Tag Archives: Adventures Activity Insurance

Kangaroo Attacks Paraglider In Australia

KangarooThose of you who are keen paragliders no doubt love the thrill and excitement of taking to the air and pitting yourself against the elements in the sky. Once airborne, you are faced with many challenges but this is just one of the many attractions of the sport.

Having spent some time travelling many miles paragliding, you are then faced with the danger of having to make a safe landing. Most paragliders land without a problem but some suffer broken limbs if they mis-judge their landing perhaps due to a sudden gust of wind putting them of course and leaving them stranded in the branches of a large oak tree.

It is no doubt a great sense of relief having put two feet safely on the earth without suffering any mishap. Surely nothing untoward can then happen?

Well, this was not the case for a 35-year-old paraglider over in Australia. Apparently, the man in question had enjoyed a wonderful couple of hours paragliding. He descended and both feet safely touched the ground at the Orroral Valley Space Tracking Station near Canberra. However, even before he had had the opportunity to gather his parachute and get out of his gear he saw a kangaroo skipping hastily towards him. Having then warmly greeted the approaching kangaroo the marsupial then proceeded to attack him not once but twice by punching him.

Fortunately, he did not suffer any serious injury and hopefully the unexpected experience will not have put him off paragliding in the future although he will no doubt be on the look out for any kangaroos in the vicinity of where he next plans to land.

Fortunately, coming face to face with a kangaroo is not something that paragliders taking to the air here in the UK are likely to encounter when landing although no doubt some people have probably come down in a field of cattle and felt a little uneasy.

Unattached Hang Glider Manages To Hold On

Hand Gliding Hang gliding can certainly have its scary moments but when you take to the skies for your first trip in a hang glider accompanied by an instructor you would hope that you are in safe hands. Well, an American who recently made such a trip may beg to differ.

Chris Gurksy from the USA was recently on holiday in Switzerland and decided to go hang gliding for the first time no doubt to enjoy some of the beautiful green fields as well as the mountains. Unfortunately, the adventure did not quite go according to plan due to a serious oversight.

Regrettably, his safety harness was not attached to the hang glider and this was not something that was noticed by the instructor until it was too late. The pair took off from the edge of a mountain several thousand feet tall. By the time they realized something was not quite right they were unable to stop getting airborne.

Mr Gurksy found himself holding onto a bar with one hand and with the other could be seen holding onto the back of the instructor who was having difficulty controlling the hang glider.

Apparently, both were airborne for over 2 minutes during which time Mr Gurksy was no doubt very scared and possibly thought that his life was about to come to an untimely end. Fortunately, this did not happen but when the hang glider descended Mr Gurksy’s feet hit the ground at a speed of around 45 mph and he ended up tearing his left bicep tendon. He also broke his wrist that was no doubt very painful.

Some of you may be surprised to read that Mr Gurksy would like to take to the skies again in a hang glider when he will hopefully have a more enjoyable flight. He is obviously a very brave man as, having gone through what he did that could have resulted in his death, there are possibly a lot of other people who, having had the same worrying experience, would never want to see a hang glider again. We wish him a more successful and uneventful flight when he next gets airborn in a hang glider.

Here at AIB Insurance, we have many years experience in arranging cover for a range of airsports. So, whether you are looking for cover for the first time or your existing policy is shortly up for renewal, why not give us a call on 02380 268 351 and have a chat with a knowledgeable member of our team who will happily obtain a no-obligation, competitive quote from one of our vetted insurers. We look forward to being of assistance to you.

Tom Cruise And James Corden Go Skydiving

James Corden and Tom CruiseOver the years, many of you will have been to the cinema to watch Tom Cruise star in the Mission Impossible films. One of these called Mission: Impossible – Fallout has recently been released and is doing very well at the box office both here and in other countries around the world.

He is renowned for undertaking his own stunts despite some of them being somewhat risky. In his latest movie he took to the skies and skydived from a plane but it took over 100 jumps before he felt he had got it right.

Tom Cruise and James CordenWell, not too long ago, Tom Cruise appeared on the Late Late Show in the USA that is hosted by none other than James Corden. Apparently, James Corden decided to, shall we say, “make fun” of Tom Cruise’s skydiving and, as a result, Tom challenged James to take to the air with him and complete a jump. James accepted his offer although who knows whether he later regretted agreeing to do this.

Perhaps Tom was wondering if James would back down having had time to dwell on his decision and change his mind but, no, to his credit, James appeared on the day and no doubt after some training boarded a plane with Tom and they took to the air.

From around 15,000 feet Tom parachuted from the plane on his own and James did the same attached to an instructor. You will be pleased to read that both stars landed safely on the ground.

All credit to James for doing this although it will be interesting to see if he ever does such a thing in the future.TC and JC

If you are into skydiving or any other airsports for that matter then why not give us a call here at AIB Insurance on 02380 268 351 to discuss your insurance requirements with a member of our knowledgeable team who will be happy to obtain a quotation without any obligation from our panel of insurers.

P J Hayman & Company Added To Our Panel

P J Hayman & CompanyIt is with great pleasure that we announce the addition of P J Hayman & Company to our panel of insurers. The insurers that we partner with are carefully chosen and we are extremely pleased to be doing so with this respected business.

P J Hayman & Company, located in Hampshire, was established in 1990 and provides specialist schemes and travel insurance. Over the years their business has grown and now has over 40 staff who pride themselves on providing a quality, professional customer service whether it be in respect of arranging suitable cover or dealing with a claim.

P J Hayman & CompanyThey offer a range of specialist insurance products that are suitable for many of our clients who enjoy adventure based trips as well as long stay holidays. There is also the option of “Independent Traveller” cover. They can even arrange travel cover for many people with pre-existing medical conditions as well as putting travel insurance in place with no upper age limit for people making both annual multi-trips and single trips overseas.

They have an Adventures Activity Travel Insurance policy that is designed to cover individuals and groups who take part in a huge selection of activity holidays or working abroad as well as participating in amateur and professional sports and hazardous pursuits. For instance, cover can be arranged for the likes of hang gliders, skydivers, paragliders, paramotorists, black water canoeing, bobsleigh, caving, gliding, hot air ballooning, mountaineering, parachuting and trekking to name but a few.

A comprehensive level of cover is provided to provide our valued clients with complete peace of mind. For instance, the Adventures policy provides search and rescue cover of up to £50,000 following an accident.

We look forward to working closely with P J Hayman & Company.

Further information about them can be found on their website at http://www.pjhayman.com/