Two paragliders crashed into each other thousands of feet in the air before going down into woodland.
Footage from 31-year-old Sebastien Watier’s body camera shows the moment he hits a female paraglider and plummets to the ground from 4,757ft with a tangled parachute.
Mr Waiter’s chute entangled in the trees and he blanked out for ten minutes while he was dangling from his harness. Luckily, they both escaped serious injury in the incident that took place on May 22.
Warning Disturbing Video:
The experienced paraglider apparently lost control when converging winds caused him and one of his group to collide near Aiguebelette Lake, Savoie, France.
Mr Watier said that both he and his co-flyer were equally to blame as they weren’t paying attention to wind currents.
“The collision happened at 1,450m (4757ft) up in the air and we finished our course 300m (984ft) down in the trees,” he said.
“As far as the circumstances are concerned, we’re both equally guilty as we were both in a thermal wind on converging routes.
“A lack of attention from both of us lead to the collision. The lady did not suffer any injuries.”
Mr Watier said he suffered a slight episode of unconsciousness after landing due to the restrictive harness suspending him from the trees.
“I was suspended 16ft (5m) above the ground so I suffered harness hang syndrome which caused me to lose consciousness for 10 minutes. During the incident I stayed very calm to manage the situation as best as could.”
“After speaking to several instructors, they confirmed that bringing down the main wing to allow the rescue wing to deploy is very complicated when the wing is twisted above.”
Leave a Comment