Chinese paraglider almost equals world record at 28,000 feet — by accident

The sky was apparently not the limit for a paraglider who climbed to a record-breaking 28,000 feet. The problem? He hadn't intended to fly.

HONG KONG — The sky was apparently not the limit for a Chinese paraglider who climbed to a near record-breaking altitude of more than 28,000 feet Wednesday.

The only problem? He hadn't even intended to fly.

In what acrophobes — those with a fear of heights — could only imagine in their worst nightmares, 55-year-old Peng Yujian was just conducting a routine equipment test in the northern province of Gansu when a powerful updraft lifted him off the ground.

“I had just bought a secondhand paragliding harness and wanted to test it. So I was conducting ground parachute shaking,” Peng told state-run broadcaster CCTV News on Wednesday. “The wind suddenly picked up and lifted me into the air.”

“I tried to land as soon as possible, but I failed,” he added, explaining that he was then carried even higher by a wind and ended up trapped in the cloud system, ascending as high as 5 miles above the ground to heights usually the preserve of commercial airliners.