Aussie Man Falls To Death From Parasail On Phuket Beach

[farcanell]

6 hours ago, Gregster said:

When was the last parasailing death in Thailand?

June 2016????

[PhuketSarah]

I had  a nasty experience in Cancun,  wind picked up and I wasn't strong enough to  pull the cable needed to descend, then the wind died quite suddenly and down I plummeted. Had a couple of lovely  Mexican lads swim out to.. what's this- stick their hands in my craw. Once  I saw the chute was sinking was a bit of a panic trying to get out of the harness- while fighting off  The Four  Hands   Then the American life guards showed up and saved my life- and my craw. (One of them got into it later that trip, in fact..)

The Mexicans tried to make me pay for the now drowned and  gone chute, the Americans whisked me away.. 

[milesinnz]

20 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

Is there not any age.limit on these potential death traps. In one way I admire the adventure of the 70 year old. Is it wise ... no

I am 63, ride a BMW 7400 kms all over NZ with a Thai girlfiend, have a bike in Thailand and Cambodia, and will be building a small plane in Cambodia and a lot more....are you going to say I shouldn't be doing this ? Oh and I should mention the young Khmer daughter in Cambodia (whose mother is a Police Officer - so it was not a mistake)...

[farcanell]

2 hours ago, ddavidovsky said:

It's not a proper parachute though is it? - I would assume that would have too much drag. And even coming down with a proper parachute can be traumatic enough. So what actually happens? You come down rather swiftly from a great height, into the sea, with a heavy fabric smothering you and trapped in a harness that prevents you swimming...? Hmmm...

Parasailing was originally used as an alternative to using airplanes during parachute instruction courses.

[sgracer]

I am surprised nobody has suggested the thai wife was behind all this.......

[sawadee1947]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

With the Thai guys charged, your comment makes no sense at all.

silly you. Charged is not sentenced. And also " . To be honest I never would go in this country for Zip line or para-sailing or-chuting or bus ride. I love my life "

[Nemises]

I From 70-meters, even a splashdown into a deep water area could still be fatal.  At the speed he impacted, that water is akin to concrete.

70 metres? Every report I read states around 30 metres.

The cliff divers in Mexico hit the water from 40 metres therefore and assuming 30 not 70 metres, it was the shallow water that killed this poor man, not water akin to concrete.

RIP Sir.

[stevenl]

17 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

silly you. Charged is not sentenced. And also " . To be honest I never would go in this country for Zip line or para-sailing or-chuting or bus ride. I love my life "

No, silly you. Your comment was " When I read the head line I knew already that it was the foreigner's fault. ", with which the police obviously disagrees.

[sawadee1947]

31 minutes ago, stevenl said:

No, silly you. Your comment was " When I read the head line I knew already that it was the foreigner's fault. ", with which the police obviously disagrees.

The case is not closed, isn't it? use your brain

[stevenl]

17 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

The case is not closed, isn't it? use your brain

So? That was not your statement.

 

Please refrain from things like 'use your brain' when somebody has a different point of view from yours.

[MyFriend You]

20 hours ago, halloween said:

I remember a video clip of a parasail, in Bali IIRC. The guy, quite fat, tripped as the boat took off and was dragged down the beach on his gut before the sail lifted him. He had lost a fair bit of skin, so the boat slowed and dipped him in the water, must have stung a bit because he was squealing like a stuck pig.

Ahhhhm sorry, bu that is funny as shit, wold love to see the video of that, would make an epic entry in "Adventures most failures"  -  no really, unfortunate for him, but  naaaah  its still funny as shit in my mind.

[MyFriend You]

7 hours ago, wvavin said:

I am a bit puzzled how he died by just falling into the sea????????

falling in water is as about the same as falling on concrete at high altitude, watch a few Military clips of dropping into water, they drop their packs first, breaking the surface to make the landing 'softer"

[how241]

I didn't think you would be able to unhook yourself while in motion...

[Nowisee]

Is it possible, when the Thai guy climbs on his shoulders his foot kicks open the center harness release?  Then the Aussie is not only trying to hold himself up, but also the weight of the Thai guy...and can not.   

