Dell Schanze, a US distributor for U-Turn paragliders, was arrested on Monday after flying a speed glider from the 38m-high Astoria Column in Oregon, USA.
Ascending or descending the tower, or climbing over the railing of the viewing platform, are banned, and police didn’t have a difficult job of finding the perpetrator of the stunt after the video was posted on YouTube.
Two days after the video was posted, a member of the public spotted Dell, who calls himself ‘Super Dell’, with a wing and motor on Oregon beach, and he was arrested on 13 June and then held at the Clatsop County jail before being released on $10,000 bail.
The stunt was planned with Byron Leseik, a paramotor instructor from Oregon. On his blog Byron said, “I’m all about getting together with a group of fun pilots and having a great time.” However, comments left on some of his videos indicate that other pilots are worried that he is giving the sport a bad reputation.
Brad Hill, owner of local paragliding school Discover Paragliding, told a local reporter: “We are not happy about it. He is here for the month of June. His typical M.O. is to go anywhere in the world he wants to go and do whatever he wants to do and then leave and let the locals deal with the aftermath.”
Dell, 41, told Fox News: “”If they had a problem with it, no problem, cite me, let me know there’s an issue, give me a warning, give me a fine, something … but arrest me and take me to jail? That’s just ridiculous and completely inappropriate.”
The stunt attracted extensive news coverage on local news outlets in Oregon.
• Got news? Send it to us at news@xccontent.local.
Subscribe to the world’s favourite hang gliding and paragliding magazine
home
