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Swiss paraglider Patrick von Känel flies a precision slalom around the pillars of Graubünden’s Landwasser Viaduct, timed to a passing Rhaetian Railway train.
Patrick von Känel has completed a first at the Landwasser Viaduct in Filisur, Switzerland: flying around the iconic railway bridge’s pillars on a paraglider while a red Rhaetian Railway train crossed overhead.
The project demanded repeated test flights, precision flying at steep angles, a near-windless weather window, and exact timing with the train’s arrival – bringing the total to 20 attempts at the feat. The Landwasser Viaduct is a 65-metre-high landmark in Graubünden, carrying trains across the Landwasser valley near Filisur. Here is all you need to know:
Patrick von Känel (SUI) flew a slalom line around the pillars of the Landwasser Viaduct in Filisur, Graubünden. The 32-year-old professional paraglider used steep turns around the bridge supports as a Rhaetian Railway train crossed the viaduct above. The flight combined proximity, precise control and a tightly controlled timing window.
The route relied on hard, steeply banked turns known as wing-overs. These manoeuvres rapidly increase a paraglider’s descent rate, meaning von Känel had to control his line, speed and altitude precisely through every turn. The pillars created a narrow sequence of reference points with no scope to drift off line.
Wind was one of the project’s biggest variables. Von Känel needed almost no wind to hold the required line around the pillars, making the available weather window extremely narrow. Numerous test flights and a detailed read of the conditions were needed before the final attempt came together.
The landing added another high-pressure element to the flight. The available area sat only a few metres beyond the viaduct and was surrounded by trees and shrubs. After the final sharp turn, von Känel had to immediately set up his descent and land cleanly in the small window available.
Matching the flight to the train was as important as executing the slalom. Von Känel had to synchronise his take-off, speed and turns with the arrival of the red Rhaetian Railway formation on the bridge. “Coordinating all these different factors precisely and executing them perfectly was very challenging,” he says.
The successful flight came on von Känel’s twentieth attempt. “It was like playing the lottery,” he says. “I was shaking all over when we finally succeeded on the twentieth try.”
The concept grew from an earlier tunnel flight and a visual reference von Känel had seen on Swiss television. An animation showed the red logo of the national Swiss broadcaster travelling through the Landwasser Viaduct as a Rhaetian Railway train passed overhead. That image became the starting point for a project built around one of Switzerland’s most recognisable railway landmarks.
