Outside Magazine, March 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 20

Crash-Landing in the Himalayas

Paragliding vs. Eagle

;

As told to Katia Bachko

Money Comment: “Angry birds!”
Star:
Vladimir Tsarkov, 25, of Moscow
Last October, I went to Bir-Billing Valley in India for a month of paragliding. On my first flight, I was 850 feet above the northern Himalayas when two birds that looked like eagles popped up in front of me. Birds rarely hit paragliders, so I decided to stay my course. Big mistake. One got snagged in the lines of my glider, and the entire cupola collapsed. I fell at 23 feet per second for a minute and a half and landed in a shrub. Somehow I was totally fine, just cussing up a storm. I had to calm down before facing the bird, which was still caught in the chute. It flew off as soon as I untangled it. I sent the video from my helmet cam to a friend in Moscow, and she uploaded it to YouTube. All the Russian channels put it on their broadcasts. I was still in India and hadn’t talked to my parents yet; they freaked out when they watched the news.

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Comments

20
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Where's the translation? That would be interesting.

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Naz

Excellent!! I would love to know what he is saying. Wow! And the love he shows for the bird!

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Greger

So glad the bird was OK. Very dramatic as they fall. I just fast forwarded after a while because I was so concerned for the bird and I couldn't understand anything he was saying except "I'm OK!"

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Dimitri

For those who ask about translation: Description below this video pretty much said it all. You can get more idea from his tone that from what he was saying. All swearing was beeped out. Swearing comes as a result of huge adrenalin pumped into his bloodstream. We all russians do it if we hit our fingernail with the hummer or if we fall from the sky. He swears about stupid eagle who didn't watch where he fly :o) , but said to other guy on the radio, that will not kill the bird and will try to untie the knots. Guy on the radio suggested to make eagle tired so it will not fight back & it will be easier to release it. He talked about how lucky he is, and about his second parachute. He thanked the guy who packed his 2-nd safety parachute before his flight. This guy name is Vladimir (short name Vovka).

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Wanbli

Looks like a Vulture or a buzzard. crazy vid

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Barry

Falling at 23' per second for 90 seconds? That would be a fall from 2070', not 850'. Nonetheless a terrifying ordeal to watch and amazing that he wasn't hurt.

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Bob

If he's an "Outside Magazine" subscriber, he was probably busy daydreaming about recycling and smelling his own, smug Prius farts.

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If he's an "Outside Magazine" subscriber, he was probably busy daydreaming about recycling and smelling his own, smug Prius farts.

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