Video shows crash

Paraglider Crashes Into Small Plane – Survives!

Paragliders are frequently involved in accidents—but mid-air collisions are rare. (Stock photo)(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

“May 23, 2026 Happy 2nd Birthday to me”—with congratulations on her own “second birthday,” the paraglider (44) who survived a mid-air collision with a Cessna in Salzburg on Saturday is now reaching out to the public. And that’s with just “a few nasty bruises,” as she herself writes in the caption to the video showing the entire incident from her perspective. 

“The day a Cessna 172 knocks you out of the sky while you’re paragliding...,” the Upper Austrian writes on Instagram (see below). “I still can’t believe I’m sitting here typing this and that, aside from a few nasty bruises and some general soreness, nothing really happened.”

And indeed: No one was injured in the collision between the paraglider and a small plane on Saturday in Piesendorf (Pinzgau). According to police, the 44-year-old paraglider from Upper Austria took off from the Schmittenhöhe heading toward Piesendorf. At 1:15 p.m., while performing a simple maneuver above the Pinzgauer Hütte, she collided with a Cessna piloted by a 28-year-old man from Tyrol. The woman was able to deploy her reserve parachute and land safely.

Here is the video:

Paraglider was severely damaged
Emergency responders said it was extremely fortunate that no one was injured. The pilot of the motorized aircraft was on a sightseeing flight over the Alps. He said he was unable to avoid the paraglider. The paraglider was severely damaged by the propeller of the motorized aircraft. That is why the experienced paraglider deployed her reserve parachute.

Emergency landing on a forest road
The pilot of the motorized aircraft, who was flying from the Glemm Valley toward Zell am See, was able to land the plane safely at Zell am See Airport. He had taken off from there for the sightseeing flight. The paraglider pilot managed to make a safe emergency landing on a forest road. She was then picked up by the crew of the police helicopter “Libelle Oskar” and flown to Zell am See Airport.

Sought medical treatment on her own
On Sunday afternoon, a police spokeswoman stated that the paraglider pilot had apparently sustained minor injuries. She had sought medical treatment on her own. Contrary to initial reports, the woman from Upper Austria had not been performing any flight maneuvers at the time of the accident. The woman was flying straight ahead when the aircraft, coming from behind, collided with the paraglider, the spokeswoman said. The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.