Michael Holmes Alive After 2 Mile Fall From The Sky!

Alive after two mile fall
By Ryan Morrison
Jersey skydiver Michael Holmes survived a two mile fall in New Zealand after his parachute failed.


Jersey's Michael Holmes was skydiving in New Zealand when his parachute failed and he found himself heading for the ground at 120mph on Tuesday 12 December.

During what would have been a relatively routine jump for a man who's been doing this for seven years, and was the youngest British person ever to qualify as a skydiving instructor, the parachute failed.

Michael's father told us that the main parachute became tangled, which then caused problems for the reserve parachute. He explained what happened:

"Half of the parachute collapsed. The parachute is attached to a container on the skydivers back with a load of lines and they became tangled.
Michael Holmes (filmed by James Boole)
Michael Holmes (filmed by James Boole)

"The tangle went right back down to the container with the result that he couldn't release the pain chute, what they call, cut away the main chute.

"Nor could he deploy the reserve and the reserve couldn't deploy itself either because of the tangle."
Blackberry Bush

However, despite falling 12,000ft Michael survived. He fell into a blackberry bush at around 100 mph and suffered a punctured lung and broken ankle.

Michael was found unconscious by police in a blackberry bush in a conservation area in Five Mile Bay in Taupo on New Zealand's North Island.