Paraglider Survives High-Flying Ordeal in Australia

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) Tonight a world-class adventurer is telling a world-class story of survival, one that defies the odds and the imagination. This experienced paraglider set off on a flight she knew would take her high over Eastern Australia, but she had no idea just how high. Here's ABC's Ned Potter.

GRAPHICS: MIRACLE IN THE SKY

NED POTTER (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Ewa Wisnierska is a champion German paraglider, but she never expected to scale these heights. She was on a practice run over Australia, when the updraft from a thunderstorm pulled her all the way from 2,000 feet to 32,000. That's six miles up, cruising altitude for most jetliners. Their cabins are pressurized, and they also protect you from temperatures that routinely reach 50 degrees below zero.

EWA WISNIERSKA (PARAGLIDER)

Then I could hear the lightning's around me. First, in front. And I said, 'Oh, no. Please, not there."

NED POTTER (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Incredibly, she has little more than a bruised knee and mild frostbite. This after nearly an hour, mostly unconscious, tossed around in the (inaudible) of the storm.

EWA WISNIERSKA (PARAGLIDER)

And then I was only praying, 'Please, please throw me somewhere from this cloud."

NED POTTER (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Paragliders look for updrafts to keep them in the air, but they rarely go more than a few thousand feet high because the air is too thin. Doctors say passing out may have saved her. Her body needed less oxygen.

DOCTOR KENNETH HARRISON (RESCUE SERVICE PHYSICIAN)

It is kind of medical miracle in that her body was able to cope with that.

NED POTTER (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Wisnierska stayed only an hour in the hospital. And so she plans to be back in the sky next week. Ned Potter, ABC News, New York.

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) But perhaps at not such a high altitude.

GRAPHICS: A CLOSER LOOK

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Still ahead on this broadcast, the growing outcry after travelers are trapped on stranded planes. Will Congress finally enact a passenger bill of rights? It's our 'Closer Look."

GRAPHICS: AHEAD

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) An Internet video helps foil a school bomb plot. How a website known for funny clips is helping police solve crimes.

GRAPHICS: STILL AHEAD

CHARLES GIBSON (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) And from the battlefield to the ball field. The Marine wounded in Iraq getting a crack now at the big leagues. He is our 'Person of the Week."

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