[jenifer d]

25 minutes ago, Nowisee said:

Is it possible, when the Thai guy climbs on his shoulders his foot kicks open the center harness release?  Then the Aussie is not only trying to hold himself up, but also the weight of the Thai guy...and can not.   

not possible; this is either equipment failure and/or negligence in securing the harnesses

[happyas]

12 hours ago, Fore Man said:

I am an ex-skydiver & military freefall parachutist, and former FAA Master Parachute Rigger as well with over 5,200 jumps made and I suspect suitably expert enough to comment on the technical aspects of this case. In the late 80s and early 90's, my best friend, a civilian realtor and waterskiing partner,  asked me to do some research and to procure for him a quality parasailing rig.  I did so, he paid for it and this launched us on a wonderful and exciting new adjunct sport that combined our two respective action sports into one. I carefully laid out a safety SOP, inspected and repaired the chute periodically and conducted a brief training class for anybody that we launched for a ride around our medium-sized lake located in Orange County, Virginia.  Fortunately we were the only parasailing rig in use on that lake and we also declined to launch during busy periods when several ski boats were operating. 

 

We made hundreds of launches, flights and recoveries, all made without a single problem.  The keys to this success were a sound, proper harness, using two assistants to spread the canopy during launch and a powerful ski boat to provide strong acceleration. At the end of the ride, the boat driver simply headed upwind, chopped power, which allowed the chute to float down and the rider simply splashed down into the water.  The chute provided sufficient forward airspeed to ensure it settled onto the water behind the rider. The boat would then circle around and retrieve the rider once we'd shifted the transmission into neutral.

 

The harness we we used was a special full saddle seat type, which allowed the rider to sit back in a relaxed manner and enjoy the ride. But it also featured two full length, adjustable diagonal back straps that ran diagonally across the whole back and one fixed-length cross strap that ran across the small of the wearer's back.  These three pieces of webbing ensured the rider could not fall backwards and thus out of the harness. A good harness will also have an adjustable cross strap on the chest that gets cinched down and the free end rolled and placed under a 1-inch elastic keeper.  All other adjustable harness free ends also were retained by such keepers. We also used aircraft grade snaps that were fixed spring-loaded types and had no quick-fit ejector releases such as are found on modern skydiving rigs. There was thus no way a rider could undo his harness easily once it was under tension from the chute and forward motion of the boat. A person bent on suicide or a dumb stunt could however undo the leg straps that were clipped into seat saddle, push off of the webbing saddle and plunge vertically downwards. Some parachute harnesses designed for skydiving do not employ a saddle seat, but independent leg straps.  In this latter design, the jumper has no convenient saddle to sit in but is simply suspended vertically. Their design too can be found in parasailing harnesses. 

 

The video of the incident at Phuket doesn't adequately show the full harness design, but my assumption is that if it featured diagonal back straps and a lower cross strap in the back,  they weren't sufficiently cinched down and loose ends properly stowed...or the design had no diagonals or lower cross strap at all, and the poor gent simply fell backwards out of his harness with nothing but his leg straps to keep him in. Once he fell upside down in his harness, those leg straps certainly wouldn't be sufficient to retain his weight aloft against gravity and he fell into the ocean.  From 70-meters, even a splashdown into a deep water area could still be fatal.  At the speed he impacted, that water is akin to concrete.  The only other explanation I can think of is that a stitching failure occurred and the webbing separated, which caused a loss of integrity in the harness.  The webbing itself is normally 2-inch nylon rated at 5,500 pounds tensile strength, but is dependent on the quality, stitch design and integrity of the nylon thread used to sew it together. 

 

This was indeed a tragic incident and I suspect entirely due to a combination of shoddy materials, a poor, inadequate harness design and likely to an atrocious lack of safety standards that should have been imposed in this cottage industry.  May Mr. Hussey Rest In Peace and I hope his bereaved wife and family can put this tragic incident behind them and remember the man for his goodness and character. 

