Paraglider accidentally sucked into clouds survives 28,000-foot flight in China
A Chinese paraglider has survived being accidentally propelled tens of thousands of feet into the sky while testing out equipment he had recently purchased.
Peng Yujiang, 55, began his flight at an elevation of about 984 feet in the Qilian Mountains in northern China, according to media reports. A camera mounted on the glider captured the entire ordeal.
Footage of the death-defying incident shows Peng gliding above the clouds, his face caked in chunks of ice as he attempts to make a safe descent through bouts of confusion.
Peng was sucked into an updraft about 20 minutes after accidentally taking off, according to a report by the Gansu Provincial Aviation Sports Association.
A freak updraft over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau lifted Chinese Paraglider Peng Yujiang nearly nine kilometers in minutes — and the entire flight was caught on camera.
Screenshots from Peng's GPS flight tracker show he took off at 12:19 p.m. from the Qilian Mountains, an area… pic.twitter.com/ov4Ld5ARx1
— Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) May 28, 2025
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The hang glider was propelled 27,800 feet into the air, but Peng had never intended to take off, the report says.
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Yujiang, who has been paragliding for about four-and-a-half years, purchased his equipment without making a flight beforehand, and was testing various elements of the equipment on the ground when he was swept away, the report says.
Speaking of the ordeal, he said. 'It was terrifying… Everything was white. I couldn't see any direction. Without the compass, I wouldn't have known which way I was going. I thought I was flying straight, but in reality, I was spinning,' he told China Media Group.
Peng was extremely fortunate to survive given the lack of oxygen at such high altitudes, the report says, noting that he narrowly escaped death, having maintained consciousness long enough to navigate through low oxygen levels and frigid temperatures.
He flew only slightly lower than the peak of Mount Everest, which stands at just over 29,000 feet.
'I wanted to come down quickly, but I just couldn't. I was lifted higher and higher until I was inside the cloud,' he said, adding that he was most terrified when attempting to regain control of his paraglider against powerful winds, and that he thinks he may have lost consciousness on his way back down to earth.
'I could feel the oxygen getting thin, and my hands were freezing. They were exposed the whole time — I didn't even think to get them into my mittens,' Peng added.
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On May 26, fellow paragliding enthusiast Mr. Ou stated that the man has become a mythical figure in their paragliding circle: 'He's now the person who's broken the altitude barrier. He could apply for a Guinness World Record, because no one else has reached such heights without carrying an oxygen tank.'
Peng is now under investigation by Chinese authorities and has been suspended from flying for six months because his flight was unauthorized, according to China's state-run Global Times.
Peng maintains that he did not plan to fly at all when he was lifted into the atmosphere by strong winds, and that he was simply testing his parachute on the ground when he was thrust into the clouds.
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