How did a paraglider accidentally reach 8,600 meters?

BarcelonaFollowing a technical problem, paraglider Peng Yujiang ended up sucked into an updraft that carried him to an altitude of 8,598 meters, according to Chinese media. Guangming DailyDespite that unprecedented journey, the freezing process he experienced, and the lack of oxygen he suffered for several minutes, he was able to land safely because he never lost consciousness. All this happened on Saturday in the mountainous region of Qilian, in northeast China, and the videos recorded by the 360-degree camera attached to the paraglider are capturing headlines in the international media and videos on social media. But how was it possible for him to reach so high and return alive?

In the images, you can see how the man, a paraglider with five years of experience, loses control of the paraglider and rises above the clouds. Then his eyebrows, eyelids, beard, and entire body become progressively covered in ice due to the low temperatures found at these altitudes. In fact, various media outlets suggest that Yujiang, 55, is close to breaking the world record for altitude with this method of transport.

Safe and sound, Yujiang explained to national television that the day of paragliding was supposed to be peaceful. "I had just bought a secondhand paragliding harness and wanted to try it out," he recounts, recalling a day that could have cost him his life. But a strong gust of wind caught him without any chance of doing anything: "I found myself surrounded by cumulonimbus clouds and trapped inside. It was terrifying: everything around me was white. Without the compass, I wouldn't have known which direction I was going. I thought I was flying straight, but I was actually going around in circles."

According to the media Global Times, the Chinese paraglider was at 3,000 meters when he began the flight, a fairly high altitude that "makes it easier for him to enter vertical currents," explains Carme Llasat, PhD, in a conversation with ARA. Due to the low temperatures that can be recorded at the altitude from which he jumped, the man was wearing technical clothing to combat the cold: gloves up to his elbows and a tarp to protect his lower body. However, he did not have the necessary equipment to reach 8,598 meters, where temperatures can reach forty degrees below zero and oxygen levels are very low. According to Global Times, Yujiang maintained radio communication at all times with his colleague Gu Zhimin, who was with him at the time of takeoff and was key to Yujian being able to land and psychologically endure more than an hour of uncontrolled flight. another friend, as he states The Guardian.

The scientific explanation behind the images

This isn't the first time a cloud has sucked a person into the air and taken them to great heights while paragliding, as Carme Llasat explains. "These phenomena can occur anywhere in the world where the meteorological conditions are ideal, so these physical phenomena are likely to occur, except in arid areas," she points out. These situations have also occurred in the Catalan Pyrenees, she points out. However, in these cases, the paragliders haven't reached such high altitudes.

"It's likely that the man entered a vertical current without knowing it and that current carried him toward a cumulonimbus cloud," the scientist explains about the vertical journey of more than 5,000 meters. In these situations, the so-called Venturi effect, which would have sucked him in, can reach a speed of three meters per second, making it impossible to maneuver to change the direction of a body's travel. In fact, Llasat claims that these situations can occur up to 10,000 meters high, although there is no evidence that any human being has reached this height in a similar way.

A source close to Yujiang explains that Global Times, claims he had a valid paragliding license, but had not filed the necessary flight plan to carry out this activity nor had he received airspace authorization for takeoff.