Two injured as 'rare' event downs Powered Parachute
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

Two people were injured when a rare wind condition downed a Predator Powered Parachute at the Wharton Municipal Airport Tuesday morning.

The crash happened at 10:05 a.m. according to a report filed by Department of Public Safety's Lt. Alan Spears. The report states the pilot of the craft, Scott Hughes, 54, of Houston sustained back and knee injuries and was treated at the scene but not transported. The passenger, Thomas Lapp, age unavailable, of Florida, was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston with a back injury.

Hughes said he had been in contact with Lapp and the injury had been identified as a sprain and Lapp is expected to make a full recovery.

"We hit - hit hard," Hughes said in describing the actual crash.

In his report, Spears stated Hughes was conducting an introductory flight and was demonstrating an emergency landing procedure when the crash took place. He reported the aircraft dropped between 25 and 50 feet before landing on the fan guard and wheels.

Hughes is the owner of Hughes Aero, which manufactures the Predator.

"We were flying into the wind," he said. "And there was apparently something similar to a dust devil that came on us directly from behind. The two winds acting from opposite directions just took away all the lift and we went straight down.

"It if had been coming from in front or from the sides, it might have shaken us up but it would have passed and I would have had time to recover before hitting the ground."

He said that Hughes Aero has about 3,000 hours of flying time in the Predators and this is the first time any of the pilots has experienced such a phenomena.

"It was just a freak thing," he said. "I've never experienced something like that. It apparently was not only heading in the same direction as the parachute but at about the same speed, and we just got caught up in it."