sportbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Lad Saves Man Having Seizure At 12,000ft While Skydiving

Lad Saves Man Having Seizure At 12,000ft While Skydiving

This is the absolutely terrifying moment when a man jumps out of a plane but then has an epileptic seizure ans loses consciousness

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare

It's easy to fear the worst when going into a new situation. For example, if you're starting a new school or job, you might be worried about how you'll get on with your new colleagues, or if you go on a rollercoaster you might even be concerned about it falling off the tracks.

Or maybe you're going skydiving and you imagine this happening.

Yep, this is the absolutely terrifying moment that Christopher Jones had a seizure just after jumping out of an aircraft at 9,000 feet - he then spent the next 30 or so seconds unconscious and in freefall. Which is pretty much the worst possible thing that could happen, except for maybe the parachute not opening.

The dramatic incident, which took place on 14 November 2014, was captured on video by Christopher's jumpmaster, who was fortunately able to catch up to Christopher and pull his ripcord at around 4,000 feet.

ViralHog

The footage shows Christopher, from Perth, Australia, jumping out of the plane. At first he's fine, but when his instructor indicates for him to do a left hand turn, it's clear that something goes wrong and the then-22-year-old rolls onto his back.

It was captured by instructor Sheldon McFarlane's helmet camera - on YouTube, Christopher describes the incident as 'possibly the scariest moment of my life'.

Christopher, who suffers from epilepsy, had wanted to be a pilot, but due to his condition was unable to become one, so figured a skydive was the next best thing. He'd not had a seizure for four years and had been cleared by his doctor to jump.

"I've always wanted to have the feeling of flight, so I just thought, considering I can't fly a plane due to my condition, I thought I'd give it a go," he told ABC News.

ViralHog

As terrifying as it all sounds, his instructor was never worried that Christopher was in danger because there were two automatic activation devices that would have automatically deployed. Nevertheless, he wanted to make sure the situation was completely under control.

"At no time was I worried he was going to hit the ground without a parachute, but given the circumstances and where we were I thought it would be better to get him under parachute earlier than later," McFarlane said.

"I managed to catch him on my second attempt and deploy his parachute."

Christopher regained consciousness at around 3,000 feet and was able to land safely.

Got a story for us? Need to tell us about something amazing you've seen or done? Want us to investigate something? Get in touch!

Email [email protected] or head to our submissions platform - and you could even earn money for your stories or tips.

Featured Image Credit: ViralHog

Topics: News