Hang Glider Narrowly Escapes Horrifying In-Air Collapse

Hang gliding world champion Jon Gjerde was lucky to survive an extraordinary brush with death recently after his hang glider collapsed high in the air at a show.

Gjerde, who is from Norway, is a world champion in aerobatic hang gliding and he was performing stunts at the Ekstremsportveko festival in Voss when the incident occurred two weeks ago.

The petrifying moment takes place about 49 seconds into Gjerde’s video, just after he’d performed some sharp turns for the crowd. Everything seems normal before all of a sudden his gilder collapses on itself sending Gjerde into a sickening spin.

Luckily Jon managed to get the parachute to deploy and he was met immediately by rescue personnel when he landed in the water. This week he released videos of the accident, including one that shows the drama from the crowd’s point of view.