A U.S. tourist is lucky to be alive after an “unexpected twist” occurred during his first time hang gliding while on vacation after the pilot forgot to attach him to the glider, leaving him dangling hundreds of feet above the ground.
Chris Gursky and his wife, Gail, were on vacation in Switzerland when they decided to try hang gliding for the first time.
Terrifying footage shows Gursky hanging on for dear life after his instructor for his tandem flight forgot to attach him to the actual glider.
“Gail and her pilot took off first….looked cool as hell,” Gursky recalled on social media. “Then my pilot and I lined up for takeoff. We waited a bit for the updraft to pick up and then we ran till we left the side of the 4000 ft mountain edge. I was expecting to level out above the pilot as we went, but quickly discovered that my harness was not attached to the hang glider or anything else…”
Video shows Gursky trying to hang on to the pilot with one hand with the other on the gilder as the pair sailed high above the ground.
WATCH: Mistake leaves tourist flying hang glider hanging on for dear life
“My body weight shifted straight down and I found myself hanging on for my life. I remember looking down and thinking, this is it,” Gursky said. “I was losing grip with my right hand that was holding onto a strap on the pilot’s right shoulder. He was trying to make a beeline to the landing field as he knew what the situation could bring.”
The pilot was seen trying to navigate the glider with one hand and using the other to hold onto Gursky as they made their hurried descent.
“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,” Gursky said. “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 the bar with the left hand and the lower part of his leg with the right when we here nearing the ground,” Gursky said.
As the pair came in for the landing, Gursky let go of the glider a few feet from the ground, fracturing his wrist in the process, requiring surgery.
It’s unclear if Gursky needed a clean pair of underwear following the flight, but he did say he will go gliding again in the future.
“I will go hang gliding again as I did not get to enjoy my first flight.”