Second Glider Lost In Same Storm

A sudden thunderstorm caught paragliders training for an upcoming event in Australia unawares Wednesday... hurtling two them to flight-level altitudes, and killing one.

Amazingly, German paraglider Ewa Wisnerka was able to recover after being flung to an estimated 32,000 feet by updrafts stemming from the merging of two powerful thunderstorm cells. After blacking out from the high altitude and extreme cold, she regained consciousness in time to land safely -- 40 miles from her original launch site.

"You can’t imagine the power. You feel like nothing, like a leaf from a tree going up," Wisnerka told Australian radio, according to the Daily Telegraph.

A GPS unit and radio equipment Wisnerka carried recorded the details of her harrowing ordeal. Within 15 minutes, the violent winds carried her from about 2,500 feet to 32,000 feet. Her attempts to avoid the thunderstorm failed... leading her to conclude her chances of survival were "almost zero," before the effects of oxygen deprivation took hold.

She was unconscious for more than 30 minutes... while her glider rode the winds, uncontrolled.

"I was shaking all the time. The last thing I remember it was dark. I could hear lightning all around me," she said, adding she encountered orange-sized hailstones on her trip upward.

The same system also claimed 42-year-old Chinese paraglider He Zhongpin. He was found dead, about 50 miles from the launch site.

Fellow paragliders expressed disbelief Wisnerka was able to survive.

"There’s no oxygen. She could have suffered brain damage. But she came to again at a height of 6,900 meters (22,640 feet) with ice all over her body and slowly descended herself," said event organizer Godfrey Wenness.

When she came to, Wisnerka said she felt like an astronaut. "I could see the Earth coming -- wow, like Apollo 13 -- I can see the Earth."

After landing, Wisnerka spent an hour in the hospital for observation before being released. She still aims to compete in the 10th World Paragliding Championships in New South Wales, beginning February 24.

Sudden weather changes -- not uncommon during the summer months in Australia -- aren't the only perils paragliders face. Earlier this month, a British paraglider was attacked by two large eagles.

FMI: www.manilla2007.com/