A woman has spoken out after surviving a terrifying mid-air accident during a paragliding flight above the Austrian Alps.
Video from the incident shows the 44-year-old cruising over the mountains in the Piesendorf area near Salzburg moments before everything suddenly goes wrong.
While she is gliding, a small propeller aircraft comes into view and appears to intersect her flight path, with its propeller cutting into her paraglider canopy and sending her into a dangerous descent.
Even as she is thrown around in the air, she is able to respond quickly, carrying out emergency procedures while the damaged wing lashes behind her.
The clip then captures her deploying her reserve parachute, slowing her fall before she drops toward the ground and comes down near a tree.
Although her face is largely out of shot, the recording includes audible shouts as she loses height and activates the emergency chute.
Police later issued a statement on what happened, saying: “According to the pilot’s own statements, he was unable to swerve in time, which is why there was a collision with the paraglider.
“This was severely damaged by the propeller of the powered aircraft, which is why the experienced paraglider triggered the reserve parachute.
“She managed a safe emergency landing on a forest road.”
The aircraft also landed without further incident. Reports say it suffered only minor damage, while the woman was collected by a police helicopter and flown to Zell am See Airport, where the plane also touched down.
Authorities have not officially named the paraglider involved, though a woman named Sabrina posted the footage to her Instagram account.
“The day when, as a paraglider, a Cessna 172 pulls you out of the sky,” she wrote in German, which was translated automatically.
“I actually still can’t believe that I’m sitting here typing this and apart from a few nasty bruises and bruises all around nothing really happened.”
At the start of the caption she added: “Happy Birthday to me”.
She later shared a follow-up post featuring still images from the video, along with further thoughts on what happened.
In the caption, she wrote: “There are rules and accidents happen anyway. Maybe this will help everyone fly a little more attentive again.
“I understand that a paraglider, just like a glider for us, is often difficult to see – even though we are beautifully colorful”
An investigation has since been launched into the collision.