Hot Air Balloon and Powered Paraglider Collide in AZ

[OtisAir]

Wasn't Me!

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PHOENIX — A motorized paraglider ran into a hot air balloon Saturday morning in central Arizona, sending two of the four people onboard to the hospital.
It happened during an airport open house in Cottonwood, which is about 100 miles north of Phoenix.
Ian Gregor with the FAA says the two aircraft were at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. The balloon landed in a parking lot about 1/2 mile east of the airport.
Two of the three people onboard the balloon were taken to a hospital. Cottonwood police Sgt. Gareth (GARTH) Braxton says the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Another balloon passenger and the pilot of the paraglider appeared to be uninjured.
Braxton says the two aircraft became entangled, the balloon ripped open and both fell to earth quickly.

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[Jim Logajan]

Failure to yield.

I'm not up on my "right of ways" for this class of aircraft, but I bet the balloon (less maneuverable) has right of way over the powered parachute, yes?

The powered paraglider was most likely an ultralight (Part 103), while the manned balloon would be covered by Part 91. FAR 103.13 is applicable. Ultralights must yield to all other aircraft. Powered ultralights must yield to un-powered ultralights.

Baring extenuating circumstances, the paragilder will likely be found at fault.

(Important trivia: there is no equivalent to Part 91's section 91.3 in part 103. So there is no "pilot in command is directly responsible for and final authority" clause applicable to ultralight pilots, but neither is there a "pilot in command may deviate from any rule in this part in an emergency" clause.

Also, whereas a sport pilot can't fly above 10,000 ft MSL (or 2000 ft AGL, whichever is higher) ultralight flyers are not bound by such altitude restrictions. Nor are there any oxygen requirements for such lofty flights (those are in part 91.))

 

[Jim Logajan]

BTW, Powered Paragliders are not ultralites. Powered Parachutes are. Powered Paragliders aren't even considered aircraft by the FAA. They do abide by Part 103 but are not placed in the ultralite category.

If you have a source that indicates that the FAA does not consider powered paragliders aircraft (or even ultralights) I'd be interested in seeing it. I'm looking at the FAA definition for "aircraft" and it seems like it should be broad enough to cover paragliders. Perhaps you meant to type "airplane" instead of "aircraft"?