Vienna: A terrifying mid-air collision between a small aircraft and a paraglider over Austria’s scenic Schmittenhohe mountain was caught on camera, showing a woman narrowly escaping death after her canopy was ripped apart thousands of feet above the ground.
Details On The Near-Death Incident
The incident occurred on May 23, when 44-year-old Sabrina was paragliding over northern Austria in clear weather conditions. Dramatic footage shared by her on Instagram shows the peaceful flight turning catastrophic within seconds after a small sightseeing plane suddenly tore through her parachute canopy mid-air.
The aircraft, identified by Sabrina as a Cessna 172, appeared to narrowly miss her before its wing and propeller sliced directly through the paraglider’s canopy, shredding it completely and sending the woman plunging toward the ground.
Reserve Parachute Deployed Just In Time
The horrifying video captured Sabrina desperately trying to deploy her emergency reserve parachute as the remains of the destroyed canopy tangled around her during the fall.
In a remarkable escape, she successfully released the backup chute moments before impact and managed to land safely, narrowly missing nearby trees. Authorities later confirmed that she suffered only minor bruises despite the near-fatal accident.
'Nothing Really Happened,' Says Sabrina
“I still can’t believe that I’m sitting here typing this and apart from a few nasty bruises, nothing really happened,” Sabrina wrote in a caption accompanying the viral footage.
Police said the pilot of the aircraft, a 28-year-old man, was also unharmed in the incident. “The propeller of the motor plane severely damaged the paraglider, prompting the experienced paraglider to deploy her reserve parachute,” police said in an official statement, according to 9news.com.
