Paraglider Survives Accidentally Breaking Altitude Record
More Articles Related to NewsParaglider Ewa Wisnerska was caught in a thunderstorm while training for the Paragliding World Championships near Tamworth, Australia. As two storm cells merged, an updraft sucked Wisnerska to 32,612 feet above sea level!
This is a remarkable story of survival, endurance, luck and, possibly, stupidity.
On Ewa's paraglider was a GPS tracking system recording her position and altitude as she was buffeted about in the storm. Its highest reading was some 3500 feet higher than Mount Everest which is "only" 29,035 feet. Her top speed as she ascended higher into the sky was measured at 66 feet per second and her top falling speed 108 feet per second.
Ewa Wisnerska broke the paragliding altitude record when the storm pushed her up higher than Mount Everest!
Incredibly, Ewa Wisnerska's paraglider went from 2500 feet to her maximum height in only fifteen minutes! With lightning flashing all around her, Ewa became coated with ice in the minus 50 degrees F temperature at that high altitude. Hypothermia set in. Hailstones 15cm in diameter pummeled her body and paraglider, further threatening Wisnerska's survival. Her lightweight flying suit offered little protection.
In the middle of the massive thunderstorm, Wisnerska recalls the darkness, the sound of lightening all around her and the immense power of the storm. Eventually she passed out due to lack of oxygen. She may have been unconscious for an entire hour as she continued to paraglide through the storm.
Fortunately Ewa Wisnerkska regained consciousness at 20,000 feet as she descended some sixty kilometers from where she had launched. She remembers feeling like an astronaut arriving from the moon.
Severe bruising and frostbite to Ewa Wisnerska's face and ears required a short hospitalization.
Another glider caught in the same storm was not as lucky as Ewa. Paraglider He Zhongpin was also sucked to a high altitude where he lost his life due to the cold or lack of oxygen.
Some two hundred paragliding enthusiasts were training in the area and had been briefed as to the dangers of the storm. It seems that some of them tempted fate by trying to move around the storm rather than avoid it altogether.
Paragliding Altitude Record
Up to now the altitude record for a paraglider was 24,000 feet. It is truly amazing Ewa Wisnerska survived going higher than Mount Everest in a thunderstorm.
The Biennial Paragliding World Championships begin in Manila on February 24. Ewa Wisnerska has already broken the paragliding elevation record and lived to tell the tale!
For more information about the Paragliding Championships see the 10th FAI Paragliding World Championships website at Manila2007.com.
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