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Thu, Nov 29, 2018

Man Recounts Hang Gliding Scare In Switzerland

Hung On With Bare Hands For More Than Two Minutes

A Florida man on vacation in Switzerland nearly lost his life when he nearly fell from a hang glider during a sightseeing flight recently.

Chris Gursky was a passenger on the hang glider. Fox News reports that his harness was not properly attached to the frame of the aircraft, and he was left dangling by his bare hands some 4,000 feet above the scenery he was supposed to be enjoying. The entire incident was captured on video and posted on YouTube.

Gursky had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. He titled the video ... which has gotten more than five million views ... "Swiss Mishap" and said “My first time hang gliding had an unexpected twist when I left the ground unattached from the glider. Warning - content may be disturbing to some, including my wife.”

The glider does not land normally, and Gursky suffered a torn left bicep and had to have surgery on his wrist. The incident has not put him completely off the sport. "I will go hang gliding again as I did not get to enjoy my first flight,” he wrote on his YouTube page.

But Swiss authorities and the Swiss Hang Gliding Association are not taking the incident so lightly. Christian Boppart of the Swiss Hang Gliding Association called the incident "horrifying", and told the news site The Local that it was the sort of mistake that is covered in the first hour of training. The Swiss Federal Office of Aviation has been made aware of the incident, and has the authority to investigate and could suspend the license of the pilot, who was not identified.

(Image from YouTube video)

FMI: Source Report, YouTube

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