A woman narrowly escaped death after a small sightseeing plane ripped through her paraglider canopy high above the Austrian Alps, sending her spinning uncontrollably through the sky.
In a terrifying midair accident that looked straight out of a disaster movie, a woman narrowly escaped death after a small sightseeing plane ripped through her paraglider canopy high above the Austrian Alps, sending her spinning uncontrollably through the sky.
The heart-stopping incident unfolded near the picturesque Schmittenhohe mountain in northern Austria on Saturday afternoon, when 44-year-old experienced paraglider Sabrina was soaring through the air and filming her flight.
Shocking footage captured the exact moment the sightseeing aircraft suddenly appeared overhead and smashed directly through her paraglider — missing her by mere feet. The violent collision shredded her canopy, splitting it nearly in half and triggering a horrifying freefall.
Sabrina could be heard screaming in panic as she spiraled uncontrollably through the sky, desperately trying to activate her emergency parachute. The footage shows her fighting to untangle herself from the damaged gear while rapidly plunging toward the ground.
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She finally managed to deploy the emergency chute moments before impact. Her camera later captured the brutal landing, ending with a loud grunt as she hit the ground hard.
Despite the near-fatal ordeal, Sabrina survived with relatively minor injuries. She was later rescued by a police helicopter and transported to a local airport, Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported.
“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 her Instagram after the incident.
Authorities said the sightseeing plane, piloted by a 28-year-old man, landed safely at Zell am See Airport following the collision. The pilot reportedly claimed there was no way he could have avoided the paraglider.