Enio Wilson
Tributes have been paid to Enio Wilson, a Brazilian hang glider pilot who tragically died at the Brazilian Hang Gliding Nationals on 27 August.
The 39-year-old pilot died on the last task of the competition, which was held in the Parana Valley, north east of the captial Brasilia, in the centre of the country.
Eyewitness accounts say that Enio is thought to have entered a strong thermal before pitching vertically, tumbling three times and then spiralling down 500m. The A-frame and pilot became detached from the glider and Enio hit the ground without deploying his reserve.
Enio is thought to have hit the A-frame in the initial dive, and there is speculation that this could have rendered him unconscious, and left him unable to throw his chute. Australia’s Jonny Durand and another pilot immediately circled down and landed close to the wreckage but Enio had reportedly died on impact.
Writing on the hang gliding forum the Oz Report, Brazilian pilot Fabiano Nahoum said Enio had been leading out on glide and was first to reach a “miserably rough” thermal.
He writes: “The left wing dropped instantly and put the wing on a vertical position or even a little past vertical. From this vertical position that’s when the wing then tumbled forward.
“Only after the forward tumble did the pilot hit the sail, breaking the crossbar and leading edge. The wing tumbled three more times, all forward, before entering the violent spin.”
In the discussion surrounding the accident on Oz Report, Austrian pilot Tom Weissenberger recounts a similar incident in the same area that resulted in him tumbling his hang glider in 2003.
He said that the area is known for strong thermals and good conditions but it can occasionally throw up strong thermals with very defined edges.
He writes: ”This kind of turbulence is due to a very small friction zone between the rising and the falling air at the thermal’s edge. It seemed that the rising air flows right next to the sinking air without any crumple zone in between.”
The result is strong vertical wind shear that can pitch a glider into a tumble.
The accident brought to a close what had until then been a good, safe competition, with four tasks of 126km to 155km, which André Wolf won ahead of Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli.
Ricardo Ortega, president of the Association of Free Flight Brasiliense paid tribute to Enio and said that next year’s competition would be held in his memory.
He told a local newspaper that what happened had been an accident. “It is not the first time and will not be the last, we all know that. It is as if a car had skidded for a Formula 1 race.”
Enio is fondly remembered to many through the video he posted on Youtube to his loved one, entitled ‘Darling’.
Cross Country magazine extends its sincere condolences to Enio’s family and the Brazilian free-flight family.
• Got news? Send it to us at news@xccontent.local.
Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine
