It’s not really about technology, or business, but it’s still an amazing story: Michael Holmes, a veteran skydiver with more than 7,000 jumps to his credit, had had his chute fail before — but never like this.
After failing to deploy, he couldn’t cut it loose, and then his reserve chute got tangled as well. Unable to control his descent, he plummeted 12,000 feet into the ground at about 80 miles per hour. Somehow, he avoided both the ocean (where he would likely have drowned) and a nearby parking lot, and crashed into a small clump of blackberry bushes. He came away from the impact with just a broken ankle and a collapsed lung.
There’s more info at the Mail on Sunday website, including comments from Michael about the jump. Incredible story.
The Mail on Sunday appears to have gotten YouTube to pull down the video, since it says it has been removed as a result of a copyright complaint from Associated Newspapers (which owns the Mail on Sunday). The newspaper has embedded the video here.