Man Falls from 10,000 and Lives

Paul Lewis, 40, jumped from a plane and plummeted through the air before crashing on to the roof of a hangar at Tilstock Airfield in Whitchurch, Shropshire.

He was rescued by firefighters and treated for head and neck injuries, before being airlifted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, in Stoke-on-Trent.
The accident happened at around 3pm on Friday when Mr Lewis, a freelance cameraman, was filming tandem jumps for the Parachute Centre, a skydiving firm based at the airfield.

Witnesses said that his main parachute failed to open, and then his reserve parachute failed to work properly.

A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “The man is reported to have fallen approximately 1,000 feet (3,000 metres), spiralling to the ground following a 10,000-foot skydive.”

Colin Fitzmorris, who owns the Parachute Centre, said that Mr Lewis was “very lucky” to escape without more serious injuries, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Mr Fitzmorris, who saw the accident happen, said: “He had a malfunction on his main parachute, which he cut away normally, but had some kind of control problem on his reserve which continued to spiral until he hit the hangar roof.

“The roof of the hangar broke his fall and flexed sufficiently to reduce the impact. He has no fractures but some neck injury, and we are sure that he will make a full recovery. He is very lucky.”

Tracey Butterworth, a care worker from Leek, Staffordshire, who performed a tandem jump videoed by Mr Lewis last month, said: “He’s a fantastic bloke – he and the other instructor made the day for me.

“He was making me laugh from start to finish, and always very professional. It sounds like he’s been very, very lucky and I’m glad to hear he’s OK.”

On his Facebook site, Mr Lewis, who is thought to live in Shropshire, lists his interests as skydiving; the pop band My Left Foot; the television sit-com Father Ted; and Peter Griffin, the character from the animated television series Family Guy.

In 2007, experienced parachutist Michael Holmes survived after his main canopy and reserve failed to open after a 12,000ft jump.

Triggered at 4,000ft above Lake Taupo, New Zealand, the malfunction was caught in a gut-wrenching video sequence by his head-mounted camera.

Mr Holmes, from Jersey, had his fall broken by a tree. He suffered only a punctured lung and a broken ankle.

The person to have fallen the greatest distance without a parachute, and survived, is Vesna Vulović, a Serbian air hostess who fell 33,000ft after her JAT airliner was blown up in January 1972.

The 22-year-old landed in snow in the former Czechoslovakia.


watch this amazing video-now this isn't THIS fall but still...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...parachute.html