
But according to the director of slope safety, Joël Collomb-Patton, this practice is still very marginal and attracts more enthusiasts of free flight than skiing. However, this terrible accident should not lead to any new special warnings from the runway service. Between paragliding and parasailing, speed riding is practiced with skis and a sail. The objective is to make leaps of several tens of meters and to lay its traces in fields of virgin snow. It dates from the 2000s. The patent is not mandatory. The only legal obligation in France is to have air liability insurance to practice free flight.
However, the free flight federation on which this sport depends, encourages to pass the pilot's license. The equipment consists of a pair of skis, a harness, a sail, a helmet and a mask. This equipment makes it easy to go up the slopes using the mechanical windings of skiers. As in skydiving, the more experienced the pilot, the smaller the surface of the sail will be, so less bulky and faster. Speed riding wings range from 14m² to 10m², or even less for the best practitioners.
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