On Friday night, several of us were preparing to watch the lunar eclipse, but life didn’t just intervene with the cloudy capital sky….
On Thursday afternoon, July 26th, 2018, a paraglider “A level” pilot flew in Óbuda. An airlift found along the slope began to slam the ears of his parachute over his head - he lost considerable height while solving the problem. Before his dome had been stabilized, he got stuck in the trees near the panoramic road on the side of Hármashatár-hegy Hill, a few hundred meters from the Óbuda landing area.
After a successful self-rescue and an unsuccessful attempt to recover his dome, the pilot asked a cave rescue colleague, our friend to help remove the parachute he had left there for the night.
As the pilot was not in danger, 2 members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service and an old caver friend started the operation late Friday afternoon. After successfully finding the dome, we cut a path of about 100 meters on the steep hillside with a chainsaw and machete in the seemingly impenetrable bush to the dome.
The dome was found with both ends tied on relatively tall trees, and the middle was found twisted and entangled in a 5-6-meter-high bush.
The rescue lasted 3 hours, during which the two tall trees were cut back around 15 meters.
One end of the dome was stuck in a tree full of rotten, broken branches, so unfortunately it was handed over to its owner damaged.
Through the pilot's sports club, he is a member of the Free Flying Association, who has been in contact with the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service for many years in connection with parachute rescues.
The Free Flying Association has been collecting a “tree rescue” fund from its members for years, from which it supports the operation of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service, a service of volunteers.
We wish our paragliding friends many nice flying hours and safe landings during the season.
Photos: Ádám Sárközy