ISSAQUAH, Wash. — A paraglider is safely on the ground after being stuck in a tree on Tiger Mountain for more than an hour and a half.
“The conditions are really strong up there – you launch and you can just get blown back and I think he got into a scenario that he didn’t have enough experience to handle and got pushed back behind,” said paraglider Ian Kirk.
Kirk described the high winds and thermal conditions that can catch some pilots off guard. That’s what he thinks happened to this paraglider that he first spotted from the air.
“He got into a turbulent area where he shouldn’t have been and that kind of pushes the glider down and you get a bunch of sink,” Kirk said.
Eastside Fire and Rescue responded, calling an arborist to reach the pilot tangled among branches and lines – a man that was safely brought back down to earth after about an hour and a half with no life-threatening injuries.
A spokesperson for the department says this is the first paraglider-related call they’ve responded to this year – adding paraglider rescue calls are not uncommon during warmer months.
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