'I'll skydive again'

2007-02-14 12:12

Wellington - A British parachutist who miraculously survived a four kilometre plunge to the ground when his equipment failed in New Zealand, says he will resume work as a skydiver once his body is repaired.

Michael Holmes, who videoed his terrifying fall in December, escaped with a punctured lung and broken ankle when he landed in a blackberry bush which cushioned the fall.

"I'll continue making my living teaching skydiving and I'll still spend part of the year going round the world to different competitions," he told a British newspaper.

"I'm prepared to stake my life on the likelihood that it will never happen again."

The dramatic footage of the fall, filmed from his helmet mounted camera, was this week released to media outlets, and shows Holmes spiralling out of control after his parachute became tangled as he tried to release it.

Film from another parachutist shows Holmes spinning wildly as he plummets towards the ground.

Holmes, a cameraman who has lived in New Zealand for three years, had leapt from a plane near Taupo in the central North Island to film a group of skydivers on December 13.

He estimated he had reached terminal velocity of 193km an hour during a 3 000 metre freefall, and the drag of the failed parachute reduced his impact speed to around 128km/h over the final 1 000m.

The footage shows Holmes checking his altitude meter as he struggles to turn over onto his back to see what the problem is.

In the final seconds of his fall he yells "bye", as the chilling image of his shadow on the ground grows larger until it fills the screen.

Soon after the accident, Holmes told reporters from his hospital bed that he thought he was going to die.

"When the second parachute didn't open I realised it was all over," he said. "I was going to die."

But Holmes told Television New Zealand this week, in an interview with the release of the film, he was ready to jump again if his leg was up to it.

However, he acknowledged he had used up his share of luck and anticipated he would feel a few twinges of apprehension when he next goes for a jump.

But the accident had been a "million-to-one" chance, he said.

- AFP