A tourist in Switzerland almost plummeted to his death after he realized he was not properly attached to his hang glider — nearly 4,000 feet in the air.
Outdoor adventure YouTuber Chris Gursky is lucky to be alive after his hang gliding vacation went awry this weekend. The entire thing was documented on video.
Gursky was supposed to spend several minutes trip nearly 4,000 feet in the air above Swiss farmland, but his instructor forgot to attach his harness to the hang glider’s metal frame. He spent over two minutes holding on to the contraption to avoid falling to his death. (RELATED: Man Goes Viral For Hilariously Falling Into Famous River [WATCH])
Luckily, he did survive, and he left us the immaculate footage of his so-called “Swiss Mishap” to watch.
“My first time hang gliding turned into a near-death experience as my safety harness was never hooked to the Glider,” Gursky wrote on his YouTube channel. “For 2 Min. [sic] 14 seconds, I had to hang on for my life! The landing was a rough one, but I lived to tell the story.”
Although Gursky survived, he was badly injured from the harrowing trip. He suffered a torn left bicep tendon and will have to get surgery on his wrist.
“I remember looking down and thinking, this is it. I was losing grip with my right hand, that was holding onto a strap on the pilot’s right shoulder,” he told The New York Post. “The pilot grabbed my hand, but like in the movies, it was a slow-motion slipping of the grip until my right hand slipped off and I grabbed another strap on his left side for a bit but this slipped off also.”
What an insane story. We’re just glad he lived to tell about it.