DRAPER, Utah, July 18, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Emergency crews responded to the Salt Lake County Flight Park Monday night after a paraglider crashed into the side of the mountain.
Capt. Brian Garn, Draper City Fire Department, said the emergency call came to dispatch just after 8 p.m., and crews rushed to the Flight Park, at 15300 Steep Mountain Drive, Draper.
Garn said the victim, a man in his 20s, and his group of friends, had hiked uphill from the Flight Park. He took off, but crashed just after the attempt.
“They said he did a launch off the top, and the wind didn’t catch right,” Garn said. “It just ended up crashing right back down into the mountain.”
His friends assisted the man and called dispatch for first responders.
“We had crews that hiked up from the Flight Park, up to where the patient was located,” Garn said. “And then, after assessing the steep nature of the mountain and what we needed, we also called for a hoist, a helicopter hoist.”
A helicopter from the Department of Public Safety was in the Corner Canyon area “and diverted over to the Flight Park to assist,” Garn said.
The paraglider was stabilized and hoisted down the hill to an ambulance waiting on a roadway at the Flight Park, “and the ambulance transported him to a local trauma center.”
Garn said the man’s injuries were non-life-threatening, but he may have broken one or more bones.
The rescue operation took about 90 minutes, he said.
