On Saturday evening, we received an emergency call: a 42-year-old paraglider pilot crashed into the hillside near the summit of Kopasz-hegy, shortly after launching from the high start area above Csákberény. He suffered multiple fractures.
Following the emergency call received at 6:00 p.m., we issued an alert and began coordinating the rescue operation. We expected that the first team to arrive would be our nearby colleagues from the Bakony Cave Rescue Service, as they are located closer to the area and had just finished a demonstration at the local celebration in Sóly, meaning both the team and their equipment were likely still assembled.
In response to the alert, in addition to our 18-member team, 4 volunteers from the Bakony Cave Rescue Service and 2 from the Mór Volunteer Fire Department also joined the operation. While the alerted teams were preparing and approaching the accident site, our coordinator tried to accurately pinpoint the casualty’s location. One challenge was finding a suitable staging area in the narrow streets at the edge of the village - a spot with cell coverage, enough space for many arriving vehicles, within short distance of the injured pilot, accessible for the ambulance, and ideally not disrupting the lives of local residents.