There is a tunnel in the German Allgäu region which is 66m long and 7.5m wide and high. That's barely enough to fit the smallest paraglider with only a few dozen centimeters to spare on each side. Last year, Swiss Advance test pilot Michi Maurer flew right through it with a Pi3 hike&fly wing. He needed only three attempts on a single day to get it right and complete the first successful tunnel flight with a paraglider. How did he do that?

The entire stunt, which stars in an action packed video clip also featuring a yellow Porsche and more tricks by Michi, sprang from the creative brain of Austrian photographer and pilot Adi Geisegger, who had had the project in mind for a long time, he recalls. "The idea comes from seeing pilots like Jean-Baptiste Chandelier groundskimming. I started looking for tunnels all around Europe, but I couldn't find anything. A tunnel should have the right gradient, the right height and nothing hanging from the ceiling like lights. It can't have a corner in front or inside and there should not be a lot of traffic. Finally I found a newly built tunnel which was perfect, right at my doorstep."

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The full feature was published in Cross Country magazine 256, March/April 2025.