Skydiver hitches a lift - 6,000ft up

An Austrian skydiver pulled off a breathtaking stunt when he somersaulted from the wing of one glider to another - 6,000ft above the ground at 100 mph.

First, Paul Steiner crawled from the cockpit of one glider above the Austrian Alps, then he flipped himself under the wing to land on the second aircraft flying below.



He then walked back to the main body of the plane and reached up to grab the second glider on the tail fin that by this time was flying upside down - forming a living bridge between the two planes.

Steiner said: "I guess it looked pretty smooth but nothing ever goes always according to plan - I actually had to wait several minutes looking onto the outside of the plane until the second plane was in position. It was pretty difficult."



The whole stunt took more than a year to plan and execute, with intensive training not just for the parachutist but also for the two pilots - for whom a slight change in wind conditions could have meant both planes crashing together.

In addition if Steiner had slipped as he climbed from the cockpit he would have been smashed against the plane's tail fin.