 

I get what you are saying ,and don't disagree with your info but , hey these and other guys have been doing this for many years, many times a day,day in, day out, on many Thai beaches and having any major accident let alone a tragic death is a rare occurrence...[ there most be multi thousands of successful flights per year] 

Unfortunately there  is always a possibility in any "daredevil" activity anywhere in the world, of something going wrong, that's the risk you take and as i said, more often than not nothing goes wrong.

Human error, a mistake by the operators seems to be the cause here, not the quality/standard of the whole set up

IMO.

 

[Eloquent pilgrim]

8 minutes ago, jenifer d said:

not possible; this is either equipment failure and/or negligence in securing the harnesses

unfortunately, equipment failure usually trumps negligence in Thailand ....... but it's always a close run thing ...... and with no differential between the two, regarding the apportioning of blame , financial compensation is the key factor, and  ever so it shall remain ??

[Chinphala]

I reckon his leg straps are on, but not strapped to anything on the parasail. He also had the black parasail straps go under his arms accidentally on take off, this lifted him up and held him up. When in the air, the pressure and strain of the strap under the arm is severe so he panicked and unclipped the shoulder clips by accident. Scenario 2: The Thai guy unclipped him (For whatever reason, possible black widow job).

[balo]

Someone said this guy was a millionaire and he was married to his Thai wife for only 14 days ? Can anyone confirm this ?   

[CharlieH]

Various off topic & bickering posts removed.

[Fore Man]

8 hours ago, happyas said:

 

I get what you are saying ,and don't disagree with your info but , hey these and other guys have been doing this for many years, many times a day,day in, day out, on many Thai beaches and having any major accident let alone a tragic death is a rare occurrence...[ there most be multi thousands of successful flights per year] 

Unfortunately there  is always a possibility in any "daredevil" activity anywhere in the world, of something going wrong, that's the risk you take and as i said, more often than not nothing goes wrong.

Human error, a mistake by the operators seems to be the cause here, not the quality/standard of the whole set up

IMO.

 

Yes,I see what you mean. You are correct in that human error could be the root cause in this incident. I particularly don't like the fact that a Thai outrider accompanies each flight and don't understand his purpose in doing so.  Seems it could only lead to a problem on the launch or in flight. This incident was definitely caused by one if the two: human error whether intentional or not....or equipment malfunction. The first could have led to the second. 

[happyas]

1 hour ago, Fore Man said:

Yes,I see what you mean. You are correct in that human error could be the root cause in this incident. I particularly don't like the fact that a Thai outrider accompanies each flight and don't understand his purpose in doing so.  Seems it could only lead to a problem on the launch or in flight. This incident was definitely caused by one if the two: human error whether intentional or not....or equipment malfunction. The first could have led to the second. 

 Have you seen the video here?

 

As an obviously well informed on this subject person what do you see went wrong?

 

Myself, its obvious that "something" was amiss right from the start, as is evident by the ground crew trying to indicate a problem, before takeoff, but exactly what i don't know.

 

 

[BradWilkins]

On 12/07/2017 at 10:22 PM, mickyboy said:

little did they know that the person filming it would not see them alive again talk about when your time is up even say another 20 yards out to sea he may have survived as water deeper we never know whats round the corner

 

They are saying he fell from 70 metres. At that age if he didnt die of a heart attack on the way down and even if he fell into deep water the impact would be near like hitting concrete.

[Fore Man]

2 hours ago, happyas said:

 Have you seen the video here?

 

As an obviously well informed on this subject person what do you see went wrong?

 

Myself, its obvious that "something" was amiss right from the start, as is evident by the ground crew trying to indicate a problem, before takeoff, but exactly what i don't know.

