[Tiresias]

Skydive instructor who fell 3600m going back to work

10:24 AM Monday February 12, 2007

Skydiver Michael Holmes says he will continue free-falling for a job, despite nearly dying in his December 12 plunge to earth from 3600m above Taupo airport.

"It was a million-to-one chance," he told the Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper. "I'm prepared to stake my life on the likelihood that it will never happen again."

"I'll continue making my living teaching skydiving and I'll still spend part of the year going round the world to different competitions."

Mr Holmes survived because he landed in a blackberry bush, breaking his fall.

The newspaper reported that the video Mr Holmes -- a former champion skydiver from Britain -- shot of his fall with a helmet camera was "the most gut-wrenching, mesmerising and shocking clip of video footage imaginable".

Photographs from the video have been posted on the Mail website, and Mr Holmes is reported to have been offered more than $43,000 for TV rights to the video record of the moment when he tugged the ripcord and discovered his parachute would not open.

It shows frantic efforts to release the twisted parachute, as he spins so fast that movement is almost impossible, and then his attempt to release his reserve parachute -- and the horror as he realises that, too, has become entangled above him.

TVNZ said it would be showing "chilling video of Michael Holmes" on Close Up tonight.

Mr Holmes' friend Jonathan King, who jumped from the same plane, also filmed the fall, and as he landed a few seconds later, his helmet camera showed Mr Holmes -- bleeding, broken, unconscious -- but alive with only a punctured lung and a broken ankle.

"I didn't have time to think about anything," Mr Holmes told the newspaper.

"Friends ask if I was scared but really I was just angry that I'd done everything exactly as I should and it hadn't worked.

"I was very focused on what I was doing and I remember everything. Nothing's a blur."

At an altitude of 550 feet -- five-and-a-half seconds from the ground -- the film shows Mr Holmes waving goodbye.

"I tried to think of something, the right thing to say for the camera. But I looked at the ground again and without thinking I just blurted out "Oh ****, I'm dead... Bye!"

Mr Holmes estimated that he had reached terminal velocity of 193km/h during the freefall part of his flight, but that the drag of the parachute had reduced his impact speed to around 128km/h.

He missed the airport car park by less than 30m and instead landed in a blackberry patch which arrested his fall just enough to save his life.

Mr Holmes was in Waikato Hospital for 11 days. He hopes to resume skydiving in April.

- NZPA, NZHERALD STAFF

"Oh ****... I'm dead. Bye!"

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Tiresias 

"Oh ****... I'm dead. Bye!"

Profound.

[wolfen]

I think the record is something like 24,000 feet -- although the height doesn't really matter it'd still be cool to have the record.

[olePigeon]

Mr Holmes survived because he landed in a blackberry bush, breaking his fall.

Now, don't get me wrong, the fact that he's alive is pretty impressive; but of all the trees, shrubs, and bushes to break your fall... it's that one.

That guy has thorns in places only a proctologist would know about.

[IceEnclosure]

dude, if I were freefalling from the sky and I fell on a freakin' pillow-bush, I'd expect to go throught that thing like a bunker-buster. wtf

[Stogieman]

Well the tangled up reserve chute did slow him down a little bit. How long will it be until the video shows up on YouTube?

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

Well the tangled up reserve chute did slow him down a little bit. How long will it be until the video shows up on YouTube?

My thoughts exactly.

The newspaper reported that the video Mr Holmes -- a former champion skydiver from Britain -- shot of his fall with a helmet camera was "the most gut-wrenching, mesmerising and shocking clip of video footage imaginable".

I can imagine. 'Cept he lived, so it has a happy ending.

[IceEnclosure]

co-signed, we need moving pictures.

[macintologist]

There's this one which is unrelated but really terrible

YouTube - BaseJumper Killed

[Jawbone54]

"JUMP! We'll catch you!"

[IceEnclosure]

give me the video.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

"JUMP! We'll catch you!"

[turtle777]

Who survived ? The man or the parachute ? Thread title needs improvement

-t

[- - e r i k - -]

Now we know the reason for the Parachute Helmet

"Can you kinda make it?" - Seinfeld

Apparently you can.

[Angus_D]

They just had footage of this on BBC Breakfast, it'll probably be on the internets shortly.

[philm]

Originally Posted by Tiresias 

Mr Holmes' friend Jonathan King...

This is one unlucky guy!

(Joke for UK viewers only.)

[IceEnclosure]

video's on google, and elswhere. i saw it but i'm too lazy to link.

[macintologist]

Try this Lucky Skydiver Survives 5000 foot Free Fall - Amazing Video Footage! - Google Video

[nonhuman]

I don't know if the Google vid has it, but this one has his 'Oh ****, I'm dead. Bye!' and then dialogue with his jumping partner after the fall: World exclusive skydiver video... watch the incredible footage here! | the Mail on Sunday

My favorite part:

Are you OK?
No.
Does it hurt anywhere?
Yes.

[Kevin]

I would want to smack a guy for asking that.

[::maroma::]

That video is crazy. The fact that its a helmet cam and its from the sort of first person perspective makes it even crazier to watch. I felt my heart rate increase just watching the damn video.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by ::maroma:: 

That video is crazy. The fact that its a helmet cam and its from the sort of first person perspective makes it even crazier to watch. I felt my heart rate increase just watching the damn video.

Yeah my palms started sweating.

[Sherman Homan]

That guy has thorns in places only a proctologist would know about.

