Summary

Gripping documentary about Ewa Wisnierska's flight to 9,947m in an Australian thunderstorm.

The version below is the complete documentary on Vimeo. Prefer to watch with the correct aspect ratio? Then see this multi-part version on YouTube.
l part 1 l part 2 l part 3 l part 4 l part 5 l part 6 l part 7 l

l On YouTube l On Vimeo l Duration 53mins l

Extract below from Wikipedia

On 14 February 2007, in spite of weather reports heralding the presence of violent thunderstorms, Wiśnierska decided to try and fly in order to train for the 2007 paragliding world championship near Manilla, New South Wales, Australia.

She got trapped in the updraft of two joining thunderstorms. Unable to get out, she was lifted to an altitude of 9,946 metres (32,631 ft), according to her GPS. The GPS also tracked vertical speeds of up to +20 m/s (77 kilometres per hour (48 mph). She landed 3.5 hours later about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of her starting position.

In the same weather event, the Chinese paraglider He Zhongpin was killed by a lightning strike

In 2010, ABC1 and France 5 made this documentary. The film was nominated as Most Outstanding Factual Program for the Logie Awards of 2011 and won the category Best Cinematography in a Documentary at the 2010 Australian Film Institute Awards.

l BBC news article l

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