Man survives 14000-foot fall
Brad Guy has lived every skydiver’s nightmare: neither the parachute nor the reserve unfolded.
Family and friends had come to watch Guy's dream come true as he jumped over the Yarra Valley last year, in an experience he had received as a gift for his 21st birthday. But instead they watched in horror – something had clearly gone wrong and Guy fell 14,000ft.
Strapped to tandem instructor Bill, Brad noticed that something had gone wrong after 4000ft. He could hear Bill swearing as the parachute didn’t deploy properly and the reserve got tangled in the main one.
“We were shaking so much, it was like we were in a blender,” Guy told the Herald Sun.
While in the air, he asked Bill if they were going to die. The response: “I don’t know.”
Guy thought of his family and boyfriend and how he had brought them to watch him die.
In an incredible stroke of luck, the pair crashed into dam at a golf club, rather than hitting the ground.
“The impact was the worst imaginable pain I could ever fathom. And then I was like ‘I’m on the ground, I’m alive!’” Guy told the Herald Sun.
Both Guy and the instructor survived the crash, but were hospitalised and ordered to spend a 14-week recovery period at home. Guy was made redundant from his job and struggled to find another one after the accident. He is now looking to seek compensation for pain and suffering.
