Moment skydive goes horribly wrong as parachute gets caught on plane's tail

A September skydive in Australia went horribly wrong after a man's reserve chute deployed before he dropped and he became snagged on the tail.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released footage of the incident as part of their investigation which occurred over Mission Beach on 20 September.

Once they'd reached a height of 15,000 feet the skydivers had been planning to leap out and perform a '16-way formation jump', but things went wrong when the first skydiver's reserve chute deployed right before he was set to drop.

His reserve parachute wrapped around the tail of the plane and left him dangling from it, and as he went flying by he knocked another skydiver off the aircraft.

Fortunately they all had parachutes so they didn't plummet to their death, but the one whose chute had deployed was now dangling from the back of the plane.

The investigation found that the handle for their reserve chute had snagged on the wing flap, which is why it deployed.

The pilot felt the controls vibrating and thought the plane had stalled before being told there was a skydiver dangling from the back of the aircraft.

As the rest of the skydivers exited the plane the one snagged on the tail used a hook knife and started cutting the lines on their reserve chute to free themselves.

Dropping into freefall, they were able to deploy their main parachute and make it to the ground safely, though they had been injured when the accident first occurred.

Meanwhile, the pilot landed the plane with a length of fabric still wrapped around the tail which was interfering with the controls, which investigators referred to as 'difficult circumstances'.

They had to cut themselves free (ATSB)

“Carrying a hook knife – although it is not a regulatory requirement – could be lifesaving in the event of a premature reserve parachute deployment," ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said of the close shave.

Without a way to cut themselves free from the reserve chute things could have gone much worse for the skydiver.

It's the sort of thing that reminds you an activity like skydiving is entirely optional, and that even if you're very experienced accidents can still happen which can put you in serious danger at 15,000ft.

In this case all it took was for a handle to get snagged and a skydiver was slamming into the plane tail before being forced to cut themselves free.