 

 

Happyas,

 

I've looked that video over repeatedly and it's just not sufficiently detailed in the launch and its immediate aftermath to determine what might have gone wrong. I did ask a good friend in the States, also a highly experienced military freefall parachutist, to give me his own assessment. Here's what he had to say:

 

"

There did not appear to be vertical or diagonal back webbing. But I'm not sure if that was the issue. (But probably would be in the future with a smaller passenger) The victim seemed to slip straight down after the pilot/assistant swung forward into the harness area. If he slipped out the back I suspect that there would have been a half flip or tumble. What you cannot see is if the quick connects to the tow/canopy released. Since that seemed to be rigged as a combination system. The victim hung on to the the straps that he is holding on the beach prior to launch. It's as if there was no passenger weight suspended by the harness at all. While on the beach they seem to attach a quick link to the tow rope then connect that to the harness. (An assistant comes from off camera connects then leaves) If I were looking for a failure point I would go to those connections first. There did not seem to be a harness still attached to the system as he fell, so he was still wearing it I suspect."

My friend's final sentence above is crucial.  It's begs the question that assuming the deceased fell with his harness still fastened around his body, how then did the outrider make it safely back to the surface?  Was he at that point merely hanging on the chute's risers...which are two paired straps of webbing that connect the shroud lines to hardware fittings that then connect to the harness?  Or did he have a Hail Mary, jury-rigged connection to the risers himself? This scenario implies that the outrider or the deceased would have had to jettison...intentionally or by tragic mistake...the deceased from his connection to the parachute.  If so, then the tow line remained connected to the risers, meaning  that it was not connected to the deceased' harness.  We readers cannot tell but a much more detailed forensic analysis of the video and the equipment might point to how it all unfolded. So tragic no matter how it happened, and it is vital that investigators root out exactly why it occurred and force revised procedures to preclude any recurrences. Will this happen here?  I certainly hope so.

i found a useful reference on the Web that illustrates a typical, approved towline connection to the parasail. It's not clear if this exact design was employed by the Phuket operators. It does show that a safe system connects the chute risers directly to the towline, and the passenger is connected to the risers via hardware mounting points that should have an extremely tensile strength that well exceeds the physical forces imposed on them.  If the deceased actually fell to his death wearing his harness, then the only way this could happen is if his mounting point hardware either failed or was intentionally released. Beyond these explanations, I have nothing else to offer the forum.

 

 

2 hours ago, happyas said:

 Have you seen the video here?

 

As an obviously well informed on this subject person what do you see went wrong?

 

Myself, its obvious that "something" was amiss right from the start, as is evident by the ground crew trying to indicate a problem, before takeoff, but exactly what i don't know.

 

 

 

[Tapster]

I have read some informed opinions in this thread and many ill-informed ones. 

 

My experience comes from 35 years of rock climbing. Seat and chest harnesses are used in climbing and I am very familiar with their design and operation. 

 

Here's my opinion on the accident:

 

Though old, the webbing of the harness and its stitching would not have been failure points. Webbing that looks as worn as in the video is still extremely strong, capable of holding many times body weight. For stitching to fail requires either an enormous sudden load on the harness or the stitching to be already so weak that the weak part of the harness would appear very obviously to be falling apart. 

 

The webbing tails hanging loose at the victim's thighs are not a sign of straps which have not been done up; quite the opposite. Those are the loose ends of the leg loops and they are long because the leg loops have been done up tight, leaving the tails slack. 

 

If you know what to look for it is clear that the victim's harness released at chest hight. You can then see him invert and he is hanging by the leg loops, eventually falling out of them upside down to his death. 

I cannot say whether he unfastened this himself or it somehow became unfastened. In the video, it is clearly fastened and then a life jacket is put on over the chest which would make the fastener difficult to get to. 

My only issue with this chest fastener is that it appears not to be a locking device. In such a crucial position, I would always use a fastener that the passenger could not open. 

 

The victim is definitely not wearing the harness as he falls. 

 

There are only three points which the victim had access to which could cause an accident. Two fasteners at his shoulders attached his harness to the D rings on the yolk (diagram in post above) and one fastener at chest level attached the right and left halves of the harness. It would be virtually impossible to unclip the shoulder fasteners as his full body weight was on them. 

Any of these three fasteners needs not only to be unhooked to release it, but a safety 'gate' on the fastener has to be held open while the fastener is unhooked. You can see in the video that the chest fastener is one like this. 

