MARTIN COUNTY— Equipment issues and alcohol consumption were cited in a lengthy report released Tuesday about a March hang gliding crash that left a 49-year-old Stuart man dead.
Robin New, of the 700 block of Southwest St. Lucie Crescent, died March 23, after a hang glider on which he was flying with another person crashed. No one else was hurt.
They had been towed behind a boat in the area of the Jensen Beach Causeway, according to the 249-page Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report.
According to his autopsy report, New's cause of death was drowning and he had a blood alcohol level of 0.10, which is greater than the 0.08 legal limit to drive.
Officers said they found Modelo beer cans, a 12 pack box of Modelo beer and bottles of the beer on the boat that was pulling the homemade hang glider.
According to the report by FWC, the "root cause of the accident was an inadvertent deployment of the twin parachute drogue system while still on tow."
The report also noted "the lack of any safety brief and some basic safety equipment (floatation devices, helmets, emergency parachute) and the homemade nature of much of the towing system, demonstrated that the entire operation was at best rather cavalier."
Another contributing factor was New's alcohol consumption.
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