A 33-year-old hang glider launched off a cliff near Jasper on Monday morning and immediately lost control of the craft.
Clay Smith of Harrison crashed into a tree and fell about 40 feet through the branches, said investigator Glenn Wheeler of the Newton County sheriff's office.
Smith walked a quarter-mile to McElroy Gap Road, where he collapsed and was found by a passing motorist, said Wheeler. From there, Smith was taken by helicopter to Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, where he was listed in fair condition Tuesday.
"Lost control of the hang glider," Smith posted on Facebook. "Got blown into forest."
Smith wrote that he had three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a ruptured spleen.
After launching from the cliff, the hang glider sailed for about 200 feet before wind spun it around, Smith wrote.
"I managed to turn 180 degrees to get back on course," he wrote. "I sailed about 200 feet when another cross wind got me. I fought it hard but had no control. I was sinking fast with no chance of recovery. I hit a tall tree. I grabbed another tree but the top broke out. I fell 20 feet sideways onto a broken tree stump."
From there, Smith fell the rest of the way to the ground. A video of the flight indicated the hang glider was in the air for about a minute before crashing.
Wheeler said Smith launched the hang glider from a location on Arkansas 7 about five miles south of Jasper.
Wheeler said Smith told first responders it was the first time he had launched from a bluff.
"He had launched off some knolls or small hills just to get a feel for it," said Wheeler, who is the search and rescue coordinator for Newton County.
Phil Morgan of Dardanelle, who is a member of Central Arkansas Mountain Pilots, said he met Smith at the launch site near Jasper on Saturday and told him conditions weren't good for hang gliding that day, so Smith apparently postponed his flight.
Morgan said Smith had bought a Wills Wing Ultra Sport hang glider, which is for intermediate pilots.
Morgan said Smith told him he'd had a couple of hang-gliding lessons at Lookout Mountain Flight Park in Georgia, but he didn't have a rating through the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association.
Morgan said he didn't think Smith had enough experience to fly the Ultra Sport.
"I told him he needed lessons," Morgan said. "I told him that was not a beginner's glider."
Smith crashed about a mile shy of the first landing field, Morgan said.
Morgan, who has been hang gliding since 1989, is administrator for the Arkansas Hang Gliding Facebook page.
Smith didn't respond to a Facebook message from a reporter Tuesday.
Metro on 03/30/2016