Images that give you chills: a paraglider is hit hard by a plane in flight. The woman miraculously escaped alive
An Austrian woman has miraculously escaped with her life after the paraglider she was flying over an alpine valley in the Salzburg region was hit head-on by a small plane.
The incident took place in the Schmittenhöhe area, near Zell am See, on the very day the 44-year-old athlete was celebrating her birthday.
The woman, identified as Sabrina, took off for a paragliding flight and was filming her experience, unaware that she was about to be involved in a serious accident, reports The Times.
The footage shows a Cessna F182Q Skylane light aircraft appear from behind her and hit her violently, severing the support cables and damaging the canopy of the paraglider.
The impact caused her to go into an uncontrolled spin, but her quick reaction saved her life: she was able to deploy the reserve parachute and landed safely.
A paraglider hit by a plane in flight PHOTO: X
The plane's pilot, a 28-year-old man, told authorities he failed to avoid the collision in time. He later landed safely at Zell am See airport.
“I still can't believe that apart from a few serious bruises and scrapes, I didn't suffer anything serious,” wrote the woman on Instagram, where she also published the images of the incident.
Police in the state of Salzburg have confirmed that the pilot has been charged with causing bodily harm.
The investigation is ongoing, analyzing the circumstances of the collision and whether the rules of flight in the airspace were respected.
