Salzburg, Austria: A woman paraglider captured the terrifying moment a small plane tore through her canopy while she was soaring over the mountains of northern Austria, sending her spiralling out of control thousands of feet in the air.
The 44-year-old woman, identified as Sabrina, was paragliding over the Piesendorf area in Salzburg on Saturday, May 23, 2026, when a sightseeing Cessna 172 plane struck her glider mid-air.
“I still can't quite believe I'm sitting here typing this...,” Sabrina wrote on Instagram as she shared a two-minute video of the incident.
“Apart from a few nasty bruises and some general contusions, nothing really happened,” she added.
The incident, captured on a camera mounted to her gear, shows the moment the plane’s propeller tore the canopy in half and tangled parts of the harness, causing her to spin uncontrollably in mid-air before deploying her reserve parachute.
Her muffled screams can be heard in the video as the shredded canopy trailed behind her while she rapidly descended toward the ground, narrowly avoiding large trees and shrubs.
The 28-year-old pilot of the Cessna 172 that struck Sabrina told Salzburg State Police that he was unable to avoid the collision, according to a report by NBC News.
“The propeller of the motor plane severely damaged the paraglider, prompting the experienced paraglider to deploy her reserve parachute,” police said, as quoted by NBC News.
Police also confirmed that Sabrina was airlifted by helicopter and that both she and the pilot escaped serious injuries.
