For the week of April 16 - 22, 2003

Paraglider dies from West Ketchum crash

Memorial set for Saturday

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Memorial service

A memorial service and eulogy for paraglider pilot Christopher W. Neuman is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 19, at the Church of the Big Wood on the corner of Warm Springs and Saddle Roads in Ketchum.

The service is open to anyone wishing to join Neuman’s family and friends in sharing fond memories of the veteran pilot who crashed after flying off Bald Mountain April 9.

Weather permitting, local pilots will kick the memorial service off by flying off Bald Mountain in Neuman’s honor between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. They may fly a missing-man formation for their fallen comrade, said Chuck Smith, owner of Fly Sun Valley.

Smith said the local response to Neuman’s death and outpouring of support have been amazing.

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

A 29-year-old veteran paralider pilot died last week after spiraling out of the sky over Bald Mountain and into the Big Wood River.

The pilot, Christopher W. Neuman, was from Seaside, Ore., and had lived in Ketchum for nearly three months. He sub-contracted for Fly Sun Valley, a local paragliding business, but was flying on his own time when he crashed at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 9.

Chris Neuman hiking up Bald Mountain on March 22 in the Dave Bridges Mountain Race, in which paragliders hike up and fly down the mountain. Neuman died April 9 from a paragliding accident in West Ketchum. Express photo by Willy Cook

Witnesses retrieved Neuman from the river and tried to revive him, but he had obvious trauma and heart failure, Ketchum Fire Chief Greg Schwab said.

Neuman is said to have been a vibrant, enthusiastic man.

"He was full of energy, man, I’ll tell you that. He was the first one up the hill every day," said Chuck Smith, owner of Fly Sun Valley.

Though the events leading up to Neuman’s death are still under investigation, Smith said eyewitness paraglider pilots reported that Neuman initiated some extreme aerobatic maneuvers from which he did not recover. Neuman was making a solo flight from Bald Mountain, and flying conditions were considered smooth and optimal.

Theories vary as to what exactly went wrong.

Smith said that Neuman may have blacked out or lost control because of G-forces; he may have become tangled in the lines of his wing; or he may have become fixated on the ground after getting in trouble.

"But the root of the problem was that he was trying to do advanced aerobatics," Smith said. "If you had to parallel what Chris was doing that morning, he was basically doing a wheely down Main Street. Some people ride motorcycles their whole life and don’t do wheelies."

Rescue workers and local paragliders pull a parafoil wing from the Big Wood River Wednesday, April 9 after a local paraglider spiraled into the river and incurred fatal injuries. Express photo by Willy Cook

Using the paraglider lexicon, Neuman attempted to perform a loop entry to a "sat maneuver," Smith said. Though the sat is somewhat common, using a loop to enter the maneuver causes several moments during which the pilot is inverted. It is an abrupt and sometimes violent transition.

"You’re changing direction so suddenly there’s quite a few G-forces generated," Smith said.

Kurt Nelson, the Sawtooth National Forest’s Ketchum District ranger, said last week’s paragliding accident should not jeopardize future paragliding flights from Bald Mountain.

"There’s quite a history of safe flying, and when accidents happen, you want to look at it and say, ‘How can we do better?’" Nelson said.

Smith said paragliding in general is not significantly more or less dangerous than other adventure sports endemic to mountain communities.

"It’s like any active sport—skiing, kayaking. It has its inherent dangers. You’re an adult. You choose what river to go down, what rock to climb, what slope to ski and what air to fly in," he said.

A graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Neuman was a highly experienced paragliding pilot as well as a commercially licensed seaplane and multi-engine pilot and flight instructor.

"He certainly made an impression on a lot of people around here," Smith said.

Smith said he would remember Neuman best for "his level of energy and his nonstop smile."

"He was a very personable person. He always wanted to say, ‘Hey. What’s goin’ on?’ and give you a big old bear hug," Smith said. "His level of enthusiasm and energy came through in his passion for flying."

 

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