Paraglider Jürgen Haug will never forget this paragliding flight: a rain cloud got in his way in the air - and suddenly it became very dangerous.
- A paraglider from Ismaning is suddenly surprised by a change in the weather while on a tour over the Taunsee.
- Then his umbrella also lets him down.
- Passers-by call the police.
Gmunden / Ismaning - Conditions were good when Jürgen Haug from Ismaning (Munich district) started his paraglider on Saturday from Grünberg in Gmunden in Upper Austria. A light westerly wind, nice weather - the 51-year-old was looking forward to a relaxed flight . But then everything turned out differently - and Haug got into a dangerous situation.
The paragliding training was a long-cherished dream of his, which he had fulfilled on his 50th birthday. In the past two years, the caretaker has made around 100 flights - he has never experienced anything like last Saturday.
Paraglider pilots are in mortal danger: Instead of landing suddenly 1,300 meters above the ground
The 51-year-old actually wanted to land again on the day the wind turned and a rain cloud appeared. “It kept pulling me up,” he says. He climbed 400 to 500 meters, at a speed of five to eight meters per second. He was quickly back to an altitude of around 1,300 meters . "I tried to get down, but it didn't work," he says. There is not much time left in such moments. "You have to make decisions within seconds."
Jürgen Haug was excited, “full of adrenaline,” as he says, but he kept his nerve and reacted calmly. "I did the right thing intuitively." He decided to change direction and turn . “So I could fly in front of the cloud ,” he explains. Because: If he had got into the cloud, it would have been even more dangerous. "Then you can't see anything and quickly lose your bearings." But even when the rain cloud almost flew away over the Traunsee, Haug was still not sure.
Paraglider pilot is in mortal danger: Using the reserve parachute could have resulted in a water landing
Because suddenly his umbrella collapsed . "I was a bit panicked because I didn't know whether it would open again," he says. “I already had the reserve parachute in my hand.” But: If he had had to open it, he would no longer have been able to steer. Maybe he should have landed on the Traunsee. And that would have been risky: " I've never landed in water ," he says. He had already considered doing a course, but then the corona crisis intervened.
Haug was lucky: his paraglider opened again and he was able to glide unharmed to the ground in a meadow on the other side of the lake . “It was eight kilometers away from where I originally wanted to land,” he reports. "I felt like I had been on the road for two hours, but in reality it was only 40 minutes."
Paraglider pilot is in mortal danger: passers-by inform the police about mishap
After landing, he called his girlfriend who was supposed to pick him up. She was already worried: passers-by had watched the flight and feared that Haug might have gotten into the rain cloud. As a precaution, they had informed the police . It was right to be attentive, emphasizes the paraglider. “In the end, everything wasn't as bad for me, but it's good that people are careful,” he says. "Something could have happened."
Despite the shock, the flight from Grünberg should not have been Haug's last paragliding flight . He loves his hobby too much for that. “When paragliding you feel free, everything is very calm and you experience the flora and fauna differently in the air than on the ground,” he says. That's why he's already looking forward to the next start.
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