Most people have only seen the crash landing on the grass.
But just seconds earlier, tragedy could have occurred.
The motorized paraglider, who flew into the Munich Allianz Arena shortly before the game between Germany and France on Tuesday and lost control there after touching a steel cable stretched from roof to roof, fell along the grandstand where French fans were sitting. towards the ground at high speed.
Holger Appel
Editor in business, responsible for "Technology and Engine".
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Already at a low altitude he managed to make a curve, he turned to the grandstand that was reserved for representatives of the media and some guests of honor.
Only because the seats were barely occupied due to the restrictions caused by the corona did nothing worse come about.
The Greenpeace activist flew over the grandstand at a height of about 1.50 meters and got stuck on a spotlight set up there for television interviews.
He smashed his backpack motor on the headlight, the casing shattered, the propeller was destroyed, the headlight toppled.
A lighting technician was hit and sat dazed.
Rescue workers were on the spot immediately and treated the injured person.
The paraglider reached the field and was led away.
Had he found a full grandstand ten or twenty meters from the spotlight instead of an empty one, it could have been a catastrophe.
If he had not continued the curve after touching the headlight but had crashed straight ahead, he would have flown into the French national team's bench, which was fully occupied a minute before the start of the game.
Paraglider is an air sports device
From a legal perspective, the paraglider is an ultralight aircraft, an aerial sports device. These aerial sports equipment include a maximum of two-seater powered aircraft, gliders, helicopters, gyroscopes, motorized trikes and motorized paragliders. For all of these aircraft, which may have a maximum weight of 472 kilograms, a pilot's license for air sports equipment drivers is required. This is flight training that is much easier, faster and cheaper to complete than private pilot training for the typical Cessna or Piper models.
Typically, motorized paragliders have a two-stroke engine with a propeller strapped to their backs. Greenpeace spokesman Benjamin Stephan announced that it was an electric paramotor. With the engine on their backs, pilots can take off and land almost anywhere. Every meadow can serve as a starting area by foot. As a rule, no license plate is recognizable either, so checking is correspondingly difficult.
Pilots of motorized paragliders must also comply with aviation law. For example, they are not allowed to fly into controlled airspaces near commercial airports or military airfields, and they must also stay away from closed airspaces, for example above nuclear power plants. To do this, the paraglider pilot must either have a paper pilot card or an aviation GPS with him, on which all controlled and uncontrolled airspaces are recorded. In addition, there is a rule that a minimum height of 500 feet, that is about 150 meters above the ground, and a minimum height of 1000 feet, i.e. about 300 meters above the ground, apply above undeveloped areas.