As we got nearer the runway, the mountains were causing us a bit of turbulence. I had complete faith in Denny's ability to get us down safely, but I was shaken, and had to close my eyes a few times as the parachute bounced wildly.
I did wonder if a powered parachute could actually tip upside down and collapse (it can't). More than just mountain turbulence, we now had some really impressive wind gusts of 35 mph or so. Denny was a champion, calmly keeping up a comforting narrative as he fought the wind and tried to land.
We hit the runway hard, and bounced: at that time I heard Denny mutter: "Oh Oh... " and I looked to our left to see Gary's parachute crumpled against the rocks on the hillside. It was then I really panicked, looking wildly for Paul and Gary. I grabbed my belts and got them off somehow, and was trying to fling poor Denny's helmet in hopes of getting loose to run to Paul, but the wind caught Dennys chute and started pulling us backwards. Denny grabbed the plane frame and dragged his feet. I tried to help, (I was no help at all) and the plane did finally come to rest. I then ran as fast as I could to Paul and Gary's landing site. Paul was standing, and finally I saw Gary too. Gary had done an amazing job of landing the plane, then the wind grabbed the chute and dragged it across 2 runways and into the hillside. Gary's leg was jammed underneath, and Paul quickly got out of his restraints and picked it up off Gary's leg. Everyone was OK.
I think both pilots were amazing. That "rogue" wind was the worst Denny had encountered in his 900+ hours of flying.
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