Griffon Vultures Hits Russian Paraglider, Both "Land" Safely

Miraculously, both the paraglider and the bird survived in this case.

Here’s the YouTube summary:

A Russian paraglider’s first Himalayan flight could well have been his last after he collided with a griffon vulture mid-air and his canopy became tangled. Luckily, he managed to open the emergency parachute and land safely. But what about the bird? ­Paravoffka – the nickname of the survivor in the paragliding community – gained control of the deadly situation, which saved not only his life, but that of the bird as well. The fact that the sportsman landed without any trauma was a real miracle, as landing with an emergency parachute is highly dangerous – one can get hit against rocks or fall on to a tree. Seconds after the successful landing, the pilot called his friends on the walkie-talkie and then made an attempt to free the bird, no-less-frightened than himself. That was not an easy task to do: the claws were tightly tangled in the canopy. But finally the bird was freed and flew away. The dangerous flight was caught on video, with the number of views skyrocketing hour after hour.

Watch closely…the birds hit at about four seconds in.