Tragic twist: Video shows the shocking moment Adam Parer gave his life to save glider
FIRST ON 7: Witnesses say an experienced hang-glider, who died after crashing into a beachside home in Newcastle, gave his own life to save another glider.
Adam Parer's final moments were captured on camera, by fans who'd been marvelling at his unique skills.
Around one hundred people were watching Adam Parer in the skies above Bar Beach yesterday.
An experienced and competitive glider, the 46-year-old firefighter put his best skills on show.
But the stunning display took a tragic twist.
"He was pulling some fantastic maneuvers, there was a whole lot of people lined up watching him," a witness told 7News.
"Another hang-glider was in the road, he seemed to pull, pull sharply away from that hang-glider to stop a collision."
Witnesses said Adam put his own life on the line to avoid smashing the other glider into the cliff.
"He seemed to go vertical at the time and he lost control and just started flipping," a witness said.
He clipped a powerline before crashing into a house, and died at the scene.
His death is being mourned by family and friends, as well as close knit gliding community, and local emergency services.
Adam, was considered one of Newcastle's best hang-gliders.
His YouTube videos show he was professional, controlled and capable.
Footage of his final flight has now been handed to police.
In 2012, Parer cheated death when the wings of his glider folded up and he spun horizontally six times, according to The Newcastle Herald.
"The only thing I could do was try and get my parachute open. It was the longest 10 seconds of my life," Parer said at the time.
"If I was one pound heavier I probably wouldn't have lived," he said.
Parer also said the near-death experience made him feel closer to his late-wife.
"I felt like she was with me saying 'live'," Parer said of his French-born wife.
"The French have a saying, joie de vivre, which basically means live life."
Fellow glider shocked by death
Tony Barton, who owns Air Sports Newcastle where Mr Parer worked as a part-time instructor, said the two men were hang-gliding together on the sunny afternoon over the Pacific Ocean.
He didn't see his friend crash and police have received conflicting witness reports with some saying he was doing acrobatics and lost control while others say Mr Parer may have been trying to avoid another hang-glider.
"With his experience it's highly unlikely a manoeuvre would go bad... I think that he saw a person and it distracted him a bit at a critical time," Mr Barton said.
"When you get up to top speed and something steps out in the way, your ability to move is highly limited.
"You can't go left or right to avoid it, your only option is to increase the climb, and when you have that much energy on that wing and you start to increase your climb the loads get far greater than your ability to hold onto it.
"I think probably what's happened is that he had started climbing way faster than he could hold it and as he was trying to get the nose back into control, it went upside down."
Police said the 46-year-old clipped electricity wires as he crashed.
Mr Barton was taking tandem flights with customers at the time while Mr Parer was gliding on his own.
"Adam did his manoeuvres and I just started flying to the north and two minutes later I turned and came back and the ambulance and police car were blocking the road with their lights on and there was a glider laying there... and thought `wow, when did that happen?'," Mr Barton said.
"Once I looked at the wing I couldn't believe it, I thought Adam's up here flying."
Mr Parer's death appears to be an accident but police are appealing for witnesses with video footage of the accident to come forward.
The occupants of the house were at the rear and didn't witness the accident.
Mr Parer, who lived in the Newcastle suburb of Adamstown, was well known in Australia's skydiving fraternity for his experience and capability.
Morning news break – September 01
