At 55, Mr. Peng never imagined a routine paraglider test over the Qilian Mountains would become a fight for survival. On May 24, while evaluating his gear at a 3,000-meter training site in the Gansu Province of the Chinese mainland, an explosive convective updraft yanked him into a towering cumulonimbus cloud.
“I wanted to come down quickly, but I just couldn’t,” Mr. Peng told China Media Group. Alone without an oxygen mask, he endured subzero temperatures as ice formed on his face, gloves and lines.
Known among pilots as cloud suck, this rare phenomenon occurs when strong updrafts pull gliders toward a storm’s core. Professor Zhi Xiefei of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology explains that inside these clouds, temperatures can plunge to -40 °C and oxygen levels drop to life-threatening lows.
Drawing on his B-level paraglider certification—China’s second tier in a five-level system requiring at least 20 days of training and 40 solo flights—Mr. Peng relied on his compass and radio link to navigate. Everything was white and he couldn’t see any direction, he recalled. Without the compass, he wouldn’t have known which way he was going.
After what felt like an eternity, he broke free from the cloud’s grip, radioed “I’m finally out!” and managed a safe descent. His flight data later revealed he had reached an astonishing 8,598 meters.
Now recovering in stable condition, Mr. Peng says the scariest moment wasn’t the altitude itself, but the helpless spin inside the frozen cloud. His ordeal underscores the hidden dangers of high-altitude paragliding. Experts urge enthusiasts to monitor weather updates, avoid storm clouds and prepare oxygen equipment when flying in mountainous regions.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