+1

[Atomic Rooster]

Originally Posted by Kevin 

I would want to smack a guy for asking that.

Actually you are taught that in Red Cross First Aid.

"Are you OK? Do you need help?" something like that. I think it's a legal thing.

[FireWire]

According to the video, he didn't deploy his reserve 'chute early because he feared it would get entangled with his main parachute.. I was under the impression that they were designed so you could quicky get rid of them in case something like this happens, and that you actually have to discard it before you open your reserve. Was he using a special kind of parachute?

[Tiresias]

A. Can you talk to me bro? Talk to me man!
B. Howzit.
A. Are you okay?
B. No.

Did I hear right? Weirdest ever conversation after miraculously averting certain death.

[rickey939]

Proud of thorns.®

[climber]

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster 

Actually you are taught that in Red Cross First Aid.

"Are you OK? Do you need help?" something like that. I think it's a legal thing.

It is not a legal thing. First responders are taught to ask questions in part to assess the mental status of a patient. Are you ok? is pretty typical. You may also hear someone ask what day it is, where they are, etc. All are designed to collectively assess if a patient is aware of person, place, time and events leading to the accident.

[OwlBoy]

wow.

-Owl

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by FireWire 

According to the video, he didn't deploy his reserve 'chute early because he feared it would get entangled with his main parachute.. I was under the impression that they were designed so you could quicky get rid of them in case something like this happens, and that you actually have to discard it before you open your reserve. Was he using a special kind of parachute?

This article answers your questions:

"When I pulled the ripcord, I realised there was a problem almost instantly. Usually you get pulled upright and look up to see the canopy but this time I was just spinning. The parachute hadn't opened.

"I didn't think that was a big deal. That's why you open at 5,000ft - it gives you time to sort these things out, untwist the lines or whatever."

The video shows that Mikey spent 46 seconds trying to free his main parachute by reaching behind him to unsnag the fine cords between the harness and the canopy. It's a manoeuvre he had successfully completed several times before.

"This time I couldn't do it,' he said. "It still isn't a worry because you've got a cutaway cable, a cord which you pull to detach the main canopy from you, so you can open your reserve chute.

"It's happened to me seven times before in 7,000 jumps and countless times to others around the world. The system is very safe. I had complete faith in it.

"Actually it's just a bit of fun, because going back into freefall is a nice feeling and then you open your reserve chute.

"The only thing that slightly annoyed me at that time was that I would have to go to look for my main parachute, which costs £1,600, in a forest.

"So I pulled the cutaway at 3,500ft...and nothing happened. It was in that second that all hell broke loose in my mind. The lines had snagged, so the main canopy was still there.

"At first I thought they were caught on my clothes. I was wearing a hooded top that day and I thought the hood was the problem, so for a few seconds I was reaching behind me trying to clear it.

"But it wasn't that either - the cords seemed to be catching on part of the parachute container on my back, which is a one-in-a-million chance.

"We carry a small knife to cut the parachute lines if necessary but there was no way I could reach them. I was being thrown around like a rag doll, spinning in the air so quickly that I was nearly blacking out.

"I knew that if I opened my reserve chute into the mess of my main canopy, it could slow my descent rate down so I might not die.

"But on the other hand, it could make things worse by wrapping itself round the main chute, reducing the drag and causing me to descend even faster."

At 700ft - just seven seconds before impact - Mikey had no choice but to pull the reserve cable.

"That was the last shot. I'd left it late so there wouldn't be much time, if it didn't work, for me to speed up. And it didn't work.

"Nothing changed. So at that point I thought, well, I've got my camera and I'll wave goodbye. There's nothing left for me to do..."

Also clears up a lot of near-death experience myths

"People have asked me since if I saw a white light or my life passing in front of me in that split second but there was nothing."

By his own admission, Mikey never gave a thought during his two minutes and two seconds of freefall to his middle-class childhood, his success as a schoolboy motocross rider, or his abandoned career as a computer network engineer.

He never paused to regret the moment seven years ago when his father, also called Michael, brought home a skydiving magazine containing an advert for a two-week parachute course in Florida - which first inspired his interest in the sport.

He didn't dwell on his girlfriend, schoolteacher Philippa Aitchison, from Neath, South Wales, or the renovation work that still awaits him at their recently purchased £100,000 cottage in Taupo.

"I didn't have time to think about anything," he insisted. "Friends ask if I was scared but really I was just angry that I'd done everything exactly as I should and it hadn't worked.

"I was very focused on what I was doing and I remember everything. Nothing's a blur."

[FireWire]

Thank you! That makes more sense!

[Rumor]

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, let's go for drinks and dancing."

I wish he made some kind of smartass comment like that.

Good for him he survived.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, let's go for drinks and dancing."

I wish he made some kind of smartass comment like that.

Good for him he survived.

"It's just a flesh wound!"

[andi*pandi]

well, for a guy with a broken ankle and punctured lung, he's pretty damned lucid and not screaming. Must have been the shock. Yikes.

[Rumor]

He even reminded himself to breathe. Pretty impressive.

[Atomic Rooster]

Seems he was spinning so fast that he became a propeller.

[Hugi]

Originally Posted by rickey939 

Proud of thorns.®

Þ.

(I doubt if anyone will get this...)

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Hugi 

Þ.

(I doubt if anyone will get this...)

It makes perfect sense ...if you're a linguistics dork.

Although personally, I prefer ð.