Paraglider Defies Death After Freak Updraft Sucks Him 28,000 Feet Into Sky

A Chinese paraglider survived being sucked in by a cloud and flung 28,208 feet (8,598 meters) into the sky—even though he was just testing his new equipment and wasn’t intending to take off. On May 24, Peng Yujian, a 55-year-old paraglider, was already roughly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level, testing the fit of his new paragliding equipment. About 20 minutes in, a powerful updraft known as a “cloud suck” shot him about 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) higher. Peng caught the wild event on a camera mounted on his glider, which naturally went viral after being posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. The video shows Peng coated in ice and holding on for dear life to the glider’s controls. He says he may have lost consciousness during his unexpected descent. “I felt the lack of oxygen. My hands were frozen outside. I kept trying to talk on the radio,” Peng said in the Douyin video after landing safely 20 miles (33 kilometers) from his launch point, according to Sixth Tone. Pe ... Read full article.