Apparently someone managed to parachute in.

[doogleduck]

I heard that he landed safely but got arrested shortly afterwards.

[Scouse Andy]

I saw someone with a powered parachute while I was at the park before Laura Marling, couldn't tell if they landed anywhere, not a very subtle way to do it...

[frankie boy]

I saw a bloke with a mini glider with an enigine thingy in the air making alot of noise he swarmmed around a bit and looked like he was going to land in the park hill or stone circle then must of relised security where on him and flew away didnt see him after that

[HAPPY CHEF]

Apparently he landed near the area and was soon evicted,this is at least the third time this has happened and I'm beginning to think its the same person every year.

[bulb]

Yeah I saw someone parachute over the Park before Laura Marling, Have a picture somewhere. Didn't even occur to me that he was trying to land.

[Azzy G]

yeah i saw this, he was on a glider thing, but i have no idea where he landed, people camping near by who were in the campsite at that time claimed that he landed on pennard hill near the tipi field

[Spindles]

We saw him circling around awhile from pyramid field, he did a good area of the south side of the site before settling on a landing spot. Fair play for trying, is my opinion.

[nightcrawler13]

saw someone parachute into the festival in 2004

a massive crowd got around him as he landed, he dropped all the gear, and everyone cheered and slowed down the security for him to get away

[DrWackadoodle]

I heard that he landed safely but got arrested shortly afterwards.

[Sicknote]

Took a photo of one on Saturday, at 9:40pm

[doogleduck]

Amazing, what an absolute hero.

[fowls]

How is anyone meant to get away with that?! The security will be on them in a second. Getting a crowd to slow security down might work, but you'd still need to dump the gear and run, which is a pretty expensive way to enter the festival.

Edited June 29, 2010 by fowls

[dottycat2205]

How is anyone meant to get away with that?! The security will be on them in a second. Getting a crowd to slow security down might work, but you'd still need to dump the gear and run, which is a pretty expensive way to enter the festival.

[bamber]

Took a photo of one on Saturday, at 9:40pm

[Mark E. Spliff]

It's a paraglider. And yes, someone on a paraglider does seem to buzz the site every year - I've seen him twice. I'm more than a little dubious about the reports of him landing though - a person wearing a full paragliding rig is a fairly hefty object and, even if he pulls off a perfect landing directly into the prevailing wind, he would need a reasonably sized runway to get in. There aren't that many clear areas on the site, and in reality, you'd never be able to do a perfect into-wind landing at Glastonbury as there are too many obstructions which cause the wind to curl round in a rotor - at best you'd break your ankle, at worst you'd take out a few onlookers. Also, a paraglider isn't the sort of thing you can pack away and run with - it takes a long time to stow the wing into it's bag (bigger than most rucksacks) while the motor unit weighs a tonne and is fairly unwieldy.

Paragliding (like hang-gliding) takes a lot of training. Paraglider pilots are usually fairly responsible types who, despite the Heath-Robinson appearance of their rigs, have to learn about and respect air law. Therefore, my guess is that the guy has just buzzed the site to take photos for a bit without actually attempting a landing - and the rumour-mill has filled in the gaps to create the myth.

[rischbrit]

we saw a green paraglider over the dance village on saturday that was chased away by the police helicopter then the parachute over the stone circle later on that we have picture of

[themunn]

he should buy a ticket, get his wristband and whatnot, then leave and parachute in the next day.

that way when security are all "ahoy hoy what do we have here" he can be like "a wristband"

it's what i'd do

[CCCheese]

The guy in the photo landed outside the fence, I can't recall what the outcome was, but a no fly zone is enforced over glastonbury for the duration and he broke that, so.....

[1mills]

We saw him get in last year.

Landed up either near the stone circle or possibly up above the park and appeared to get his stuff together fairly quickly and scarper.

We wondered whether he managed to get away with it, and had remembered it and was discussing it one day then the following day saw it again. I have a photo like the others on here.

We also agreed it appeared to be a expensive and awkward way to get in. Good banter though.

[nicktrow]

It's a paraglider. And yes, someone on a paraglider does seem to buzz the site every year - I've seen him twice. I'm more than a little dubious about the reports of him landing though - a person wearing a full paragliding rig is a fairly hefty object and, even if he pulls off a perfect landing directly into the prevailing wind, he would need a reasonably sized runway to get in. There aren't that many clear areas on the site, and in reality, you'd never be able to do a perfect into-wind landing at Glastonbury as there are too many obstructions which cause the wind to curl round in a rotor - at best you'd break your ankle, at worst you'd take out a few onlookers. Also, a paraglider isn't the sort of thing you can pack away and run with - it takes a long time to stow the wing into it's bag (bigger than most rucksacks) while the motor unit weighs a tonne and is fairly unwieldy.

Therefore, my guess is that the guy has just buzzed the site to take photos for a bit without actually attempting a landing - and the rumour-mill has filled in the gaps to create the myth.

[jameshunt]

Photos from 2009:

[Mahdnyw]

I was outside The Crows Nest at the top of Park when this happened, he came down behind the tipis and was quickly surrounded by security, didn't actually hang around to see what happened afterwards though.

[smog]

Freeloading SCUM!!

[Paul ™]

I've a video of him , will upload it later

Edited July 5, 2010 by Paul ™

[albert_hofmann]

He is flying a paramotor (or PPG, powerered paragliding, as the yanks like to call it).

A paragliding wing with a small 2 stroke engine strapped to his back fastened to a harness.

With the motor you are able to take off from any flat field and cruise at an altitude.

A paraglider requires a large hill facing into wind for take off, i doubt there is one close enough and suitable enough for a launch and glide into the site.

You did not see anyone parachute into the site either, as this requires a plane to jump from.....

There is a tempory airspace restriction around the site during festival weekend.

The ANO (air navigation order) states that no aircraft can fly over a gathering of more than 1000 people unless at a safe altitude. In this case its 3000' and a 2 mile radius.

What this guy did and it probably was him last year, must be local, was illegal and if the police catch up with him i suspect he is in for a very stern telling off at least.

There was once a guy who flew into london city airport airspace and got chased by the cops in the sky until he landed, they confiscated all his gear and fined him £6000.

How do I know all this..?? I fly one myself.

We are a very small community and largely self-policed as our sport is unregulated in respect of licences, air worthiness certificates etc.

Our aircraft are classed as experimental (or just mental) as they are foot-launched and have no wheels we duck under all the red tape and legal bumf.

BUT we still have to fly to the rules of the sky and this guy was not.

If irresponsible people like him carry on doing stuff like this he will bring the authorities attention to our sport and regulation will surely follow.....

a great shame for the majority because of foolish actions by the minority

Any responsible pilot will not applaud what he did, it brings the wrong type of attention to us.

He will not let himself be known on ppg forums either because he knows he shouldn't have done it and other pilots will tell him what they think of him for doing it.

I thought of doing a flyover myself a couple of years ago and contacted the police for permission to enter the airspace and was denied. I can fly over but at 3000'.

With all the other air traffic buzzing about and the mass of people below me it was deemed not safe.

Personally i hope they did catch him and take his gear off him. He shouldn't have been there.

If he had crashed into a crowd with his prop spinning it would have been a bloodbath.

If the engine was off and prop stopped and then crashed would you like 40kg of metal and 90ish kg of bloke landing on your head..?? He will be landing at about 25-30 mph and if not into wind or is out of control this could also become very messy.

I hope we don't see him next year.