{"id":117747,"date":"2026-01-14T13:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/117747\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:18:08","slug":"florida-paraglider-falls-500-feet-into-ocean-survives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/117747\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida paraglider falls 500 feet into ocean, survives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

A 52-year-old Florida man<\/a> walked away unharmed after his powered paraglider dropped 500 feet out of the sky and splashed into the ocean on Friday, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The dramatic fall happened just before noon off the coast of Singer Island near Riviera Beach, the Riviera Beach Police Department said. Bystanders captured the incident on cell phone video.<\/p>\n

Sarah Williamson, a lifeguard with Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue, told WFLX-TV<\/a> that she first noticed the paraglider was in trouble upon seeing that he was “going in an interesting pattern” after hitting an apparent wind gust.<\/p>\n

“I just started running, and I radioed my other partner,” she said. “We grabbed our rescue tube and our rescue board and paddled out in tandem.”<\/p>\n

PARACHUTIST BRIEFLY HANGS ABOVE END ZONE DURING ARMED FORCES BOWL PREGAME MISHAP<\/a><\/p>\n

\"rescuers <\/p>\n

Beachgoers witnessed the paraglider fall 500 feet into the ocean off the coast of Singer Island near Riviera Beach on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Riviera Beach Police Department)<\/p>\n

The lifeguards and nearby beachgoers<\/a> immediately swam out to help the man, police said.<\/p>\n

\"beachgoers <\/p>\n

Nearby beachgoers swam out to help the uninjured paraglider, and brought him and his craft to shore, police said. (Riviera Beach Police Department)<\/p>\n

Williamson said a snorkeler dove underwater and helped free the man from a tangle of paraglider lines.<\/p>\n

“(The snorkeler) was a godsend because we did not have a mask, and he was able to get underwater and free the man while we secured him,” she told the outlet.<\/p>\n

\"powered <\/p>\n

The paraglider, from Pompano Beach, had lifted off from Ocean Cay Park in Jupiter and sailed south until the 500-foot fall into the water, police said. (Riviera Beach Police Department)<\/p>\n

LA DEPUTIES CAUGHT ON CAMERA RACING INTO FOGGY OCEAN TO RESCUE DISORIENTED PARAGLIDERS<\/a><\/p>\n

Police said<\/a> the rescuers brought the 52-year-old paraglider and his craft to shore. He was not injured<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The paraglider, from Pompano Beach, had lifted off from Ocean Cay Park in Jupiter and sailed south until the 500-foot fall into the water.<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s identity has yet to be released to the public.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

Williamson said she was “quite blown away” to learn how far the paraglider fell before making the unplanned splashdown.<\/p>\n

“Five hundred feet is an incredible thing to survive,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A 52-year-old Florida man walked away unharmed after his powered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,1548,4373,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-117747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-headlines","10":"tag-florida-news","11":"tag-good-news","12":"tag-odd-news","13":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}