Powerline Incident Graphics and Rescue Footage

[@rubroken]

I am so glad you made it through that ordeal. You mentioned a few times about people, or towns being without power. Those transmission lines go from receiving station to receiving station, not to towns, and the receiving stations have several sources of feed, so they can shut down a line and still have several sources of feed. It wouldn't matter anyway, your safety comes first. Great story emphasizing that most accidents have multiple reasons for happening

[@peterhahnke716]

Those transmission lines are anywhere from 300 to 500,000 volts. Had you grounded out you would have been a puff of smoke literally. Count your blessings dude, glad to see you made it out ok.

[@Extraterrestrial-With-A-Finger]

Amazing story! There's so much I want to say & ask you but at the same time completely speechless... Thanks for sharing... 🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🆘🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂🪂

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I know it's a lengthy recap. Glad you found it meaningful and worth watching!

[@wespearson1267]

Wow!! What an incredible life story. Kudos to you for telling your story. I work in the Electrical Utility Industry and know how lucky & blessed you are to be here to share your story.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Super fortunate indeed! I'm hopeful this video has and continues to something similar happening to another

[@freeflightbrighton]

Thank you Lane. Great amount of efforts went into making the video and story. I admire your honesty and direction you have taken the story. As I say to my students. Always have 10% left in the tank when you land out. Regards Rob

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Well said. Thanks Rob!

[@gazellhra5479]

Who are the 37 dislikers????? I'm french, went through something big and like you, escaping from close death (professional situation). Thank you very much for your feedback, sharing this kind of experience will surely save lives (surely mine as a new paraglider). The swiss cheese model is also known as the Reason's plates model (Reason Charkman). I hope you get better and enjoy being in the air again. Fly safe!!

[@MuraKun]

That is chilling, I had goosebumps the whole time. I'm a fledgling p2 pilot and this is invaluable to me. I am glad you are still around to tell your story. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

This is why I shared it. I had a feeling this video would make an impact on pilots - hopefully enough to prevent something like this from happening to anyone else!

[@codprawn]

Your time wasn't up. Absolute miracle you survived. Great video - kept the camera running to the very end. Hypoxia creeps up on you without you even knowing it.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Affirmative! Couldn't agree more!!!

[@istrasoft]

hey Lane, just saw your video now for the first time, man, what an experience ... also saw your ted talk and something seems crazy to me, you go this powerline accident three years ago and right after the other PG accident where you fell from high up and subsequently lost your lower leg ? wow man :((

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Right after the other PG accident. I suppose 7 years later can be considered right after. I hope you found something of value from these hard fought battles.

[@istrasoft]

@@onfinalparagliding9554 oh man so sorry to hear that. i saw this video first where you talk about safety margins and everything, but no video on your other more dramatic accident, and as a pilot myself and without wanting to pry or overstep, i was just wondering how another major accident could happen after this one, presuming that being an active person and understanding risk much better than I (i pretty much went from couch to paragliding) I'm surprised you could get unlucky and have another accident :( I just read you had a fall from very high up, and if you don't mind me asking, what happened during that flight ? In any case it's very inspiring to see you're still flying ! I had a minor accident myself this year with just a broken fibula and am back to flying again, but feeling much much more conservative now ...

[@bradwiebelhaus7065]

Great that you passed this experience to others.

[@OldRancher]

My younger brother Paraglides, he gets complacent, he's good and he knows it, that's the problem! I am going to force him to watch this. This video is gold and should be mandatory not just talked about. I'm glad you walked away from this so others can learn and live.

[@noubel]

Hi Lane! Thank you so much for having the courage to share your experience, not just from a technical point of view, but from the deep observer's point of view. I learned a lot, and you touched my heart because you brought all the other aspects of flying. It shows the depth of your spiritual experience, thank you for it. Ping me if you come to fly in my area in Provence, France. I'll gladly take you to amazing spots, and hopefully we'll avoid powerlines :) Blessings to you! Jean-François

[@jesuscadena5673]

Thank you for sharing this traumatic experience. Thank God that you were saved. Can’t even imagine going through what you went through.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Appreciate the sincere comment!

[@Mike-01234]

I work for a electric utility what you felt was tiny amount of current flowing around your skin this only happens on high voltage over 150k - 240 - 500 kv lines. This is why you never see birds standing on those lines they have no problem standing on 7500-25k voltage lines you would not either if you fell into them as long as you only touch one line. It's more of a like static shock but continues it can burn hurts. What the utility worker does is wear a suit and gloves has a metal mesh in it that makes it flow around your body not though the skin. If you had actually contacted both lines just vaporize you in a second we just had that happen to a guy inside of a vault under ground he touched both with his bare hands he exploded all was left hips and legs the upper body exploded into a fire ball. No one knows why he touched both transformer terminals with his bare hands he knew it was energized. I'm not a utility worker I have learned lot about the industry it's a dangerous line of work.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Intense stuff! Never anticipated learning about electricity through a near fatal experience! If only I had been wearing the utility worker suite you described - haha! Thanks for sharing your perspective as an electric utility worker

[@badasssnow]

I'm a lineman myself, building these powerlines. There's any number of ways this would have been fatal, had one little thing went differently.

[@clintonbrown2986]

Thank-you sir for sharing your experience...I can’t imagine being in such a perilous situation.....I guess that’s part of the point, you can’t until you’re there....I’m glad it turned out ok, and you’re doing well....thank god for all the emergency personnel and other people involved in your rescue....there is no better way to bring people with so diverse beliefs and differences into purposeful alignment than when someone’s life is in jeopardy...I am always so gratified to hear stories like this of tremendous measures being taken and resources made available to help someone in need....there are many great lessons to be taken from your harrowing experience, and thank you so much again for sharing it. God bless and happy flying😊👍

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

The sincerity of your comment is palpable. Thank you for contributing to the dialogue. It is certainly impressive how folks of such diverse backgrounds can quickly take imperative roles so quickly!

[@cmizer9]

Fantastic insight on risk taking, pain, mental strength, and life. Thank you for sharing your story, thoughts and wisdom. Glad you are hear to talk about it and share with others.

[@onfinalproductions8343]

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm hopeful this video just might save a life or two...

[@nataliewarren4441]

OMFG!! I could hear the sadness in your voice and Im sorry you went through this..I recently watched a young fella on yt,climb one of those pylons for kicks- how he never got zapped is beyond me..

[@JanPassion]

Powerful story. Tons to learn. Grateful for your courage. Grateful that you are alive. Thank you. Watching this, I hope, makes me a better pilot.

[@yanncadic9581]

Thank for sharing ! I was really interresting and I hope it help you too in the process. I made a stupid decision on june 2019 while paragliding which could have cost me life or the use of my legs. I got lucky and only ended with a broken vertebra and titanium plates. I shared the feeling of shame and luck to be alive. Thanks again and all the best. Happy landings !

[@paddyonzeroad6495]

Thx a lot for sharing . I'm a paragliding beginner from France, and I will always remember your story... Fly safe. And thank you, realy.

[@germainpinganaud2965]

Feeling ashamed as you did, and facing it again to save lives by sharing you experience is somehow heroic.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Those are some bold and supportive words. Thank you! That others may live is certainly the driving force here!

[@ZT_1234]

Wow, i am so sorry this has happened to you, this is absolutely awful. Im guessing you didnt get the full 230kv, and just were capacitively coupled, so you may have gotten like a 10kv shock. I hope you have recovered over thr years, both mentally and physically. I also am so sorry you had to watch your friend die like that. That is absolutely horrible.

[@LaneLamoreaux]

Your sincere comment is appreciated. I know the power lines transfer 225,000 volts. Of course, that doesn't mean that much electricity went through me - I'd be a puff of dust in that case! My body does not have copper wiring, yet I have significant amounts of titanium, through 3 joints and 9 bones. It was in these places, the connection was made, and the volts flew!

[@davidwestervelt6050]

That is an incredible story to learn from. The important of having the right equipment and a team flying to assist in a situation. I look around in our area there are a lot of wires. Glad you are ok and thanks for sharing. I am sure this was not easy. These electrical burns are very bad. I am sure they will affect you for a long time. The famous BLUE ARCH is a scary thing. I hope you did not lose use of limbs or parts. I wish you the best recovery.

[@davehowe7332]

Thank you man for posting this, I’m so glad you’re here.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Appreciate the comment and view Dave! I'm just pleased to see the video continue to circulate. It's certainly a timeless lesson!

[@haroldestevez4803]

Thank you for sharing. I am glad you are still here with us.

[@magendron]

Thank you Lane for sharing your experience with us. Your story will surely help save someone's life.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

That's what finally got me to share it. I could have easily withheld it. I couldn't get over the fact that there is so much that can be learned from this and applied to any number of situations

[@lemonman1]

No, MY name's Lane. Amazing story, thanks for sharing

[@mirvad]

Thanks for sharing this. Incredible story... I had incident in 2010 and after that I do same as you, I shared with everyone other my report and local TV made a full reconstruction story. Keep going and enjoy in life

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I've been blown away by how well the story has been received! No hate. All LOVE - and Learning!

[@jimrossi7708]

I’m glad you are okay and able to tell others as well as myself this story and you are so right about pain because I know I went for a nerve test and laughed when they told me about the pain to expect and I will admit I was wrong about the pain because at first it wasn’t bad but by the end of the test I was dead wrong !! Thanks again and may we learn from your story !!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I can totally relate! I've had nerve conduction tests before. Really wish they gave me pain meds prior. Of course that would negate the whole purpose of the test.

[@lookingglass9175]

As veteran firefighter/paramedic I have to say “what makes you so stupid? Gotcha, a little firehouse ribbing and humor. All kidding aside, I’m glad you made it out and now you can use your experience to hopefully steer others from a similar harrowing situations. It takes a real man to swallow his pride and admit the things he did wrong. Peace

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

As a veteran EMT/Firefighter (smokejumper and hotshot). I can answer the question, "what makes you so stupid?" with one word - hypoxia. Of course that creates another question; what makes you so stupid you'd put yourself in a situation where you develop hypoxia. I don't have an answer. That involves the rear view mirror. I'm more focused on the windshield - what will I do differently in the future to avoid hypoxia. I have learned a lot. I fly differently. I assess risk differently. This terrible experience has improved my judgement.

[@Sammysapphira]

I can't believe this doesn t have more views. Such an important lesson

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I'm certainly not aware of any near equivalent! Great point!!!

[@AntlerTrader]

Hey man we are glad your all right we were the ones that first pulled up and found you.

[@onfinalproductions8343]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I just watched your video. It's wild seeing it from someone else's perspective. First 10 min. was full on electrocution. Painful A.F.! I thought I was going to die. I began cutting myself down so I could expedite my death. I'd rather splat than take any more volts. So glad the emergency dispatcher took it upon themselves to contact Idaho Power and shut off these massive lines!

[@Gus1966-c9o]

You weren’t being electrocuted as this phenomenon ends in death .

[@jimrossi7708]

@Todd Amtmann , I think he was saying one word means it ended in death and the other doesn’t, it’s just tech stuff or to old timers like myself it’s nit picking and BTW a big THANK YOU to all that helped, thanks for watching out for your fellow man !!

[@axysdnyd]

@@Gus1966-c9omany people have gotten electrocuted and lived to tell the tale. Had those lines been 500kv or higher, he most likely would not have survived. He was damn lucky

[@omegalamda3145]

Amazing story. I too am a outdoorsman type, I’ve had my fair share of poor judgement. Yet you telling the story thoroughly with photos and diagram,and timelines brought the experience to the core of my consciousness. You are correct in telling it as doing so sincerely may have saved a life, mine included. Thanks for reliving this once in a lifetime survival nightmare succinctly yet emotionally honest. Ps you were so grateful to the cherry pickers it was humbling. Peace

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Your detailed comment is meaningful and appreciated. Thank you for contributing to the ongoing discourse. I keep a rappel kit with me for tree landings. I was going to rappel down by anchoring off the power line but, in an effort to behave with greater safety margins, I elected to wait 6 hours for the power line staff/cherry pickers to arrive. I'm confident surviving such misfortunate will improve my decision making and let me take to into my 90s!

[@mcbrite]

Thank you for sharing... Glad you're still with us to hopefully fly another day! Heal up well and quick!!!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Back in the air a week after discharge. This unfortunate event will keep me that much more safe ensuring decades of smooth flights and soft landings!

[@Summitspeedfly]

Lane. Welcome to club LB (Lucky Bastard), I'm a charter member. Also, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience, great learning tool for us all. Scary as fuck to listen to the entire thing. Some thoughts of my own. As a lifelong aviator of most things that fly, I'm going to suggest that hypoxia had little to no effect on your decision making once you descended down to landing altitude. The effect of returning to a "normal" atmosphere is pretty immediate. If aircraft pilots get hypoxic at high altitude, just a few breaths of oxygen returns them to normal. I believe you said you never got much above 12,000 MSL, and cognitive loss at that altitude is negligible. The FAA doesn't require pilots to use supplemental oxygen until they have been above 14,000 MSL for more than 30 minutes, and passengers don't require O2 until they are above 15,000. The time it took you to descend down to your landing altitude should have returned your O2 blood levels to normal. However, low blood glucose CAN make the effects of hypoxia somewhat worse. What I DO think contributed to slow or ineffective decision making was exactly that, low blood glucose (hypoglycemia). I've seen this affect LOTS of people when they are up on high ski hills, like 13,000' high. My old GF, who is hypoglycemic due to thyroid issues, would be skiing right next to me, then suddenly "grey-out" and either fall or stop and sit down in a confused daze. I never had to give her O2 to fix the problem, but 2 bites of a Snickers bar would snap her right out in about 2 minutes. This could also happen at sea-level if she didn't keep her glucose level up. I'm not saying don't fast, I AM saying don't fast extensively before flying. Glad you survived to tell. I'm linking some articles for reference: adhd-npf.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/NASA_The_Effects_of_Blood_Glucose_Levels_on_Cognitive.pdf www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.211 neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/sugar-and-brain

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Thanks for including the relevant links!

[@mistere881]

I am glad you are alive. I felt the pain when you described you being shocked by the power line because you are also a great story teller. Like you said, nobody is imune from making bad decisions, and thank you for reminding us all not to take experience for granted. Good continuation sir and thank you for sharing your story.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I am delighted you see it that way. Thanks for the comment!

[@D2Rides]

The lightning line is why you never fly low over high voltage power lines

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Precisely

[@andrewjcraig]

Thank you for posting such an honest account of this incident. I think a lot of us will learn something from this. I'm very glad that you survived and are still flying.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I appreciate that Andrew! I went to a "Fly-In" a couple days after sharing this story and became a mini celebratory. I've been delighted to discover to end to the gratitude that has surfaced for sharing the story. I hope it'll save a life or two!

[@Stand.Your.Ground.]

All I ca. Say is someone or something was watching out for you. Thank you for sharing I am so thankful your here to share the experience and teach people about how no matter how professional you are or how many years or experience you have things can still go wrong! But you never gave up the fight!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I sincerely appreciate that! There's a lot more living left. Delighted to have more time in this world :)

[@darenlindley]

Bro., Thank you so much for your humility and really breaking this thing down. My gosh! I am so glad you're ok!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Nothing short of crazy! Could have easily gone another direction... So glad I had an inReach on me!

[@ThibaultROHMER]

@@onfinalparagliding9554 were your phone and radio also fried?

[@Hemersonr]

You did the effort to pass most info as possible to the rescue operator... you literaly save your own life...

[@philippetarnier9026]

Very useful ! Thank you.

[@wolfpak8322]

Truly appreciate you sharing this story. You definitely made the right choice by Choosing to put it out there and potentially save some lives.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I'm grateful for your comment - delighted you see it that way!

[@alaskadude7771]

Holy crap thank you so much for sharing. I'm watching this 2.5 Weeks post OP ACL replacement (crash /injury august 16th) while doing some PT in the living room this hits hard. I launched in sub optimal conditions stronger wind in not optimal direction for LZ and on final glide lost too much elevation and had wing tip catch into light pole causing a tether ballish incident. Such a dumb mistake made luckily in a convenient location. Thankfully my lines broke from the tip and trailing edges and i sorta flew the wing more-ish and I landed on my feet and PLF'D Into the concrete parking lot. I'm so lucky I was able to land on my feet and only suffered a near knee dislocation which self aligned 20 secs after impact and resulted in the said torn ACL a partial LCL worse partial of MCL and fracture on tibia from impact. I know the feels and agree such a major opportunity to grow and remain humble, we are fragile, we are human. Cheers to great risk management, safe flying and learning from the hardest lessons of all our mistakes and others. Thanks again great video

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I appreciate the time you put into your thoughtful comment. Glad to hear you have a "learning attitude" toward even your own misfortune. Hope you have years of soft landings ahead of you!

[@humbertoarreguin]

Wow, I’m glad you shared this story with everyone, I am also glad that you survived! It’s an extremely scary situation! I work near power lines everyday doing trimming and let me tell you, it can get pretty scary sometimes! I can’t imagen the pain you were in!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Powerlines are an underrated adversary. As a former wildland firefighter, I recall being on a fire in SoCal where thick smoke made it's way up to a set of powerlines and they began arcing!!! The inReach definitely saved my life in my paragliding situation.

[@danielelise7348]

Hey mate,I work on transmission lines every day from a platform mounted to a helicopter & let me tell you,as far as transmission lines go,if you can liken them to the size of people from the age of child to adult,what you flew into would be like a 10yr old (230kV)not to detract from the seriousness of it but to give you a guide there's 161kV,230kV,275kV, 345kV,380kV, 400kV,500kV,765kV,800kV & there's actually an 1100kV,but that's in China,but what I am getting at is,as horrendous as your situation was,had those lines been 275kV or god forbid 500kV,it probably would have vapourised you.I work on 500kV all the time but I wear a special suit called a hotsuit which is made of 75%Nomex,for fire retardant & 25% stainless steel thread & that metal thread means I have a Faraday cage around me,so the electricity flows around me instead of through me & the electricity doesn't bother me,I can do my work without any problems.I am just SO GLAD,that if you had to hit lines,they weren't a higher Voltage,I am Australian,so I was not talking specifically to American Voltages but world wide,but anyway I am so happy you survived to tell the story,take lots of care & stay ever so safe,cheers from Oz

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Daniel, that's fascinating information! Thank you for sharing. I certainly learned a lot about electricity first-hand. I continue to learn thanks to comments like yours. Your contribution is appreciated!

[@sophierobinson2738]

I watched a video of a guy doing your job. It was fascinating!

[@t.r.4496]

As long as he was tangled in one wire he would be fine. Like a bird on a wire no matter what the voltage is. And yes I have a live line barehand card. I have moved to distribution as I got older. Shit just got to heavy for an old man. I'm moving into 25 years as a lineman.

[@ubernerdsteve]

@@t.r.4496 problem is he was tangled in the static wire too. That said I'm not sure his step potential would've been that much higher, I think he was probably getting static (hence the periodic pulsing nature of it) more than anything and his gear was only marginally conductive or it would have lit up and vaporized and would've fallen. Ive seen a squirrel get vaporized at 115kV so I'm not so sure it matters as much as the previous commentor noted. As US voltages go those look like 345kV lines to me.

[@t.r.4496]

@@ubernerdsteve I didn't catch that part, Im not sure about Paracord being conductive or not, but hanging six hours and according to the humidity it would start to track. I don't know what voltage that was, it could have been anything from 69kv to 795kv. I didn't see a good pic of how many bells was on it.

I've heard a trick when it comes to flying over powerlines. Fly over the power poles, not wires. You can miss the wire, but you can't not see the pole. So if you're not high enough above the pole, don't fly over the lines at all.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

What do you do when the poles are over 5 miles apart? Your altitude has been too high to see them until you're a thousand ft AGL. I just so happened to be in the center - between poles. I know to always fly over the structure rather than the wire. I never saw the structures/poles. Appreciate the advice!

[@CASHSEC]

Brilliant story: What is the lesson you have learned and what is your recovery recommendation to avoid such a situation in the future. I can only suggest a sailors view of such a situation. Like you a good sailor would have a course plan. All navigational issues have to be thought through and your plan would be submitted to an authority so that if you failed to log in someone would come looking for you. Do you carry nav aids to show the ground hazards. If you see a hazard what is the best way to minimise risk. Taking into account your altitude I would have thought a turn away was the safest option. PS I know nothing about paragliding but I am so glad that you survived the ordeal. Were you sued by the power company and do you have to have insurance cover. Stay safe and stay aloft😀😀.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I have changed a lot about how I fly since this terrible experience. I have only improved my risk assessment and judgement. I have had 762 flights since this experience - all with soft landings.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

And to be specific. I set an alarm when I reach 10,000ft. That forces me to be mindful of my altitude. More importantly, I have a very annoying alarm when I reach 12 grand. You can still crush great distances below 12g!

[@CASHSEC]

Maybe you could suggest the idea of nav maps for paragliders to Garmin. Maybe glider nav software could be adapted. Don't forget to get paid for the idea. Hanging from an inverted hammock is the only way fly. God save our Queen!

[@parrisestatessouthernhomec3246]

I have never understood why those lines aren’t coated my dads been an electrician my whole life

[@rodragsdale1702]

Dude, thanks for sharing this story! You are right to share this and I am glad that you are still alive. Would love to fly with you someday when back in the NW. I have always wondered what that line on the top of those high tension wires is. Sorry that I you had to find out that way. Hope you heal real good.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Healing has gone very well! I appreciate the thoughtful comment!

[@chrisbauer1925]

From looking at the image at 9:32, it seems that the parachute got caught on the ground wire at the top, and the you swung into one of the live phases of the power line. The arcing was likely from the phase through you and the chute up to that ground wire. Its lucky you didnt get between 2 of the phases, as that would have almost certainly been deadly. Great to see you are okay!

[@NSaw1]

I actually doubt it was going through his lines to the ground line because the phase is above him (well for most of the time it was) so there would be no current going through him, What I think it was is capacitive coupling from his engine and other metal around his back. With AC anything conductive you connect to it will draw some power, but metal will draw the most. So then there is a large voltage difference from his engine and the phase causing a arc that went through him. If there wasn't any metal he would have been fine. (im saying that as a example, not a what if)

[@chrisbauer1925]

@@NSaw1 Yep that also would make sense. Those high voltage lines have some serious dv/dt leading to large capacitive currents.

[@Dutch3DMaster]

Installations like that usually do not carry a grounding wire, because the ground get's referenced on site at a substation (it would be incredibly expensive to have to run grounding wires along with the phases as well, not only due to the price of the material used, but also to decouple capacitive inductance between the phases now causing potential differences in a ground that should be referenced to, well basically zero volts). The wire above is probably a lightning rod-wire kind of thing, or one meant for some kind of decoupling due to capacitive induction of the wires below so this induction potential can not be a danger to people touching the pole at ground level. If anything, he either felt that or in the end the wires between his kite and his vest were not superconducting (hard to believe since such high voltages really do not care much since practically everything becomes conductive at that point) up to the point it would've instantly killed him.

[@NSaw1]

@@Dutch3DMaster Yeah the wire he hit is a ground, the lines are delta so there should be no current going through that wire, its only there to draw the ambient voltage down and draw lightning to ground. It also is just a small steel wire, not very expensive. If it was current carrying then it would be called a neutral (technekly a grounded neutral)

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I'm certain that's exactly what happened

[@marycaats]

Thank you for sharing. You are very lucky one!

[@rghall57]

Thank you for sharing this. Glad you are ok.

[@hockeyguy2005]

@On Final Paragliding I'm curious as to what happened after you got down. Any fines or did you have to pay to get the tower fixed. I hit a telephone pole back in 93 going about 60 mph and horse shoed my car around the pole. Split it in half, thank God it was a older pole and looked dry rotted at the bottom. I was going into the marines back then and a few friends threw me a party about a week before shipping out, two of em were in the car with me and by the grace of God no one was killed . But I was hurt bad, broken jaw broken leg, concussion, lacerations from head down to my arms and below my knees, and years later had spinal fusion, it's a miracle I wasn't both killed nor paralyzed, woke up under the steering wheel and remember vividly only two things before waking up in the recovery room of the hospital. I remember saying out loud , my mom's going to be pissed. And then repeatedly saying over and over I'm not going to die I'm not going to die I'm not going to die... That changed my life forever. Nobody died you know both friends were wearing seat belts I was not and I don't know if they weren't I don't think either one of them would have lived but I did get three years of probation and was unable to go into the military because of injuries.... But i definitely had to pay for that pole. And if I recall I had to pay for the shut down of service.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

First off, damn! I'm bummed to hear you had to go through this. I can't imagine the mindset shift required after you've trained and planned your life around becoming a Devil Dog. I was fortunate to serve with 3rd bat. 7th Marines in 29 Palms. As a disabled vet the VA fortunately paid for most of my medical expenses - life-flight and the Burn Center in Utah. It's become pretty much impossible to have the VA help with bills coming from Idaho Power. Hard to convey a bill from a power company is medical in nature. I didn't cause any damage. The bill from Idaho Power is itemized as "transportation". Vertical transportation is wicked expensive!!! Explained a bit of financial hardship to Idaho Power and they agreed to set me up on payment plan with smaller monthly payments. Probably have it paid off in 12 years. Fortunately I didn't incur any fines or other expenses.

[@MrFlyingPanda]

😦It's so much more than a paragliding incident report... Thanks for sharing.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

My pleasure! I'm happy you see it that way!

[@SplashF15E]

Thanks for sharing your story and lessons learned.

[@bobby1970]

Your experience will definitely help someone else sooner or later.

[@onfinalproductions8343]

Thank you. That's what motivated me to produce this

[@steviesadventures]

Thanks for the video glad your ok an amazing story on june the 2nd i lost a good friend to hitting power lines on a paraglider he was one of if not the top uk xc pilot that was always super safe

[@JohnSmith-ud3wy]

This should get more views such an important lesson and so glad you are OK my friend

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Appreciate your perspective - couldn't agree more! I'm hopeful, many of the clicks/views include several folks - perhaps a group of paragliding students in ground school

[@chris_williams]

Thank you for such an honest analysis and for sharing it with the community. I too am a tandem pilot and instructor, in the UK, and try to get students to be self-analytical like this. Great example.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Chris, your thoughtful feedback is appreciated. It's especially meaningful coming from someone in the industry. Fly far. Land soft!

[@765kvline]

You were very, very, very fortunate. Especially in light of you were avoiding by just the skin of your teeth, a phase-to-ground fault, which would have . . . literally . . . incinerated . . . you. From the OWG (Overhead Ground Wire or Shield Wire) which is grounded at each tower for the lightning protective counterpoise, your contact was also to the live phase conductor. Although the line was a double circuit 230-kV, each phase is 132-kV phase-to-ground. I have known distribution linemen who lost entire arms! to contact with 7.2-kV. Your ropes and rigging must have been nylon or some insulating plastic which were just enough to cause minor arcing (although "minor" is probably not the word you'd use) but relatively insulated enough to avoid full follow-through current. Just enough conductivity to allow arcs to form, but not for full unrestricted conductivity. Electrical distribution and transmission arcs under short circuit conditions are asymmetrically high, at their center, hotter than the surface of the sun. Heavy currents are also tetanizing. That is, making your hands and muscles rigid and inflexible. You . . . were EXCEEDINGLY . . . fortunate. Count your blessings. Appreciated your video of this incident. Let's hope others don't fall into the same situation you've been forced into. Others have not survived.

[@pierrevacheron4475]

By chance you survived this nightmare. what a long moment of suffering and introspection it must have been. Power lines, more than frontal collapses and stalls are my biggest fear in paragliding. My biggest apprehension is that something is going wrong and I have to pull my reserve parachute over the power lines and fall into it.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Appreciate the comment Pierre. It took 15 years of paragliding and 6,227 flights before my first and, with vigilance and mitigations, likely my last incident. I've only thrown a reserve once. The thought of a reserve deployment combined with powerlines is frightening. I stay as far away from those things as possible. Going XC, I scout out the route via GoogleEarth zooming in closely. The large towers will cast a shadow. I'll still be flying over them but now I'm ultra vigilant about awareness and minimizing exposure - staying the hell away if under 300 meters.

[@phillipstarr4582]

What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Thanks for checking it out! Please share - to the benefit of others!

[@ten40tv]

I think your perspective is on point. If a pilot of your skill can end up in a situation like this, than any pilot can. It's about making a smart call. Did you end up with any lichtenberg figure scaring. If you are not sure what that is, then look it up, but in essence its where you can clearly sea the figure of an ark where the electricity was flowing through you as a scar. Usually lightning strike victims have them where you can clearly see the figure of the lightning bolt as a scar.

[@DougBow96]

Thank you so much for sharing! Gold nuggets: "You are not immune from making a dumb decision" "My flight decisions affect others"

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I'm thrilled to learn you picked up on the most significant nuggets in the story!

[@sophierobinson2738]

"The power lines have floaters so the airplanes don't get caught." R.E.M. " Driver 8"

[@LoucassOo]

Thanks mate for sharing your story

[@Gdawg815]

I'm glad you are with use man!!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Thank you Garrett! Hopeful this video prevents at least "one" pilot from such an ordeal!

[@leebatt7964]

Crazy story. Thank god you weren’t electrocuted, you were shocked.

[@milesra22]

That’s pretty scary stuff bro, I’ve ran on Power Line roads in Massachusetts and I don’t know the voltage on those power lines but I think there around 200,000 volts traveling across Massachusetts

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Scary indeed! Also incredibly painful!!! Hopeful sharing the experience will prevent a similar fate for others

[@NelsonsWings]

This is the right approach! And I've been affected by hypoxia induced bad decisions twice, and it was only an hour at 13k. Of course at the time I felt fine. Little things like forgetting speed system, flaring too high on landing... but both times I was clueless I was slightly mental.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Wow! Thanks for sharing your own experience. It seems very relevant!

[@sutherlandkern86]

I’m so happy that you survived 🙏🏿. You may have saved some lives with your extraordinary testimony. Stay positive man. 🙏🏿🥃

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Your words are powerful and your sentiment uplifting. That others may live! Appreciate your comment!!!

[@richardmeek4035]

Kudos to you Sir. For sharing this experience in order that we can all learn.

[@TimPentreath]

Wow, lucky escape, glad you survived. Thanks for sharing...

[@seththemessenger5125]

you got really lucky, glad your ok, if all of the power had decided to go from you to the lightning wire then as soon as it shocked you, you would not have been here, but i’m not bashing you i have been in dumb situations that are very stressful like this

[@Hemersonr]

Only the pilot that stay in home or grounded can be free of risk... thanks for sharing...

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

That's right! No risk-it no biscuit!!!

[@QEII]

Amazing story.... SO glad you are alright!!!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Appreciate your comment Susan! A lotta living left to LIVE :)

[@infl]

Most likely nobody went without power. The way the grid is designed, any set of lines or power plants can go offline and they can switch the load to other equipment. And you most likely did not do any damage to the lines themselves. 230kV is quite high, you are lucky to have survived considering there was a path to ground other than the usual capacitive coupling. I’m glad you are alright.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I continue to learn a lot from this. Thanks, in large part, to folks like yourself generously sharing their knowledge and experience. It's appreciated!

[@rapidius]

Thanks for sharing.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Thanks for checking it out. Fly far. Land soft!

[@cyphervenom7960]

Glad you're still alive, although you made me miss my morning coffee and toast. I had to make my toast on the grill cause there wasn't any power

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I'm grateful for your sacrifice.Thank you!

[@cellogirl11rw55]

Your titanium rods are probably what saved you. They probably took the electricity away from your heart.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I had never considered that. Than you for pointing it out!

[@robertmout7240]

Hi Lane, paraglider from The Netherlands here: thanks for sharing your story. It must have been a traumatic experience. I very much like how you approach the story: let's not look at this with the wisdom of hindsight, but rather apporach it as it developed. That way it turns it into a story that makes you think: 'hey this could have happened to me'. What I was hoping for towards the end of the video was a list of things that you would do differently from now on (created by the wisdom of hindsight and the swiss cheese model). Will you break your fast if Monday is a good flying day? What measures will you take against hypoxia? Will you be using an oxygen system? Or maybe put a cap on your max altitude? Will you be carrying your inReach in a different place so you can get to it more easily? I am glad you are ending on a very positive note:"I want to keep flying for decades to come!" That's the spirit! Thaks again for sharing!

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Robert, thanks for your detailed comment! I cut out most of the "what I'm going to do differently". I did include one new step, see @26:35, where I talk about adding a new step to my preflight. I learned that keeping my InReach in a place different than my flight computer was extremely beneficial. I'll continue to keep it in my side pocket. I also set my vario to give me annoying altitude warnings every minute I'm above 12,000feet. I also fly with supplemental oxygen now. I assumed my fasting was problematic but it turns out it wasn't - my labs following my hospitalization, and before eating, showed healthy blood sugar levels. I think the biggest contributor was hypoxia.

[@felixsagined3158]

Thank you for sharing this. But I think it is extremely important to point out, that you only touched one wire and therefore survived. If you would have made a connection between 2 phases (in this case this equals to 2 wires, or 1 wire and the ground, or 1 wire and the overhead earth wire) you would have been burned to death in an instance. Even in a faraday cage suit a full short circuit would have killed you, due to the extremely high temperatures, even in a cage suit... So there are 2 possible explanations: you only touched one wire and formed a parallel circuit like a bird on a wire - unlike a bird, because of your size and the larger parallel circuit you will still get electrocuted and burned, but due to the very high resistance with a much much much lower current. Another possibility is, that your glider made a full connection, but nylon lines act almost like an insulator and hardly conduct any electricity. So what you felt was a tiny tiny tiny tiny fraction of that voltage/current from that powerline. What you felt was less powerful than a poweroutlet at home, because otherwise you would have been killed. A full connection with anything higher than an electric cattle fence will cause arrhythmia, and at higher voltages will burn you to death. With 230KV there would have been only dust left. But thank you very much for sharing this, but I think it is important to point out, that an actual short circuit can not be survived.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge of this!

[@whnielsen]

Thank you.

[@jmgalan1]

many thanks for sharing!

[@henryholliday1]

I would always default to away from any power lines if in doubt and 230kv power lines are not even the most powerful in the us they go up to 765kv in some areas

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I was certainly lucky! I also default to flying away from power lines. I didn't even know these ones were there....! Until it was too late

[@billotto602]

God obviously has things in store for you to do. I'm very thankful you survived & did this video. God bless you ! ❤🙏❤🙏❤🙏

[@jesuscadena5673]

PS-Accidents happen to the best of us. The best of our scientists couldn’t see the comet that exploded over Russia years ago because of the sun.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Great point! Appreciate your comment!

[@Rocketguy6969]

no video of the impact?

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

There was no impact. Just calmly swung into them - nothing sudden or distinct.

[@Rocketguy6969]

@@onfinalparagliding9554 Im glad you are ok. Thank you for sharing the experience

[@jkoneman]

The PLB's are better for rescue but they don't allow two-way communication.

[@ozone184]

A very honest appraisal, thank you.

[@paraglidingtalk]

I have a paragliding talkshow called Paragliding Talk. We go live on KZbin on thursday nights. Would you be interested in coming on the show and sharing some of your adventures with us?

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

I'm all about it! Just say when

[@paraglidingtalk]

On Final Paragliding can you email me at [e-mail]

[@appliancerepairshorts]

Glad you are okay. You’re are a great person.

[@gladusb9181]

Thank you

[@williambergener7820]

Can you call it a powdered paracute now!

[@julienr6973]

Hello Lane, So glad you stopped cutting your lines ! I would like to transcript and then translate your video into French, in order to share with the paragliding french community. Would you be okay with that ? Julien.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Hi! The settings have been changed on the video. I changed the licensing settings from KZbin to Creative Commons. I was not able to find any settings specific to opening the language options to multiple languages. Please let me know whether or not the settings I have altered are sufficient.

[@YankeeinSC1]

Hey Lane. Haven't seen you since Otto's 2 years ago. Where've ya been?! I'd really like to get out west and fly some this fall. Working on a plan through the virus and the political challenges. How can a guy get a hold of you? The On Final website mail link? Todd Falstad.

[@onfinalparagliding9554]

Todd, pardon the delay. I haven't been flying much with a new job I started this summer. Aiming to fly in Arizona and So Cal next month. Shoot me an email if you want to coordinate flying plans - [e-mail]

[@chriscollins2647]

Tough and smart believe it or not to at least be smart enough to save your own life .Good luck buddy I know your back flying

[@michaela1655]

You better do something very amazing with your life. Because it is amazing that you are alive. There are many high voltage lines that are not insulated.

[@altonrowell8137]

Close call.