Plane slams into a paraglider’s canopy in northern Austria

@Cripple You can spot a cow from 1 mile away?  I don't think so!  LMFAO!  At a distance of 1 mile, a cow is little more than a pixel. Unless you are looking at that direction and looking for it, you are unlikely to spot a cow straight in front of the airplane until it is within ~1,500 feet. Pilots are typically focused on the horizon and instruments so a tiny object with little or no relative motion directly ahead is one of the easiest things for the brain to ignore.  At roughly 1,500 feet, objects like cow becomes noticeable. If the Cessna is traveling ~130 knots (220 feet per second), that leaves only about 7 seconds before impact. And by the time the "bloom effect" register and the brain recognizes what it is, the airplane is already on top of it.  Also, the propeller creates a subtle strobing effect that reduces contrast and degrades visibility of objects directly behind it.

There is another major factor I didn't mention in my previous post.  Airplanes have significant blind spots. In a Cessna, the engine cowling and nose block a large portion of the forward view. From looking out the windshield, the cowling can obstruct roughly 35% of the visibility straight ahead and overall blind spot of 15–20 degree below the horizontal line of sight. Pilot can easily miss the paraglider depending on the trajectory.

@FacelessMen

Fascinating!

@FacelessMen
I did skydiving.

After dropping the beginner(s) off at 2-3 k ft we would climb to 10k.

During our assent we could watch them almost all the way down to make sure they kept a somewhat straight path and stayed out of our jump/landing path.

You can easily see a chutist from a mile away.

That pilot was distracted!

@Cripple You are comparing apples to oranges. Have you ever observed a paraglider’s silhouette from directly behind at a distance? The "WING" appears as a very thin curved arc, and depending on the lighting and the background, it can sometimes become nearly invisible, showing up only as a faint line. Also, paraglider can climb over 200 feet in 10 seconds in right conditions. Yeah, maybe the pilot was distracted or simply not paying attention. I don't know. Neither do you. It never seems to amaze me how often people assume everything in the sky is easy to see from an airplane. In reality, if you’re not actively looking for something, objects can blend into the background quite easily, especially at a distance and from certain angles. As mentioned, pilots are usually focused on the horizon and their instruments. Any small object can be easily missed. And a small object that is not consciously registered by the brain can very quickly creep up on you while you’re in flight.

@FacelessMen
I find it hard to fathom a pilot was in the area and had no fucking clue there were chutists.

What, did he file a flight plan and not converse or check anything?

Please quit trying to make excuses for a bad pilot.

@Cripple Was that part of a stunt that went wrong? I've been in the copilot seat of small aircraft, and I cannot imagine how this even happened. Was there a mechanical failure on the plane that drew the pilot's attention from the jumper?

I think that you're right about the pilot doing something besides piloting the plane. It makes no sense to me that any aircraft should have a radio or mp3 player up front, but here we are.

@0falcon0 In mountain VFR conditions, a paraglider can be very difficult to see in time, even for a reasonably attentive pilot. The small and low-contrast silhouette of a paraglider under certain lighting conditions will visually blend with terrain or sky backgrounds. Detection is highly dependent on scan direction and timing. Even a light-aircraft like this Cessna with lower cruising speed of ~130 knots, the available reaction window after initial visual can be limited.

@FacelessMen as a paraglider pilot myself before you fly you put a NOTAM up which is a NOTICE TO AIRMEN telling them where and when you are going to fly ...so for that dick to say there was no way he could avoid her there are other things to factor in as well such as the height restrictions for different directions etc

@justanothersurfer

Fascinating.

@kma8675309 the paraglider "pilot" was a woman

@Nutmeg50 Chill out. Small and low-contrast silhouette of a paraglider can be very difficult to detect in time, even for a reasonably attentive pilot. Detection is highly dependent on scan direction and timing.

@ScreaminMime You do NOT cut the paraglider wing, it is NOT DESIGNED TO BE CUT AWAY AT ALL. First, the wing and the reserve chut are not mechanically linked, so they don’t “pull on each other” directly. Also noticed that the paraglider throws the reserve chut forcefully into CLEAN airspace (sideways and away from the wing). Difference in aerodynamic on one that is collapsed vs the inflated with strong drag makes the wind move them away from each other, so they don't tangle.

@FacelessMen

Wow!