A British skydiver has survived a 3,500ft fall after his parachute failed to open. Charlie Williams, 25, was saved by a corrugated iron roof he smashed through at 120mph. | "Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark." |
It broke the army officer's fall as he landed on a shanty town in Kenya, reports the Sun. He escaped with three cracked vertebrae and a dislocated finger and is now recovering at his parents' home in Bradford.
Charlie said: "I don't know if I'm very lucky or very unlucky. I'm alive and frankly that's all that matters." | I wouldn't waste money buying Lotto tickets. You just used up all your luck. |
He clipped the side of the aircraft and was sent spiralling head-first after he leapt from a Cessna 102 plane. As he pulled his ripcord his feet got entangled in the rigging. Charlie hurtled towards the ground with the canopy flapping uselessly. | OK, he had partial deployment. That slowed him down enough so he didn't crater. |
He said: "I was very frightened and I was panicking. My body position meant it was impossible to deploy my reserve parachute." |