The Federal Office for Civil Aviation confirmed on Tuesday that the pilot would lose his licence for two months, but it stopped short of a permanent ban, saying the pilot’s aptitude was not in question.
The experienced pilot has already been fined of CHF800 ($800) and a criminal investigation against him is still pending.
The incident occurred last November, when a tourist from the United States on his first-ever hang glider trip as a passenger found himself not strapped in properly as the glider left the ground.
The pilot tried an emergency landing on a meadow outside the popular tourist resort of Interlaken in the Swiss Alps with the passenger hanging on to him.
The tourist suffered several injuries including a fracture to his right wrist shortly before the glider was able to land.
The video footage below of the frightening flight experience, published on YouTube, went viral.
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The aircraft had left the Bex airfield in canton Vaud and crashed around 3pm into the southern side of the Mont Blanc massif at Val Ferret, above Courmayeur. The wreckage was found at an altitude of around 2,500m by the Aosta Valley mountain rescue team after being alerted by hikers who had heard the crash.…
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