YouTuber Anthony Vella fractures neck and back in deadly paraglider accident on camera

Paraglider enthusiast YouTuber Anthony Vella recently suffered a terrible accident while filming a video. The content creator uploaded a video titled Paramotor Crash ALMOST Ended My Life on April 27, where he spoke to his community of 22K subscribers from a bed in a hospital. He is being treated for a fractured neck, broken back, and other injuries.

For context, the YouTuber was filming a video on a paramotor called BGD Luna 3. A paramotor is essentially a paraglider fitted with a motor, allowing it to reach high speeds. As explained by Anthony Vella in his video, he had been testing the BGD Luna 3 at Enchanted Rock State Park, and the crash occurred when he was going at a speed of about 50 mph (80 km/h).

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YouTuber Anthony Vella explains how he crashed while paragliding

The 33-year-old YouTuber primarily produces content based on paragliding. As per the description on his channel, he is a US Army veteran and served in Afghanistan. Anthony Vella is now a pilot and the aim of his channel is to promote aviation. He has made videos giving beginners tips and tricks about getting their first glider.

His latest upload, however, is about a paramotor that can reach very high speeds. While testing out the product, Anthony essentially lost control of the vehicle, which malfunctioned about 80-100 ft in the air, causing him to crash to the ground.

Falling from that height can be quite deadly. Fortunately, the YouTuber escaped death. However, he was severely injured, and good Samaritans who rushed to help him at the site of the crash promptly contacted emergency services.

In the introductory parts of the video, Anthony Vella notes how his paramotor crashed, stating that it was because of a small tension knot that caused the paraglider to collapse while going at full speed. The YouTuber absolved the vehicle of any problems and stated that the crash occurred due to his own negligence. He said:

"The BGD Luna 3, uh, is not responsible for this crash. Upon taking off, there was a small tension knot that I hadn't seen, in spite of me checking the glider."

He further noted that going at full speed with the tension knot on had caused the accident:

"When you are fully accelerated using the trims and fully accelerated on the speed bar,fif you were to apply any sort of brake input to a glider that's fully accelerated like I just described, it will result in a collapse. A big collapse. The way that the tension knot was, it was akin to applying brakes which resulted in this crash."

The YouTuber thanked his subscribers for their love and support, and despite the grievous injuries to his neck and back, promised to come back to making content in the future. Anthony Vella has not revealed anything else about his recovery at this time.