Video Florida paraglider survives 500-foot fall into water
On Friday, a motorized paraglider unexpectedly landed at a Florida beach, plunging approximately 500 feet from the sky into the sea, which led to a rapid rescue operation. (Credit: Riviera Beach Police Department)
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According to authorities, a 52-year-old Florida resident emerged unscathed after his powered paraglider plummeted 500 feet from the sky and splashed down in the ocean on Friday.
The dramatic descent occurred just prior to midday off Singer Island’s coast near Riviera Beach, according to the Riviera Beach Police Department. Spectators recorded the event with their smartphones.
Sarah Williamson, a Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue lifeguard, mentioned to WFLX-TV that she initially noted the paraglider’s difficulty after observing him “moving in an unusual way” following contact with what seemed to be a wind gust.
“I immediately started running, and I alerted my fellow partner via radio,” she stated. “We took our rescue float and our rescue board and began paddling out together.”
Bathers witnessed the paraglider plummet 500 feet into the ocean off Singer Island’s coast near Riviera Beach on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Riviera Beach Police Department)
The lifeguards along with nearby beachgoers promptly swam to assist the man, authorities reported.
Individuals swam out to aid the unharmed paraglider, and brought him and his aircraft to the shoreline, police relayed. (Riviera Beach Police Department)
Williamson noted that a snorkeler dove beneath the surface and assisted in freeing the man from tangled paraglider lines.
“(The snorkeler) was a blessing as we lacked a mask, and he was able to submerge and free the man as we secured him,” she conveyed to the news outlet.
According to police, the paraglider, hailing from Pompano Beach, took off from Ocean Cay Park in Jupiter and headed south before his 500-foot descent into the water. (Riviera Beach Police Department)
Authorities reported that rescuers transported the 52-year-old paraglider and his equipment to the beach. He sustained no injuries.
The paraglider, who is from Pompano Beach, had departed from Ocean Cay Park in Jupiter and traveled southward until his 500-foot plunge into the sea.
The individual’s identity has not yet been made public.
Williamson expressed being “rather astonished” upon learning how far the paraglider had fallen prior to his unexpected water landing.
“Surviving a five-hundred-foot fall is truly remarkable,” she commented.