A 44-year-old woman was enjoying a paragliding flight over the Austrian Alps when an aircraft nearly ended her life. While crossing the Pinzgauer Hütte area, a Cessna 172 struck her in midair in front of several witnesses.
The collision occurred near Zell am See and was captured on video. The paraglider fell several meters, but managed to deploy her emergency parachute seconds before the final impact.
The pilot, a 28-year-old man, managed to keep control of the aircraft and landed without problems at the local airport. Authorities are now investigating whether there were coordination errors or visibility failures in the Alpine airspace.