PIESENDORF — A 44-year-old paraglider was struck mid-air by a scenic flight plane over the Piesendorf area of Salzburg, Austria, on Saturday, forcing her to deploy her reserve parachute and make an emergency landing, the Salzburg State Police said. Both the woman, identified as Sabrina, and the pilot escaped serious injury.
The propeller of the motor plane severely damaged the paraglider, according to police. The pilot told investigators he was unable to avoid the collision. After releasing her reserve chute and touching down, the woman was airlifted by a police helicopter.
Sabrina posted video of the collision to her Instagram account. In the footage, a small white aircraft enters the frame and tears through the canopy of her glider just feet above her head, sending her spiraling out of control thousands of feet in the air.
The video shows her calmly reaching for the handle of her emergency parachute after the impact. The reserve chute deploys without issue and she slows her descent, with the shredded remains of her glider trailing behind her in two pieces, still attached to her harness. She managed to free her feet from the harness as she descended, narrowly avoiding a shrub before touching down on a grassy patch.
"I actually still can't believe that I'm sitting here typing this," Sabrina wrote in the social media post, adding that she escaped the collision with little more than bruises. Salzburg State Police said the incident remains under investigation as authorities review how the plane and the paraglider came to occupy the same airspace.