Man Fractures Wrist in Hang Gliding Mishap
An American tourist in Switzerland was forced to hang on for his life when his instructor didn’t properly attach his harness just before they went hang-gliding.
Chris Gursky, who lives in Florida, posted a video of the ordeal on YouTube Monday, and it has garnered more than a million views in just one day.
When Gursky and his instructor took flight, they quickly realized something was wrong.
Gursky posted a video describing the horror hang-glide on YouTube.
‘My left hand was on the cross bar that was ultimately the landing gear, with a wheel on each side. As we were going down for a hot landing I was slowly losing my grip with my right hand as I was swinging in the wind with the glider.
‘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.
‘I ended up holding on bar with the left hand and the lower part of his leg with the right when we were nearing the ground. I looked down to see my feet hit first, which ripped me off at about 45 mph as it was a hot landing and I was under the landing gear.
‘I would guesstimate the total flight time was about 5 minutes. When I sat up I knew something was wrong and saw that my wrist was broken.
‘For two min. 14 seconds I had to hang on for my life! The landing was a rough one, but I lived to tell the story.
‘Upon impact my right wrist suffered a distal radius fracture, which required surgery.
‘A titanium plate and seven screws were installed and I was released the following afternoon. I also tore my left bicep tendon from holding on for so long. It beats the alternative.’
Despite his terrifying ordeal, Gursky praised the pilot and even said he’d try hang gliding again.
He said: ‘While the pilot made a critical error in our pre-flight set up by not attaching me to the glider, he did all he could to get me down to the ground as quickly as possible while grabbing onto my harness and flying with one hand.
