Sky Diver Survives Two Mile Freefall

[Dawson]

Alive after two mile fall

Jersey skydiver Michael Holmes survived a two mile fall in New Zealand after his parachute failed.

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.

"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.

The guy had a camera strapped to his helmet too, so the whole thing was recorded. Video is here. You can hear him saying "I'm gonna die. Bye!" about 200ft from the ground.

Now, that is one lucky dude.

 

[Lucario-Kurt]

Yeah when i saw this on TV i was amazed that this guy survived the fall, very lucky dude indeed, if i was in that postion i would most certainly i was thinking i was gonna die, if he hit the water he would of died because at that height and speed it would of hit him like a brick wall, he is lucky he landed on the tree bits or whatever it was...

 

[Drummershuff]

I saw this on the news, actually. I should have been the one to post it. D:

Anyway, yeah, it's really lucky he survived. Although, one thing I don't get is, if you're falling and you know you're going to die, why the hell would you say "bye" to the camera. If it was me I'd be screaming for my life, not worried about what my last message was going to be to the camera. I'm surprised he didn't receive that many injuries, to be honest. I mean 100mph is pretty fast to be falling...

 

[Dawson]

I saw this one the news, actually. I should have been the one to post it. D:

I've been meaning to post it for days now, just been too lazy.

Anyway, yeah, it's really lucky he survived. Although, one thing I don't get is, if you're falling and you know you're going to die, why the hell would you say "bye" to the camera. If it was me I'd be screaming for my life, not worried about what my last message was going to be to the camera. I'm surprised he didn't receive that many injuries, to be honest. I mean 100mph is pretty fast to be falling...

That's just how hardcore he is, yo.

I don't think it would've been possible for him to scream, and it would've been completely useless. I think, with the air pressure hitting him in the face at that speed, it'd be difficult for him to scream.

Besides, if I knew I was hurtling to my death and my final moments were being caught on camera, I'd be wanting to say something that people will remember. Well, first I'd say something for my family, "I love you all, don't mourn me." or whatever, but after that I'd want to say something stupid that would maybe make something laugh or at least talk about.

Better to be remembered as being witty, even in the face of death, than just being another unlucky person.

 

[Gunn]

I've never been wanting to perform sky diving before because of unfortunate scenarios as so. But hearing of a man surviving a freefall is amazing. Not that it'll lift my encouragement, but yeah. :P

 

[DragonMaster#1]

Damn the crappiness of that video! It's all blurry! Anyway, that guy is so lucky. I mean, what are the odds that that would happen? I'm glad he got a video, because crappy as it is, it's still awesome.

 

[MegaFuz]

Wow. This guy is hardcore, no doubts. There's no way I'd be able to keep my cool falling at 100 MPH. Thank god for blackberry bushes, no?

 

[DragonMaster#1]

Only one thing makes me doubt that this is true. He kept his cool the whole time, even when he knew there was absolutely no hope. That's just not natural. "I'm gonna die now, bye!" is not what someone in his position says. "OHMYGODAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" would be more accurate. I'm not saying it's impossible, just highly unlikely.

 

[Hayate]

Ah yes I've seen it at the yesterday somewhere...meh the guy is lucky but I wouldn't try it myself ^^;;;

 

[LilCuteThing]

How is it possible to survive something such a long fall? He is really lucky!!

 

[Dawson]

Only one thing makes me doubt that this is true. He kept his cool the whole time, even when he knew there was absolutely no hope. That's just not natural. "I'm gonna die now, bye!" is not what someone in his position says. "OHMYGODAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" would be more accurate. I'm not saying it's impossible, just highly unlikely.

Not everybody is like you though, some people are just naturally laid back, no matter what. Afterall, this is a person that jumps out of planes for fun, to do something like that you have to be able to maintain composure.

Besides that, i highly doubt all that many people would be screaming, "OHMYGODAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" as they plummet to their deaths. They'd be too busy trying desperately to think of some way to prevent themselves from dying to waste time and energy screaming.

 

[Red1530]

My goodness, he is lucky to be alive. Miracles still do happen.

 

[Drummershuff]

Only one thing makes me doubt that this is true. He kept his cool the whole time, even when he knew there was absolutely no hope. That's just not natural. "I'm gonna die now, bye!" is not what someone in his position says. "OHMYGODAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" would be more accurate. I'm not saying it's impossible, just highly unlikely.

Ooh, so you mean you think he faked it all to get publicity of some sort? Hmm... nah. We all know he's true and, like Dawson said, he's been jumping out of planes and such for a long time. He's obviously been mentally and physically prepared for something wrong to happen, so it's not really that surprising that he said "bye" to the camera. If someone else had been in his position I'm sure they'd have been shouting more that "OMG" anyway. Well, I know I wouldn't be saying it for sure.

 

[Captain Arcane]

Amazing, Y'know, I've always had a theory about falling. What if you were falling, just like this poor man. So you posistions your body so you start to probell in a direction. As your falling you bring your body to a almost running posistion. Your body is know falling at a 20 degree angle or less. You start to run, and you touch earth. Depending on how fast you were running, do you think that would work?

 

[Lil' Schu]

Amazing, Y'know, I've always had a theory about falling. What if you were falling, just like this poor man. So you posistions your body so you start to probell in a direction. As your falling you bring your body to a almost running posistion. Your body is know falling at a 20 degree angle or less. You start to run, and you touch earth. Depending on how fast you were running, do you think that would work?

I don't think that would work. Wouldn't the impact's force kind of negate that?

Wow. He is one lucky man. Out of all the places for him to hit the ground at, he hits a blackberry bush.

...Do you think that would hurt? I mean, the bush, with all its spikyness.

 

[Dawg 2005]

Amazing, Y'know, I've always had a theory about falling. What if you were falling, just like this poor man. So you posistions your body so you start to probell in a direction. As your falling you bring your body to a almost running posistion. Your body is know falling at a 20 degree angle or less. You start to run, and you touch earth. Depending on how fast you were running, do you think that would work?

...Not really, since, one, it isn't easy at all the move your legs like that when falling 100+mph, two, when you hit the ground, the impact will pretty much crush your legs.

The video isn't up anymore, so if anyone could be a nice person and find it, then you'd be a nice person. XD He's really lucky to have survived, and I'm suprised he didn't splatter or anything. Extremely lucky fellow.

 

[Lord Mike]

That's ballin man! Sorry, I had to say that.

Well, its cool. IMO, that would be fun, except for the thought of pumling to the ground and dying! ^_^

Anyway, if you were to enjoy you last minutes of life, I'd be having a lot of fun doing that!

 

[Auron]

And he only broked his foot...He surely was lucky. Those bushes surely saved him. I have to see that video. I wanna hear that.

 

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

he is lucky but I've seen worst, some people survived when there parachute fails higher.

:t354:~*!*~Queen Boo~*!*~