Wego Kite Tube of Death Accident

[davekridandtori]

*********** WARNING *********** I'm so sorry to report this but all of you who care about your body (specifically your spinal area ) need to read this story that happened to my brother in law June 2nd at Lake Powell.

He was on this kite tube that incidentally I had ordered last week , and was going along fine approx 15' in the air when a gust of wind took him for the ride of his life (literally). He spiraled downward hitting the water neck first.

Bottomline it is a miracle (doctors words) that he is alive. He BROKE his C2 (remember Christopher Reeve)in his neck and currently has a cage around his head called a halo to prevent movement that he will have to wear for at least 3 months. His mobility will never be the same and all of you dummys that think your too tough to have this happen to him think about how it will feel to have the Doctor standing over you with a Cordless Drill and a 1/4" drill bit that you would normally use to fix the house up but instead he is drilling into your all important skull. (huh makes you think about it a little more..........) THIS IS REAL PEOPLE AND THIS COMPANY WILL GO DOWN FOR THIS. WE LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT LITAGATION PROVIDES NEGATIVE RESULTS FOR COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTUR ITEMS THAT HURT PEOPLE.

If you have been injured on this tube of death please call me at 801-548-6309 as I am putting a very compalling national news story together.

Dave

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by davekridandtori

... as I am putting a very compalling national news story together.

What a great typo...

[glatt]

Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your brother in law. Thanks for coming here and posting about this. These tubes sound very dangerous. Good luck.

[Elspode]

Okay...let me just start out by saying that I am truly sorry to hear about this gentleman's injury. I have a head-injured son, and I know how difficult the life of a post-CNS injury victim can be, believe me.

However...I am very much curious as to how a person wouldn't just look at something like a kite tube, knowing full well that they would be tens of feet in the air, moving at speeds for which the human body is not normally designed to move without protection, and not know that there was a serious possibility of injury or death.

It doesn't take an aeronautical physics major to be able to see that a kite tube is not controllable while in the air, and therefore potentially dangerous.

Of course, I must disclaim being completely judgemental about this as I've never seen the packaging or product in person. Does the box say anything like "Use at your own risk" or "Caution: Kite Tube may be unstable while airborne?"

If the device is being portrayed as being inherently safe, then I say sue. However, if it is glaringly obvious that one might be taking one's life into their own hands while using it, then should such a case have merit?

There is a serious lack of personal responsibility in the world today. I'd like to be real clear on whether or not the people selling this thing are truly and grossly negligent, or whether the purchasers and users are just not paying attention before I make any quantum judgements about this issue.

[wolf]

I want to believe that your story is real, Dave, rather than just another attempt by a liability attorney to generate sufficient interest for a class action suit. We've gone from none to three posts about these rafts in a short period of time.

Heck, this is the internet ... I don't think there is an adquately large-sized grain of salt to take all the sad stories with.

The fact that you've responded to these folks after your initial identical posting is encouraging.

[Spexxvet]

I saw ads for these things, and I admit that my first thought was "wow, that's got to cool - flying behind a boat", not "I bet somebody's gonna get hurt real bad". I'm not an aeronautical physics major, and I haven't seen the packaging - it just looked like fun.

[Pangloss62]

This one might be more stable:

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by davekridandtori

WE LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT LITAGATION PROVIDES NEGATIVE RESULTS FOR COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTUR ITEMS THAT HURT PEOPLE.

I'm sure we should all be grateful tha't you're doing your best to protect us from these evil devices that hurt people. Heaven forfend that people should be responsible for their own actions as long as there's somebody else around to sue who still has money left.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

I'm sure we should all be grateful tha't you're doing your best to protect us from these evil devices that hurt people. Heaven forfend that people should be responsible for their own actions as long as there's somebody else around to sue who still has money left.

If a device, when used as intended, results in the death or severe disability of a significant percentage of its users, we have every right to shut that company down.

This isn't like a ladder that's being set up improperly. This isn't like someone slipping while mowing wet grass on a hill, and chopping their foot off. Users of this device are using it exactly as intended, and they are being killed. Go to the website. The only indication that it may have some danger is the warning on the kite itself that you shouldn't go higher than you are willing to fall. They make it sound like jumping off a high diving board. There is no mention that people have died using this product as intended because they slam into the concrete-hard water at high speed.

There's a place for personal responsibility. There's also a place for banning unreasonably dangerous products.

[jinx]

Sorry about your BIL dave, I hope he recovers quickly, and thanks for the warning.

A couple of thoughts popped into my head after reading your post, and Wolf's link to another discussion of this kite thing.
- Was this your BIL's first ride?
- Did he actually see 2 other people get hurt on it before he decided to give it a try? Coughing up blood etc???
- 30-35mph and 15ft in the air? Holy shit. And again, was this his first try? What about learning how to do it first? At slow speeds etc...? 35mph could fuck someone up on any kind of tube.

[Elspode]

I would agree with Glatt that, if all you did was read the web page (which appears to be a distributor's site, and not the manufacturer, BTW), it would indeed seem as though there's no danger at all in using the product.

I still think that any sane person would look at it, consider the speeds and altitudes involved, and immediately decide to rent a pontoon boat instead.

[wolf]

The owner's manual says not to tow the thing faster than 20mph for an adult, 15mph for a child. There are also specific instructions for the length of the tow rope (shorter rope for beginners) based on the experience of the rider of the device. It also says something like "don't fly higher than you are willing to fall."

Based on david's statement, the product was used improperly.

[xoxoxoBruce]

This picture on the distributors site would indicate flying high is part of the normal use.

But, anyone that's jumped/dove into the water from that height knows it's easy to get hurt. Plus anyone who owns/uses a boat regularly knows you don't want to hit the water at high speed from any height.

IMO people have to use their heads, are the primary source of their own safety, and are at least partly to blame when injured with sports equipment.
Actually that applies to tools and appliances too.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by glatt

. The only indication that it may have some danger is the warning on the kite itself that you shouldn't go higher than you are willing to fall. They make it sound like jumping off a high diving board. There is no mention that people have died using this product as intended because they slam into the concrete-hard water at high speed.

There's a place for personal responsibility. There's also a place for banning unreasonably dangerous products.

It is indeed quite a bit like jumping off a high-diving board: if you do it wrong you can kill yourself. Noticed how many public pools don't have diving boards anymore? That's exactly why; some Darwin award-winner's survivors decided to take their grief out on the pool owner.

I'm sick and tired of paying a stupidity tax every time I do something aviation-related because somebody wanted to be indemnified for their own (or a relative's) lack of sense. If you can't figure out that flying in a kite is dangerous if done wrong, or under conditions that are too windy, then whose fault is that?

Obviously if you crash an aircraft (yes, a kite is an aircraft) into water at high speed, you are clearly not "using it as intended".

[MaggieL]

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