Paraglider survives horror midair collision with plane in birthday miracle escape

Sabrina, 44, was celebrating her birthday when a Cessna 172 plane collided with her paraglider canopy in a horror mid-air collision, forcing her to deploy her emergency reserve parachute

Shocking footage has emerged showing the terrifying moment a light aircraft smashed into a paraglider mid-flight, ripping through the canopy and leaving a woman plummeting towards earth.

The clip, shared on social media by account @sab-thi, captures a woman identified only as Sabrina gliding peacefully through the pristine skies above northern Austria.

Her serene flight is suddenly shattered by an ominous buzzing noise, before a small aircraft – believed to be a Cessna 172 – appears in shot, diving down and tearing straight through her paragliding wing.

With her canopy destroyed, screams and muffled shouts can be heard as the 44-year-old began her terrifying descent.

In the harrowing moments that followed, Sabrina can be seen frantically battling with tangled ropes and limbs while desperately trying to activate her emergency backup parachute, reports the Mirror.

The experienced paraglider is shown struggling to untangle her legs from the harness to ensure a safe landing – a manoeuvre she miraculously accomplished while barely missing a tree during her fall.

Sabrina revealed in a translated Instagram caption: “Happy birthday to me,” alongside Saturday’s date, disclosing that her nightmare ordeal occurred on her special day.

She added: “I actually still can’t believe that I’m sitting here typing this and apart from a few nasty bumps and bruises, all around nothing really happened.” The terrifying event occurred near Piesendorf, in close proximity to Zell am See in Austria’s Pinzgau region, as reported by local Austrian press, referencing the police.

Both Sabrina and the plane’s pilot, a 28-year-old male, managed to avoid serious harm, according to the police.

“The propeller of the motor plane severely damaged the paraglider, prompting the experienced paraglider to deploy her reserve parachute,” the police stated.

As per local coverage, the 44-year-old paraglider pilot from Upper Austria had taken off from Schmittenhöhe, a mountain favoured by paragliders, and was en route to Piesendorf when the light aircraft approached and collided with her parachute. She sustained bruises and contusions but escaped severe injury, as per local reports.

Local media identified the Cessna pilot as a 28-year-old man from Tyrol, in the western Austrian Alps. He was on a sightseeing flight at the time and managed to safely land the aircraft at Zell am See Airport following the collision.

The Cessna pilot reportedly informed the police that he could not evade the paraglider prior to the collision. The precise cause of the accident remains under investigation by local authorities.