Paraglider refuses to hit panic button after parachute tangle

A French paraglider has shown nerves of pure titanium to escape death after his parachute and then back-up parachute both failed as he plummeted towards the ground.

The man was practicing paragliding acrobatics over Lake Annecy in southeast France when his parachute cords became entangled, causing the thrill seeker to become enveloped in the canopy and plunge to earth.

A camera attached to his rig shows the paraglider immediately reach to release his secondary parachute but that also fails.

With his legs flailing and the lake rapidly approaching, the paraglider shows ice-cold nerves to release his third back-up parachute, which avoids the tangled mess and opens.

The third chute slows his descent enough for him to avoid injury while crashing into the water.

Footage of the panic-inducing paraglide was uploaded to YouTube early last week, and has amassed over 100,000 views.

Dave Thompson of the British Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association said he could not understand what manoeuvre the man was attempting.

"But whatever it was it failed," he said.