Skydiver left dangling at 15,000ft after parachute got caught on plane’s tail

Shocking camera footage shows the moment a skydiver’s parachute got wrapped around the tail of a plane – leaving him dangling 15,000ft above the ground.

The skydiver, known as P1 in documents, accidentally snagged his reserve parachute on a handle, causing it to deploy before he jumped.

The man was forced to think fast, using a hook knife to cut through 11 cords before deploying his main parachute for the rest 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 about the Cessna 208 aircraft’s dramatic trip.

When the impact juddered and slowed the plane, the pilot initially thought it was stalling.

The excursion organiser, known as a loadmaster, unsure about the extent of damage to the aircraft, urged the remaining skydivers to jump.

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 main parachute, the remaining reserve parachute lines became tangled with the main lines.

P1 was sent into a gut-wrenching spin but managed to unwind the lines. At about 8,000ft, they fully unwound and he was able 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 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 can be ‘lifesaving’ tools in incidents like these.

Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, a world-renowned skydiver, told CNN he had heard of similar accidents but had never witnessed one himself.

‘You can’t cut away a reserve parachute,’ he explained. ‘The reserve parachute is there to stay. Your only option at that point is to use your hook knife and cut the lines off until you can 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 down to release the student’s leg strap – a standard manoeuvre – and lost sight of 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 opposite direction and slightly below.

Despite trying to evade Philip, he could not avoid the collision, he said.

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