WATCH | Horror as first-time hand glider realises he's not attached to safety harness

Chris Gursky went hand gliding for the first time while on holiday in Switzerland, but things didn't go as planned after the pilot forgot to attach him to the safety harness.

In a video uploaded on YouTube, Gursky highlights his two-minute horror journey as he tries to hang onto the craft with his bare hands.

In the video, the pilot desperately tries to land the craft to get Gursky to safety.

He told Good Morning America that he thought death was near.

"I thought, 'This is it. I'm going to fall to my death.'"

Gursky had to have surgery on his right wrist after fracturing it when landing, but was upbeat about the injury, saying that "it beats the alternative."

The American tourist said the incident occurred on his first day of his holiday and later joked "base jumping tomorrow."