Dust Devil Downs Powered Paraglider - AVweb

Add dust devils to always-growing list of things that can kill a pilot, according to an accident investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The TSB issued a report last week that concluded the pilot of a powered paraglider was killed after flying through a dust devil while on his second attempt to land at an airfield in Alberta last May. The board could definitively reach that conclusion after watching the helmet cam video that recorded the whole horrifying chain of events near the tiny community of Gibbons, about 200 miles north of Edmonton last May 13. The pilot was flying an RS Ultra Kangook MF from a turf strip and rejected his initial landing. During the go-around, he flew through the dust devil.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/dust-devil-downs-powered-paraglider

I can definitely happen. One hot summer day, while doing touch and gos in an Ercoupe, I had almost rolled to a stop. As I advanced the throttle to follow through, I went through a dust devil. It picked up the Ercoupe’s mains off the ground, tail high, nose still on the runway, and turned us about 60 degrees before we dropped back down. I was really glad it happened on the runway and not on sort final or after liftoff.

Restored C140, on taxiway, caught by dust devil, ground loop, prop strike. KTRM circa 2002.

Hi Russ,
Just a minor typo in the article, Gibbons is about 20 miles north of Edmonton (as crow flies) not the stated 200 miles

Cheers
Tim