The 51-year-old from Germany got caught in a thunderstorm cloud on Saturday and rose around 1,500 meters due to the suction.
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A paraglider pilot experienced anxious moments on Ascension Day in Gmunden. The 51-year-old from Germany got caught in a thunderstorm cloud on Saturday and rose around 1,500 meters due to the suction. Then he drifted uncontrolled about eight kilometers before he could land safely again, the police reported on Sunday in a press release.
The man had started in the afternoon from the 1,000 meter high Grünberg with his paraglider. After about a quarter of an hour he noticed an approaching thunderstorm and tried unsuccessfully to land before the clouds sucked it in. Several witnesses watched the incident and called the police.
The German’s umbrella retracted three to four times and then unfolded again. He could still steer away from the Traunstein and flew over the Traunsee. A little later came the next thundercloud, which sucked him around eight kilometers to the west before he could land in Neukirchen near Altmünster. The man survived the 40 very turbulent minutes without injuries.
Paragliding instructor Hartmut Gföllner from the Salzkammergut flight school spoke about the incident with the APA on Sunday with harsh criticism of the 51-year-old’s behavior. “The thunderstorm was predicted,” said Gföllner. The man had therefore made a “gross mistake,” he said. A friend of his had watched as other pilots packed up their things and drove home due to the dangerous weather conditions, while the German took off from Grünberg. The danger of thunderstorms is only the suction effect, a fall would be almost impossible due to the nature of the umbrellas: “They are built so that they want to be open.” But this would not even collapse for a good pilot, said Gföllner, who according to his own statements can look back on 40 years of experience with 3,500 hang-gliding and paragliding flights.
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