Tuesday 29th August 2017, at mid-afternoon, a man (30) suffered a fatal accident while practicing speed-flying. He made a fatal fall under the eyes of his family, who witnessed the scene, helplessly.
Free flight discipline, the speed-flying is a paraglider equipped with a shorter sail, which goes faster than an ordinary paraglider, and allows to do acrobatics and short turns. Also, named speed-riding, this sport is practiced in winter with skis.
According to Le Dauphine, the accident occurred at the landing, at the Champs du Savoy, located behind the Club Med.
Lieutenant Colonel Stéphane Bozon, commander of PGHM in Chamonix, explained that "the young man fell from a very high altitude, at about 3pm, on the Savoy landing area".
"He found himself facing a building in the adjoining residence Les Balcons du Savoy, probably he tried an avoidance manoeuvre and crashed" he said.
A pilot error could have caused the accident: "obviously, the manoeuvre was not in accordance with a normal landing".
The alert was given at 3:10pm. A rescue team of the Chamonix PGHM. accompanied by a SMUR doctor and firemen arrived quickly at the site of the accident, but sadly the victim was declared dead at the scene.
The Chamonix PGHM suspects a trauma of the lower limbs combined with head trauma and internal lesions that could be the cause of the death.
"A young man who practiced this sport a lot"
He was not a beginner. "He was a young man who practiced this sport a lot" confirmed Stéphane Bozon, pointing out that he had already jumped several times that day.
"It was an experienced speed-flyer, who had more than four years of practice and was on the sixth jump of the day from a site located at 2,000 meters of altitude" he added.
According to Le Dauphine, the man was from the Val-de-Marne, Paris Ile de France region.
An investigation has been opened by the Chamonix PGHM to determine the exact circumstances of the accident.
