Plane hits paraglider in Germany - both survive.

[red750]

Paraglider escapes death after plane tears through parachute canopy

WWW.NBCNEWS.COM

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A woman paragliding over the Austrian Alps survived a horrifying midair collision with a plane. Video shows the plane come up behind her, before it rips through her parachute, briefly sending her free falling...

 

[T510]

That is some scary footage.

 

Props to the paraglider pilot for deploying her reserve so quickly, lucky the plane only hit her chute and not her.

[Student Pilot]

Thinking clearly in an a catastrophic situation, cut off/ let go her tangled main before deploying the emergency. It's hard not to panic, unless you've been there you don't know how you will react.

[onetrack]

Bloody hell!! How could you not see a bright orange paraglider right in your flight path?

[Student Pilot]

Too busy playing with multifunction avionics? Auto pilot on and looking at their phone? 

[PureCaboose]

I have been asked by ATC to change my path as there is a VFR plane with a conflict that is on the wrong altitute (East v's west) and not responding to calls from ATC. My gut feel is, once the autopilot goes on it's  more IFR than VFR without the added safety of ATC overview. Especially with the proliferation of flight director type AP's in smaller planes now.

[sfGnome]

Confession time… I was flying one day and a parachute dropped past me not a lot of metres away. Was I playing with the avionics? Nup, it was a standard 6-pack. Was I not paying full attention to the possibility of a parachute? Yes (which is especially relevant because I had heard the calls from the drop plane, so I should have been looking more carefully). My point - apart from recounting an embarrassing lesson learned - is that the canopy is not glaringly obvious. I didn’t see it until it was (thankfully) off to one side of me. Some metres to the right, and I’d either be dead or locked up for manslaughter. 

[IBob]

FWIW flocking is now a thing in the skydive world: opening extremely high then flying around in a big mob formation.......

 

[pmccarthy]

Looks flocking dangerous.

[facthunter]

They can change direction rapidly.  Nev

[onetrack]

Well, I guess coming across a flock of parachutes makes them easier to see!  But does that then mean, you have a higher chance of taking one out?

 

I mean to say, it's like driving through a flock of birds - despite your best evasion techniques, you often take one or more out.

[Student Pilot]

I was flying into Bankstown many years ago from the south, there was a low overcast and I was following the highway up on the Eastern side. I knew Wilton was there, I thought with the low overcast there would have been no parachuting activity. Some canopies popped out of the clouds just if front of me, had to manoeuvre around them. It would have been terrifying coming down through clouds hearing an aircraft close heading your way. Aircraft radios weren't flash and half the time people didn't broadcast intentions. I couldn't turn the radio (old Valve set) on too early going into Bankstown because it would overheat. Used to turn it on just before 2FC to get the ATIS. Parachuting folks were (still are mostly) rebels. 

[Student Pilot]

38 minutes ago, onetrack said:

 

I mean to say, it's like driving through a flock of birds - despite your best evasion techniques, you often take one or more out.

I have found best to let them dodge me if I can, it's very hard to stop the urge to react. Wedgies if above you will usually drop past in front of you, they can still be unpredictable. I have hit 2 over the years, I really hate hitting birds 😥

[Garfly]

Juan has his own take on the incident. He reckons it shows once again the limits of 'see and avoid' and that the FAA should approve the SkyEcho2 for use in the USA by tiny craft.  They're currently allowed only in the UK, NZ and OZ, he says. (But then, aviators would have to be prepared to sneak occasional glances at their multifunction avionics for the SE2 to help 'em 'see'  ;- ) 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26 by Garfly

[IBob]

Yes. Following a double fatal midair here, we got a detailed look (during preparation for the proposed court case) at the limitations of 'see and avoid':

Notably the closing speeds vs the considerable amount of time typically required to first spot the aircraft, then register the danger, then react to it, then for evasive action to actually take effect.

Also a study carried out years ago in the US: the pilots were told it was to provide data on how they managed their various inflight workloads, but they were also instructed, in passing, to call out any other traffic they may see. Flights were then arranged, unbeknown to the pilots, with a number of traffic intercepts.....not collision stuff, but quite close enough to see. On average they missed seeing 40% of that traffic.

[IBob]

On that same subject: we are taught that the way to do a good visual scan is in successive short overlapping visual sectors, rather than in a continuous sweep.
There is endless flying footage on YouTube etc. I don't know that I have ever seen a pilot there scanning in sectors, and more often than not they don't even appear to be doing any sort of sweep....

[fallowdeer]

On 26/5/2026 at 12:39 AM, Student Pilot said:

Too busy playing with multifunction avionics? Auto pilot on and looking at their phone? 

My that’s a quantum leap.  
 

 Personally I find cruising with the glass and A/P engaged creates much more bandwidth to be outside.   Automated aural engine alarms for example, less concentration on holding a hearing.  

[Student Pilot]

3 hours ago, fallowdeer said:

My that’s a quantum leap.  
 

 Personally I find cruising with the glass and A/P engaged creates much more bandwidth to be outside.   Automated aural engine alarms for example, less concentration on holding a hearing.  

Well he obviously wasn't looking out the front 😆
Personally I find looking out the window is what I do, quick glance at a map or map screen then back outside. I am only a lowly VFR pilot and would prefer steam gauges, I find glass too busy with too much information for a quick glance especially the current crop of Garmin round gauges. 

[BurnieM]

On 27/05/2026 at 8:19 PM, Student Pilot said:

Personally I find looking out the window is what I do, quick glance at a map or map screen then back outside. I am only a lowly VFR pilot and would prefer steam gauges, I find glass too busy with too much information for a quick glance especially the current crop of Garmin round gauges. 

Interesting I find glass much quicker to read.

 

[Moneybox]

On 27/05/2026 at 6:19 PM, Student Pilot said:

Well he obviously wasn't looking out the front 😆
Personally I find looking out the window is what I do, quick glance at a map or map screen then back outside. I am only a lowly VFR pilot and would prefer steam gauges, I find glass too busy with too much information for a quick glance especially the current crop of Garmin round gauges. 

 

I think some glass panels have too much information compressed into a small space. When I practised in the Sportstar with a six pack then swapped to the Bristell it was just a confusing mess of colour that I couldn't easily read. What was previously displayed on a black and white 90mm circle was compressed into a 30mm coloured gauge in amongst a lot of other data. Most likely a lot of it totally unnecessary. Sure it's nice to have your pre-flight checklist displayed along with your fuel management, engine revs, altitude, speed, oil pressure, temperature etc, etc but who can decipher all that at a quick glance?