Conditions of infliction and features of injury in victims of paragliding

Paragliding is becoming increasingly popular in the Russian Federation. Along with the increase in the number of flights, the number of disasters is also increasing, each of which requires a legally prescribed investigation.

The purpose of this study is to study the conditions of injury and morphological features of people who died during paragliding. For this purpose, an analysis of archival conclusions of forensic medical experts and personal observations regarding the corpses of people who died as a result of the paragliding disaster (a total of 39 observations) was carried out. The observation period was 23 years (from 2003 to 2025).

Based on the results obtained, for the first time, epidemiological data characteristic of the Russian Federation on the frequency of paragliding accidents depending on the time of year, region and terrain were obtained on forensic medical material, the personality of the deceased pilots and passengers was characterized, the relationship between the probability of disasters with flight objectives, the number of flight participants and compliance with flight safety requirements was shown.

For the first time, detailed qualitative and quantitative data on the morphological features of injuries among those killed during paragliding are presented: according to their morphological essence, quantity, localization and combination; group affiliation to primary and secondary injuries, as well as to damage to the contact-interacting complex and a complex of signs combined by the concept of "inertial injury". A strong correlation has been established between the probability of damage to the internal organs of the chest and abdomen (liver, heart, kidneys and spleen) and their mass under conditions of negative acceleration (r=0.92; p<0.05).

Typical shortcomings of the primary forensic examination of corpses of persons who died as a result of paragliding, negatively affecting the possibility of solving expert tasks of a situational nature aimed at clarifying the issue of compliance (or non-compliance) with flight safety rules.