Dramatic Moment Motor-Paraglider Crashes Into Power Lines... And Survives

This was the dramatic moment a pilot crashed his motorised paraglider into electric cables but survived - despite feeling the electric charge pass through his body. The 30-year-old daredevil, known only as Daniel, misjudged his approach to an airfield in March, Cambridgeshire. Instead of safely touching down, the experienced pilot crashed his powermotor into the lines where he was left dangling for a terrifying ten minutes.

   watch video below:

Workers on the airstrip ran to the man’s aid fearing the worst but they found him alive and were able to advise him on how to avoid the electric wires above. Daniel was close enough to the ground to leap to safety but he still suffered burns to his right hand and leg as he fell.

The incident happened as the motorised paramotor approached Fenland Wind and Airsports Centre on Sunday evening. The lucky pilot said today: 'I was coming into land on Sunday afternoon, and was following a friend.

'I came over low, and then found the lines in front of me. I just didn’t see them. We had a safety briefing before, and it was totally my fault.

'My leg got caught on the line, but I managed to release myself and get clear from the lines. It was only about four feet from the ground, so I jumped down.

'It was scary. I feared for my life and I thought I was going to be continually electrocuted. 'Nigel Davies, who runs the centre, just told me to be careful when I came down.

'Now I can’t wait to get back in the air. It is a great sport, with great people and a great community. It really brings people together.'

Daniel had to spend a night in the burns unit at Chelmsford Hospital, Essex, while he was kept under observation but was able to return home the following day. Nigel Davies, 45, who runs the centre where Daniel crashed defended the extreme past-time as 'safe' and said the crash was a 'freak accident'. 

He said: 'We have been here for seven years, and this is the first accident we have had.'

Brian Dobson, 50, from Benwick, Cambridgeshire, managed to capture Daniel’s plight on camera and said: 'He was up there for a good ten minutes.

'He said he could feel electricity coming through his body. If anyone had touched him they would have got a shock.

'He managed to free himself and the emergency services arrived five minutes later.'

A spokeswoman for UK Power Networks said 45 customers had lost power following the crash, but it was restored two-and-a-half hours later.