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Shocking camera footage shows the moment a skydiver’s parachute got wrapped across the tail of a plane – leaving him dangling 15,000ft above the bottom.
The skydiver, referred to as P1 in documents, by accident snagged his reserve parachute on a handle, causing it to deploy before he jumped.
The person was forced to think fast, using a hook knife to chop through 11 cords before deploying his foremost parachute for the remainder of the descent.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released the footage following an investigation into the accident on September 20 above Queensland.
An agency report has revealed several hair-raising details concerning the Cessna 208 aircraft’s dramatic trip.
When the impact juddered and slowed the plane, the pilot initially thought it was stalling.
The tour organiser, referred to as a loadmaster, unsure concerning the extent of harm to the aircraft, urged the remaining skydivers to leap.
While the loadmaster and pilot stayed behind, 13 parachutists jumped.
P1, an experienced skydiver doing his 2,013th jump, cut his cords in 50 seconds, although he told investigators it was ‘harder’ than he’d expected.
But his ordeal wasn’t over. On deploying his foremost parachute, the remaining reserve parachute lines became tangled with the foremost lines.
P1 was sent right into a gut-wrenching spin but managed to unwind the lines. At about 8,000ft, they fully unwound and he was in a position to land safely.
He was left with minor lacerations and bruising to his left lower leg and a deep gash to his right lower leg.
Meanwhile, the pilot had radioed for assistance and told air traffic control they were prepared to ‘bail out’ using their very own parachutes if the craft’s tail fell off.
The Cessna 208 landed safely but sustained ‘substantial damage’ to its stabiliser from P1’s impact.
P1, who has 21 years of skydiving experience and a formation skydiving qualification, was savvy to have brought a hook knife with him, a tool that saved his life.
Sarah Fien, the incident’s investigator, said in an ATSB YouTube video that hook knives may be ‘lifesaving’ tools in incidents like these.
Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, a world-renowned skydiver, told CNN he had heard of comparable accidents but had never witnessed one himself.
‘You may’t cut away a reserve parachute,’ he explained. ‘The reserve parachute is there to remain. Your only option at that time is to make use of your hook knife and cut the lines off until you may release from there.’
Last month, in a separate incident, a 59-year-old fell to his death after his paraglider collided with a hang glider mid-air.
Philip Eric Haegler was soaring above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before plunging 150ft on November 20.
The hang glider, an instructor named Manoel da Silva, told officers he was flying with a student when he became distracted.
He said he looked right down to release the scholar’s leg strap – a normal manoeuvre – and overlooked Philip’s paraglider for roughly three seconds.
Manoel da Silva said that when he looked up, he was shocked to see Philip approaching from the other way and barely below.
Despite attempting to evade Philip, he couldn’t avoid the collision, he said.
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