A paraglider got stuck 20m up a tree in Queenstown yesterday.
Emergency services were called to rescue the man from a tree near Hamilton Road at 5pm.
But it is understood he managed to get himself down before they arrived.
The man was uninjured.
Witness Jiri Langer, also a paraglider, said he saw his friend "tumbling" down.
"The wing collapsed when he was coming out of a difficult manoeuvre.
He was too late in breaking, couldn't recover and went into a spin," he said.
About 30m from the tree line the man had to deploy his reserve chute.
Mr Langer said the crash was "quite smooth" because his friend was a very experienced paraglider.
"If it was me, I would have been dead," he said.
