FROM: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1443864.ece


By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
Published: 19 Jul 2008




A LONE pilot let his light aircraft fly itself while he reached out to cut an Army parachutist entangled in the landing gear.

In a scene reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, the civilian flier left his seat for a full 30 seconds to cut through the snagged lines.
He then rushed back to the controls while the parachutist used his reserve canopy to land safely.
Last night a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The pilot showed significant bravery and skill. We are unaware of a rescue like this happening before.”
Emergency

The drama unfolded 3,000ft above the Joint Service Parachute Centre at Bad Lippspringe in Germany.
Six British soldiers took off in the twin propeller engine Islander for a military parachuting competition.
The first five jumped successfully.
But the sixth — an instructor — hit trouble when his chute partially deployed and its rigging became caught in the undercarriage.
One witness on the ground said: “We saw a body dangling helplessly from the plane as it was coming into land.
“It circled us and then banked. We did not see the plane land as trees cover the view — but it looked like a terrible tragedy was about to happen.

Advertisement


“Then we heard the sirens of emergency vehicles rushing to the scene.”
Another onlooker, a worker at the nearby Army barracks, said: “We were watching the plane when I noticed there was a man dangling upside-down by some sort of cable. It was really surreal as he was completely caught up. They must have been flying at about 140mph.
“We saw it for about 50 seconds and the plane seemed to be descending so we assumed the pilot had to land with the man still underneath.
“We heard the emergency services shortly afterwards and assumed the worst.”
In fact the British pilot — who could see the instructor waving at him frantically — was about to level the plane so it was flying in a straight line. Then he leaned dangerously from the hatch to free him.
The modest flier, a former soldier based at the centre near Paderborn, has asked for his identity to be kept secret. He insisted he was only doing his job and any other pilot would have done the same.
Dozens of other parachutists had jumped without any problems from the plane earlier in the competition for Navy, RAF and Army parachutists — dubbed Exercise Backstop Drop. The instructor was performing a free-fall parachute jump and would have had a main chute on his back, plus the reserve.
It is thought he either pulled the cord a split second too soon or there was a technical malfunction which caused the chute to partially deploy.
Had both chutes failed he would have plunged to ground at 120mph.
An onlooker said: “I’ve parachuted before — but now I’d never do it again.”