DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – One of Dubai’s famous ‘jetman’ pilots who died in an accident in November did not deploy the emergency shield attached to the winged engines attached to its back.
Investigators from the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority have not given any explanation as to why Vincent Reffet, 36, from Annecy, France, did not use his parachute in the fall during a training flight in the sheikh’s desert.
Investigators described Reffet as an “experienced professional parachutist” and airplane pilot. appears to be losing control and going into a backflip that hovers about 240 feet off the ground.
Such recoil is common when carrying the wings, and is recoverable when the pilot moves forward through the turn, the report reads. Reffet has had experience in the past coming out of these sheets, but at higher altitudes.
“The risks of 800-foot gliding were discussed during the pre-flight briefing, and as a risk mitigation it was decided to interrupt the flight and deploy the parachute with a pyro-rocket should the jet become uncontrollable,” reads the report. . “The investigation could not determine why the pilot did not choose this mitigation action.”
The video of a camera attached to his helmet shows how the parachute was only deployed after it crashed into the ground. Before that, his hands moved as if he thought he could go into a glide again, the report said. The flying plane showed no mechanical problems before or during the flight, investigators said.
The training flight was to simulate a takeoff from the ground, a triangular flight and an aircraft-powered landing on an 800-foot platform, the report said. A helicopter at that altitude had to simulate the platform, but investigators found no sign that it played a role in the crash.
XDubai, an extreme sports company sponsoring flights to Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jetman Dubai, for whom Reffet flew, neither.
Reffet jumped BASE from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at 828 meters (2,716 feet) in Dubai, and set a world record. BASE is an acronym for buildings, antenna, team and earth. He previously won gold medals while competing as a free-flying skydiver in a team and competing as an extreme athlete.
Jetman Dubai, founded by Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy, sees its athletes zip across the air with a four-engine, carbon-Kevlar wing strapped to their backs. The wings can fly 50 kilometers (30 miles), have a maximum speed of more than 400 km / h (248 km / h) and reach an altitude of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet).
Known in 2015, Reffet and Rossy fly with an Emirates Airbus A380 double-decker aircraft over Dubai.
___
Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP