A Midlands man was hospitalized after crashing a paraglider Saturday night, the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office said.
It was about 7 p.m. when the Kershaw County resident flying a motorized paraglider got tangled in power lines before plummeting to the ground, Kershaw County Fire Deputy Chief Scott Wiles told The State on Sunday.
The pilot, who has not been publicly identified, was on the ground, entrapped in the aviation device, when emergency responders arrived to the crash site, Wiles said.
The wreck was found near Shiversgreen Road and Hwy 34 in Lugoff, according to the sheriff’s office.
A picture of the crash shared by the sheriff’s office show the paraglider, which resembles a go-kart with a fan on the back, and its wings collapsed.
The man was flown by helicopter to a Prisma Health hospital in Richland County, and remained there Sunday, according to Wiles.
There was no word if the pilot was electrocuted, but he did suffer injuries in the fall, Wiles said. The power lines were not damaged in the crash.
Information on how far the man fell was not available.
In a comment on the sheriff’s office Facebook post, a person who claimed to be a relative of the pilot said the man suffered multiple broken bones, a brain bleed and is on a breathing tube. The woman wrote he’s likely to remain in the hospital for a week, but a nurse said he is expected to recover.
The wreck is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but no officials are coming to Kershaw County, Wiles said.
Because of the size of the aircraft, and because the paraglider did not have tail letters or a fuel tank with more than a 10-gallon capacity, no investigators will study the crash in person, according to Wiles.
Federal aviation regulations do not require paraglider operators to be certified pilots, according to the United States Powered Paragliding Association, which is based in North Carolina. But the group urges flyers to get proper training.
“Understand that the theory is that a pilot operating such a light vehicle has a much lower damage potential to non-participants. No effort is made to keep the actual participants safe — Only the non-participants,” the group said. “That is why it is critical that new entrants take training seriously.
“Just because the training is not REQUIRED does not mean it is any less necessary to ensure YOUR survival!”
Information on the pilot’s flying background was not available.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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