Hang gliding mishap video draws Swiss aviation probe

GENEVA — Switzerland’s civil aviation authority said it will question a hang glider pilot after a tourist he flew over a picturesque Swiss landscape nearly fell dozens of yards to the ground because his harness wasn’t properly attached.

A nail-biting video of the incident has drawn more than 1.4 million views on Youtube by Tuesday, a day after it was posted.

The video edit titled “Swiss Mishap” starts with a written introduction and then zooms in on the two men, with a note that the passenger’s harness isn’t attached. After a countdown and running to a takeoff, the passenger dangles to the pilot’s left, variously clinging to the bar or the pilot’s clothes.

Spokesman Antonello Laveglia of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation said the agency planned to “reconstruct the events” of the flight and would hear the pilot’s account, and possibly those of other witnesses.

At times, the hang glider sways, but the pilot finally recovers control, at times hoisting up the dangling passenger over the tree line with mountains and a lake in the background.

Toward the end of the nearly four-minute excerpt, the passenger ejects over a grass field, and the pilot lands. The caption says the passenger suffered a fractured wrist that required surgery and shows a photo of a man in a hospital bed.