Monday 28 May 2018

You Are Going To Throw Yourself,

out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft,


 and trust that the parachute you have will open, and you will serenely glide to earth, what could possibly go wrong? well quite a lot that I could think of, but one scenario I did not expect was to be sucked up! although this happened a long time ago, in 2007, I have only just read about it yesterday, German paraglider Ewa Wisnierska set a world record in 2007, but not because she was trying to, She was practicing in Australia for a competition when an updraft swept her aloft, but this one was a bit stronger than usual, and before she knew it, Winsnierska was rising at a rate of 65 feet per second, She soon passed out from lack of oxygen, and when she woke up half an hour later, she was six miles above the Earth,

that's cruising altitude for airplanes, then she heard thunder, Wisnierska rode the storm for about an hour, being hit by huge hailstones, when she finally landed, she was 40 miles from her starting point, She suffers some frostbite, but was otherwise okay, and this is not made up, Her path was traced by a global positioning beacon that indicated she flew as high as 32,000 feet! 

Miss Wisnerska said she encountered hailstones the size of oranges as the temperature dropped to minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit, "I was shaking all the time. The last thing I remember is that it was dark. I could hear lightning all around me," she said, She regained consciousness mid-air about one hour later. "I wanted to fly around the clouds but I got sucked up 20 metres (67ft) per second into it and spiralled," she told The Sydney Morning Herald, "After 40 minutes or an hour, I woke up and I was at 6,900 metres (23,000ft). I was still flying but I realised I didn't have the brakes in my hand. I saw my hands and the gloves were frozen, I didn't have the brakes, and the glider was still flying on its own, I was thinking 'I can't do anything so I only have to wait and hope that the clouds are bringing me out somewhere'. Then I woke up and was thinking that I was maybe unconscious for about one minute. I didn't know I was unconscious for so long." 

Her ordeal was recorded by a global positioning beacon and a radio attached to her equipment, the swirling clouds released Miss Wisnerska from their grasp and she landed safely 40 miles from her launch, suffering frostbite to her face and with ice inside her lightweight flying suit — but otherwise unharmed, Godfrey Wenness, the president of the Manilla Sky Sailors club and organiser of the Paragliding World Championship, said Miss Wisnerska's tale was unprecedented, what an amazing adventure and escape from what normally would have been certain death.


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