Posted by DickySnapples
anyone seen this?? very very lucky guy
From bbc news..
Jersey's Michael Holmes was skydiving in New Zealand when his parachute failed and he found himself heading for the ground at 120mph on Tuesday 12 December.
During what would have been a relatively routine jump for a man who's been doing this for seven years, and was the youngest British person ever to qualify as a skydiving instructor, the parachute failed.
Michael's father told us that the main parachute became tangled, which then caused problems for the reserve parachute. He explained what happened:
"Half of the parachute collapsed. The parachute is attached to a container on the skydivers back with a load of lines and they became tangled.
Michael Holmes (filmed by James Boole)
"The tangle went right back down to the container with the result that he couldn't release the pain chute, what they call, cut away the main chute.
"Nor could he deploy the reserve and the reserve couldn't deploy itself either because of the tangle."
Blackberry Bush
However, despite falling 12,000ft Michael survived. He fell into a blackberry bush at around 100 mph and suffered a punctured lung and broken ankle.
Michael was found unconscious by police in a blackberry bush in a conservation area in Five Mile Bay in Taupo on New Zealand's North Island.
A Taupo Fire Brigade spokesman said "Mr Holmes had fallen into dense bushes and the brigade had been called to slash a path through to free him"
Michael Holmes snr told us "It's a one in a million chance it could happen and he was very fortunate he survived."
He was asked how his son felt about falling and told us "Michael is Michael and he will bounce back from it and will be skydiving again in a months time".
Eyewitness John Siddles told New Zealand's Daily Post "One of the skydivers was coming down and going round and round. He looked like he was all tangled up or something. He just came down, straight down".
The accident is being investigated by the New Zealand Parachute Industry Association.
and the video of the fall- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwKFQN8cs0U
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http://downloads.warprecords.com/bushwhacked2.mov
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[ This Message was edited by: Dicky Snapples on 2007-02-14 17:58 ]
Posted by Xugaa
All hail the blackberries!
These things do wonders... anyway, that is pretty amazing, lucky guy.
Must be so scary thinking or knowing that you're about to die...
I felt sorry for him when he was waving and saying goodbye.
[ This Message was edited by: Xugaa on 2007-02-14 19:03 ]
Posted by Tiny
wow, the video is cool
Posted by DickySnapples
better footage
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pa[....]4&in_page_id=1990&in_a_source=
Posted by pmerryman
He is one lucky guy.
Posted by leeboy13
im reallly excited now
lol
Posted by DickySnapples
what a way to though, splattered on the ground in a borat mankini
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[ This Message was edited by: Dicky Snapples on 2008-02-27 12:33 ]
Posted by leeboy13
do you think i'll be remebered? do you think there'll be skid marks?
Posted by Cycovision
do you think there'll be skid marks?
There will be in your pants, that's for sure...
[ This Message was edited by: Cycovision on 2008-02-27 13:16 ]
Posted by leeboy13
always is matey, always is
Posted by AbuBasim
Where's the Chute?
(North Carolina, 1987) Ivan, an experienced parachutist with 800 jumps under his belt, was videotaping a private lesson given by an instructor for a single trainee. He had attached the video camera to his helmet so that it would capture the entire day of instruction, and the supporting power supply and recorder were in a heavy satchel slung on his back.
The group went up in the plane, and the instructor led the enthusiastic beginner through preparations for the jump. Ivan carefully documented the lesson, which needed to be perfect for the sake of posterity,
When they reached the jump site, Ivan jumped from the back of the plane and filmed the student and instructor jumping from the front of the plane. A few heartbeats later, tape still running, Ivan realized that he had been so focused on filming the jump that he had forgotten to strap on his own parachute. An FAA spokesperson said that the video equipment strapped to his back may have been mistaken for a parachute.
In the footage salvaged from the camera and spliced together, the student and instructor are shown in freefall befire they pull their ripcords and recede rapidly from view. Then the cameraman's hands reach for his own ripcord. When Ivan realizes he has no ripcord, ergo no chute, his hands are seen to flail about wildly, then the camera pans down towards the approaching earth...
Film from the final stage of the plunge was destroyed on impact.
Posted by leeboy13
thats the hammer! get me all excited about doign this?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Posted by methylated_spirit
Jebus, what a mistake-a to make-a!