When you head up into the mountains for a casual paragliding session, the last thing you expect to see behind you is an entire airplane. But that’s exactly what happened to a 44-year-old adventurer named Sabrina over the Austrian Alps, who found herself in a game of chicken with a Cessna. The terrifying mid-air collision sent her spiraling thousands of feet above the peaks, forcing her to deploy her reserve parachute in a split-second move that successfully brought her back to solid ground. Taking to Instagram to thank her “lifesaver” piece of nylon, Sabrina also pointed out the obvious logistical nightmare of the situation, noting that as a wind-powered glider, it’s pretty tough to dodge a speeding plane.
This heart-stopping footage strikes a particularly terrifying chord closer to home in Montana, where there is a decent population of paragliders catching thermals over the Bridger and Crazy Mountain ranges. Seeing a collision like this is a sobering reminder of just how fragile those peaceful mountain flights can be, and how quickly an afternoon in the clouds can turn into a worst-case scenario.
Aviation regulations both abroad and at home dictate that motorized aircraft must yield to unmotorized ones. Austrian investigators weren’t buying the 28-year-old pilot’s excuse that he couldn’t swerve in time, slapping him with a negligence charge. Despite the ultimate turbulence, Sabrina is keeping things classy, urging her online followers not to badmouth the pilot. She did, however, promise her fans that her future content will be vastly more boring, assuring everyone that she has zero plans to turn plane-dodging into a regular channel stunt.
Check out this insane footage:
