Man dies in gliding accident

A man was killed in an aviation accident in Nicosia district on Thursday, with reports saying he went into a free fall after experiencing difficulties with his paramotor glider.

Police said 31-year-old Marios Frangous from Xylofagou was killed in a paragliding accident on Thursday afternoon, around 5pm, when he went into a free fall over the Chapepianes area, south of Nicosia, behind Ktima Kousioumi.

Police said officers from Pera Chorio rushed to the accident scene where they located a man and his governable gliding parachute. Frangous was rushed to the Emergency Room at Nicosia General Hospital, where doctors on duty pronounced him dead on arrival.

The chairman of the Cyprus Aircraft Accident Incident Investigation Board, Yiannakis Loizou, told Knews on Friday that it was too early to comment on the conditions of the incident.

“We went there and collected everything on Thursday night and we will begin our investigation,” Loizou said.

The AAIIB chairman confirmed that the harness in question was a paramotor glider, which a pilot wears in his or her back with a parachute.

Additional reports said Frangous fell straight down to earth while it was not immediately clear what led to the free fall.

Typical gliding accidents often involve human error and wind conditions, or a combination of factors such as misjudgment of weather conditions. Additional factors or combinations of factors are also common, such as deflation of the glider, oversteering, collision with obstacles, and unsatisfactory preflight checks.

Police are also investigating the circumstances of the fatal incident.

The following video was made public by Frangous' brother after the fatal accident: