A woman paragliding over the Austrian Alps was sent spinning mid-air after a small plane slashed her glider. Heart-stopping footage shows the moment 44-year-old woman called Sabrina was paragliding near the scenic Schmittenhöhe mountain in northern Austria Saturday afternoon when suddenly a small aircraft rips through her wing.
The Austrian woman is then sent spiralling through the sky screaming while flying over Pinzgauer Hütte mountain before she miraculously landed safely back on the ground. The canopy appears to have been split in half after it was struck. The Cessna sightseeing plane that was steered by a 28-year-old pilot from Tyrol, who claimed that the collision was unavoidable.
She was desperately able to untangle herself and deploy the emergency chute as she descended rapidly towards the ground. Heart-pounding first-person footage shows her muffled shrieks over the wind before she finally lands back to earth with a loud grunt.
Taking to Instagram Sabrina said she suffered severe bruising and contusions from the fall on Instagram, where she shared her horrifying experience.
“I actually still can’t believe that I’m sitting here typing this—and that, aside from a few nasty bruises and some general contusions, absolutely nothing happened,” Sabrina wrote in German on Instagram.
The paraglider was picked up by a police helicopter and taken to a local airport, according to Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
A spokesperson for Salzburg State Police said: “The propeller of the motor plane severely damaged the paraglider, prompting the experienced paraglider to deploy her reserve parachute.”
Austrian officials confirmed the plane that crashed into the paraglider landed safely at Zell am See Airport in Salzburg.
Baumgartner, ages 56, to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel while flying over the village of Porto Sant’Elpidio in the eastern Marche region.
