Female hang glider tried to cling to pilot’s feet, fell 300 metres B.C. woman dies after slipping from harness on Saturday

VANCOUVER — A female hang-glider, who detached from a tandem flight shortly after launch near Agassiz, B.C., on Saturday, tried desperately to cling to the pilot’s feet before falling 300 metres to her death.

Jason Warner, safety officer for the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada, said the pilot knew almost immediately something was wrong after the pair launched off the popular Mount Woodside just before noon. He tried to grab the 27-year-old woman, identified as Lenami Godinez, and sought to hold on to the straps of her harness but she slid out of his grasp, grabbing his feet in a last-ditch attempt to hang on.

Godinez’s body was found by searchers about seven hours later, about 20 metres from one of the pilot’s shoes.

“(The pilot) realized right away from takeoff that something was wrong and he tried to grab her,” Warner said.

“The shoe ended up being a clue to finding her.”        More Read