The Chinese paraglider Peng Yujiang is fortunate to be back on the ground after surviving a powerful ascending current which suddenly raised it in the high atmosphere above the Qilian mountains in the Chinese province of Gansu on Saturday, according to the state media.
Peng would have soared 8,598 meters or approximately 28,208 feet without oxygen, by central television in China (CCTV).
“I had just bought a used paragliding harness and I wanted to test it, so I made parachute tremors on the ground. After a while, the wind suddenly picked up and lifted me in the air. I tried to land as soon as possible, but I failed,” CCTV told Tuesday.
“I found myself surrounded by clouds of cumulonimbus and trapped inside. It was terrifying-everything that surrounds me was white. Without the compass, I would not have known what direction I was heading. I thought I was flying straight, but in reality, I was turning. In the end, I managed to fly north-east,” he added.
He was able to control his parapentre using his compass and his radio communication with his teammates despite almost frozen and numb hands, reports the state media. Peng says that he was then shocked to learn that he has reached such a high altitude and believes that he could have briefly lost knowledge, said CCTV.
This is not the first time that a parapentre has reported that such dangerous heights – in 2007, the German parapentre Ewa Wisnierska survived almost 10,000 meters high in a storm front.
Geoff Davison, an instructor of paragliding at Fly Koh Larn in Thailand, describes that altitude as “the death zone” and warns that being swept, the upward current can occur in minutes.
“If you are at this rate of climb for two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, you will go very, very high, very quickly,” he told CNN, adding that “if you stay at this height for a long time, then you know that there is a good chance that you cannot come back.”
The video shared by China Central Television (CCTV) showed Peng on Tuesday with ice covering his face and his clothes while deriving in the clouds. However, certain parts of the video seem to be generated by AI; All images are studied for authenticity by CNN. We are looking for more information from Peng Yujiang, but he did not respond to our request.
The video was initially published by another paragliding driver, Gu Zhimin, who would have published the clip “without authorization, causing negative impacts”, according to the Global Times. He was punished with a six -month -old flight suspension and ordered a reflection report, in global weather.
Peng – which has been paragliding for over four years and is a certified B -level parapentre which requires at least 20 days of flight experience, by video surveillance – was also issued A 6 -month suspension for having omitted to record your flight.
He was already planning a flight break, according to his interview with CCTV. “As soon as I got out of the clouds, I was very excited because I had survived. The scary moment was when I tried to get out of the spiral and have failed and when the canopy was a death. It is always frightening to think,” Peng told CCTV. “I’m not sure of the future, but for the moment I will certainly not fly for a while,” he said.
Update: This story has been updated with additional information.
