CLUNG TO LIFE
Thrillseeker filmed clinging onto glider in terrifying vid takes to skies again
A THRILLSEEKER whose near-death experience while hang gliding was caught on camera didn't allow the harrowing ordeal to stop him from trying it again.
Chris Gursky was vacationing with his wife Gail in Switzerland when the two decided to go hang gliding for the first time.
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Gail successfully took off, but Chris's attempt took a terrifying turn for the worst - he spent two minutes hanging on for dear life after the instructor forgot to attach his safety harness.
"It kind of went in slow motion when we took off," he told .
"I didn't exactly know what was going on, what happened until it was too late to either drop off or do anything about it.
"I just remember realizing that the only thing holding me up from probably imminent death was my hands."
In a video that has since gone viral, Chris grabs onto the glider with his left hand and quickly struggles to cling to the instructor, who was attached, with his right.
As the men glide over a wave of colorful foliage, Chris unsuccessfully tries to grasp the instructor's leg and arm harnesses for nearly two minutes.
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He eventually drops into a field of lush green grass four minutes later, relieved to be on solid ground.
While most people would normally panic in the terrifying scenario, the adventure seeker said he had accepted the possibility of death in the breathtaking Alpine vistas.
"It was an absolutely beautiful day and I just looked and was like, this is absolutely beautiful -- and I'm going to fall to my death here.
"And I kind of envisioned myself falling to the air. And I think at that point, I really just tried to concentrate fully on hanging on as hard as I could, for as long as I could."
Chris fractured his right wrist and tore a tendon, but was otherwise in good health.
Despite the life-changing experience in November 2018, Chris and Gail returned to the skies again in September 2019 - this time with a secured harness.
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"I said, 'I want to do it, I want to get up there, I want to do it again,'" recalled Chris, who lives in Florida.
The adrenaline junkies chose a different hang-gliding company for their second adventure, which went off without a hitch.
His "one in a million" experience hasn't dissuaded him from trying the sport again - and he encourages first-timers to give it a shot.
"Mine was one in a million, you know? I would say go for it. It's an incredible experience."
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