Chris Gursky, an auto parts manager and photographer from Florida went on holiday to Switzerland for the first time and it might be his first and last after what happened to him. He decided to live a little and give hang-gliding a try while visiting. A professional hang-gliding instructor was about to take off with Gursky but he forgot one little thing before doing so...strapping him into his harness!!! They took off from a 4,000 foot mountain with Gursky scrambling to hold on. Gursky said: "I just locked on and held on as long as I could."
The instructor was trying to bring the glider down earlier due to the circumstances but he was having trouble controlling it, battling against the winds. Watch the scariest moment of this man's life occurred here in Switzerland:
Chris Gursky was up in the air hanging on for his life for around a total of 2 minutes and 14 seconds. The longest 2 minutes of his life for sure! Gursky was holding onto the instructor's back with one hand the metal bar with the other. As they were trying to make the early landing, Gursky said his hand was losing it's grip on the bar:
"I remember looking down and thinking, this is it. My left hand was on the cross bar that was ultimately the landing gear, with a wheel on each side. As we were going down for a hot landing I was slowly losing my grip with my right hand as I was swinging in the wind with the glider. The pilot grabbed my hand, but like in the movies it was a slow motion slipping of the grip until my right hand slipped off and I grabbed another strap on his left side for a bit but this slipped off also. I ended up holding on bar with the left hand and the lower part of his leg with the right when we were nearing the ground. I looked down to see my feet hit first, which ripped me off at about 45 mph as it was a hot landing and I was under the landing gear."
Chris and his instructor did end up landing and just in time too. It was not without an injury though. Gursky is honestly lucky he didn't die! He suffered a broken wrist and tore his bicep tendon.
Would you ever go hang-gliding? Not even just after hearing this horror story but in general? If I wasn't before, I'm certainly not interested now and if I ever convince myself it's a good idea, I will make sure the instructor straps me in now after hearing this horror story!
If you want to read more about this story, you can do so HERE!
-Producer Lightning