VIDEO: Helmetcam Shows Unconscious Skydiver’s Descent
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iStock/Thinkstock(WILTSHIRE, England) — A skydiving adventure in Wiltshire, England, turned frightful after one of the jumpers lost consciousness as he hurtled toward the ground, helpless to open his parachute.
In the July 2013 video that ABC News obtained, the group of skydivers climbed onto the outside of a plane, ready to jump.
James Lee, 25, of Gloucestershire, England — an experienced skydiver with more than 1,000 leaps under his hat — wore a camera on his helmet.
Seconds after he jumped, though, one of his fellow skydiver’s legs hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out instantly.
With the camera wobbling, an unconscious Lee tumbled toward Earth from 12,500 feet. Typically skydivers fall at an average speed of 120 mph.
Eventually Lee’s friends noticed there’s something wrong with him. When he didn’t respond to their hand signals, they approached him and moved his body to the correct position. They then deployed his chute.
As Lee drifted toward Earth, he regained consciousness but with no memory of the incident.
He vowed, however, that the accident would not stop him from skydiving again.
It’s not the first skydiving mishap to make the news recently. Makenzie Wethington, 16, is recovering after falling 3,500 feet — more than half a mile — in a skydiving accident Saturday in Oklahoma.
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