 

 

[Mises]

The victim definitely falls feet first, at no point does he upend. I am now almost certain he is still wearing the harness, how could he come out of it without upending.

 

It all goes wrong in the video at 2:15 when the straps go under his elbows, this is in part because the guy is holding the link straps between his harness and the sail straps at the wrong end and these seem far too long. I hesitate to say this but the Thai operator appears to pull the sail straps down instead of holding them up and out so he launches with the straps under his armpits. In a previous post I said this would cause a lot of pain but because of the long link straps it would not.

 

So far it is not good but not a disaster, he can't fall because the straps are still attached. At 2:26 the Thai operator reaches around in front of the guy. But to do what? The victim needed to pull his arms in and the sail straps would pass his shoulders and he would be correctly hanging from the link straps. At 2:29 he puts his arms out and at 2:31 he brings his arms in and falls but at 2:33 is seen hanging on briefly. He then falls feet first.

 

The above is quite clear in the screenshots.

 

Now the only way the victim could fall is if he or the Thai operator unclipped the link straps from the D loops on the harness - BOTH of them. The were clearly attached earlier in the video at 1:53 when the victim checks them. The link straps would be easy to unclip because there was no tension. One of them did it and the Thai operator says it was the victim but I wonder why he would have done this, would you? As stated above the Thai operator can be seen reaching forward at 2:26 but why would he do such an action? If it was murder it would be the most elaborate conspiracy coolly carried out imaginable. We will never know.

 

[happyas]

2 hours ago, Tapster said:

I have read some informed opinions in this thread and many ill-informed ones. 

 

My experience comes from 35 years of rock climbing. Seat and chest harnesses are used in climbing and I am very familiar with their design and operation. 

 

Here's my opinion on the accident:

 

Though old, the webbing of the harness and its stitching would not have been failure points. Webbing that looks as worn as in the video is still extremely strong, capable of holding many times body weight. For stitching to fail requires either an enormous sudden load on the harness or the stitching to be already so weak that the weak part of the harness would appear very obviously to be falling apart. 

 

The webbing tails hanging loose at the victim's thighs are not a sign of straps which have not been done up; quite the opposite. Those are the loose ends of the leg loops and they are long because the leg loops have been done up tight, leaving the tails slack. 

 

If you know what to look for it is clear that the victim's harness released at chest hight. You can then see him invert and he is hanging by the leg loops, eventually falling out of them upside down to his death. 

I cannot say whether he unfastened this himself or it somehow became unfastened. In the video, it is clearly fastened and then a life jacket is put on over the chest which would make the fastener difficult to get to. 

My only issue with this chest fastener is that it appears not to be a locking device. In such a crucial position, I would always use a fastener that the passenger could not open. 

 

The victim is definitely not wearing the harness as he falls. 

 

There are only three points which the victim had access to which could cause an accident. Two fasteners at his shoulders attached his harness to the D rings on the yolk (diagram in post above) and one fastener at chest level attached the right and left halves of the harness. It would be virtually impossible to unclip the shoulder fasteners as his full body weight was on them. 

Any of these three fasteners needs not only to be unhooked to release it, but a safety 'gate' on the fastener has to be held open while the fastener is unhooked. You can see in the video that the chest fastener is one like this. 

 

 

There is absolutely no time at all that the Aussie guy was ever inverted. 

 

[balo]

The murder theory can not be ignored.

[Tapster]

@happyas

 

Actually, the poster with the helpful screenshots is correct. 

 

The victim does fall feet first. 

[Chinphala]

2 hours ago, Mises said:

 

 

 

This is my take as well. Most likely cause is the Thai guy undid the D rings. Would be very hard to do given the weight of Roger pulling it down, but doable because he had his arms over the tow line which was holding his weight. The video clearly shows the Thai guy getting right on top of him and fiddling around, he undoes the left side D ring and therefore we see Roger clearly unbalance to right hand side, held by only the right D ring. Thai guy then undoes the right D ring, Roger briefly held onto the tow line but let go and down he went.