Recovered GoPro Video Goes Viral: Florida Man Survives

The following viral video has made its way across the internet, as well as onto many news television stations across the world. It just so happens that this video was part of a data recovery project done right here at SalvageData for a client.

Videos captured with GoPro are often breathtaking anyway. Strapping the viewer from the point of view of the action, GoPro footage brings us front and center to see snowboarding tricks, surfers getting swallowed by the waves, and even an eagle in flight. But this video has left many viewers commenting on how shocked they were to see someone literally hang on for their life.

Floridian Chris Gursky captured his first time hang gliding and got way more thrills than he bargained for. Which, without his GoPro footage, no one would ever believe.

As a first-timer, Gursky didn’t know all the proceedings. He got paired with an experienced hang glider, but the pilot completely missed that Gursky was completely untethered and wasn’t even attached to the glider.

So, when they took off from the top of a 4,000-foot mountain peak, Gursky immediately held on to the control barn with one hand and the pilot’s pant leg with the other. 

The captured video is just under 4 minutes long, but Gursky gives a content warning right at the start at how the contents may disturb some, including (he adds lightheartedly) his wife.

For about two minutes, Gursky struggled to not fall into the field or the trees of Switzerland as the pilot desperately tried to make a quick safe landing. 

When Gursky finally let go, his crash resulted in injuries that included a severely broken wrist, which required surgery, and a torn biceps from holding on for so long, but as he comments in the terrifying video “it beats the alternative”.

The adrenaline high moments were captured clearly by his GoPro camera that was attached to the hang glider. But he couldn’t access the video.

Before giving up, Gursky sent his GoPro to SalvageData’s recovery experts. After going through the data recovery process, Gursky had his video restored, and he shared it with the internet.

Getting over 11 million views on YouTube!

It’s an amazing story, and we are so happy for him that his injuries were only as bad as they were. It’s great to see that even he is taking the whole situation lightly and posting his experience (with lightheartedness) for the whole world to see. We’re also glad that we could be a part of his recovery process (no pun intended) as he gets to fully take in his very scary experience.

For situations where it feels like your data, precious files, and memories are gone forever due to a broken hard drive, SSD, flash drive, or any other type of data storage device, look no further than SalvageData. We have recovered data from devices in the worst of conditions and would love the opportunity to get you back everything you held so close.

Feel free to contact us at 800.972.3282 to see if we can help you.