Other Instructors Call For Revocation Of Schanze's License

A fatal accident during a paragliding training flight has generated calls for the revocation of the license of the instructor who owns the company that offered the instruction.

The accident fatally injured 48-year-old Henry Ho of Windsor, CO, who was taking a lesson in Imperial Beach, CA when he went down on some rocks, causing blunt force injury to the head and torso, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office. It was not clear if Ho had taken off on purpose or if the paraglider was caught in an unexpected gust of wind and carried aloft, according to a report from the Salt Lake Tribune.

But regardless of the circumstances, television station KSWB in San Diego reports that the accident had prompted calls by other paragliding instructors for the FAA to revoke the license of Dell Schanze, who owns the Utah company Paraglider Mall which set up the lessons. Schanze told the station that he is "the best instructor and the leader of the biggest paragliding school in the world," but others, including instructor Billy Pruden of San Diego, say he is reckless and a "habitual violator of any kind of air sport we have."

Schanze said the accident was a fluke, and that it was the first fatality connected with his school in the 12 years he has been offering instruction.

Schanze was not the instructor in the fatal accident, but that instructor is employed by Paraglider Mall. He was reportedly staying in a condo owned by Schanze while giving the instruction. SDSO has indicated that Schanze was on the beach when the accident occurred.

Schanze was reportedly shown in a YouTube video shooting a handgun at a protected owl while flying a paraglider in Utah. The video was posted on May 21, and is being reviewed by federal officials, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

(Paraglider pictured in file photo.)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.sdsheriff.net