A would-be Santa has found himself in a bit of a sticky spot in the US.

The man, who was impersonating Santa Claus while flying on a powered parachute (yes, really), had to be rescued by fire crews after he got tangled in power lines.

The incident happened on Sunday (local time) shortly after the man took off near a school in Rio Linda, in northern California, to deliver candy canes to local children. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman told KCRA-TV that he flew into a maze of power lines and wound up dangling from them.

“Turns out Santa was trying to get some last-minute fun in before the holiday and got into a hot wire situation,” the California Highway Patrol’s North Sacramento Office wrote in a Facebook post.

The man, whose name has not been released, was not injured. But he was left hanging for quite some time.

Video from the rescue shows the paramotor – a harness and glider powered by a small engine and fan – dangling overhead with “Santa” still firmly fastened to the pilot seat.

One local who witnessed the rescue unfold, Colleen Bousliman, said the pilot flew overhead often.

“He flies just around so people can see and flies around people’s houses,” she said. “This was the first time he was in his Santa suit.”

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman Chris Vestal said electricity was cut to about 200 local customers while the pilot was rescued.

“It’s unfortunate, but we all need to remember that there’s still a lot of good out in the world, there are people doing good things and to look at the brightness of the holiday season,” Mr Vestal said.

He said the rescue was straight forward and the stuck Santa was soon back on firm ground.

“Without a scratch and full of good cheer, we made sure Old St Nick will use his reindeer when he sees you later this year,” the fire department later wrote in a tweet.

Tweet from @metrofirepio