A US Army paratrooper was captured on video free-falling through the air for 15 heart-stopping seconds after his parachute failed. The man can be seen in the video struggling to inflate his reserve chute just seconds before he would have hit the ground.
“That reserve parachute takes about 400 feet to open, and so that’s a pretty substantial amount of time when you are coming to the ground as quick as that person was. There’s a reason they call this hazardous duty,” says St. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger, a former freefall instructor with the Army.
“We train every single time to a meticulous level of detail with these paratroopers to make sure that they do the right thing, every single time,” says Master Sgt. Alex Burnett, a spokesman with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
“This kid did all the right things,” says Burnett. “When he realized he was falling faster and acknowledges what’s going on, he did exactly what he was trained to do: He activated that reserve and made sure he landed to the ground safely.” According to Burnett, every soldier goes through training where every possible outcome is covered “from start to finish.” All paratroopers must also complete the Army’s three-week Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia.
