A skydiver fell 9,000 feet after his parachute became tangled in a friend's while doing a difficult stunt. The man suffered broken bones and a head injury, but survived The Ledger reported.
Victor Bryie, 27 of Winter Haven, Fla., had been attempting a Canopy Relative Work maneuver with another 27-year-old parachutist, Shaun Phillips, when the accident took place.
They were near the Lake Wales Municipal Airport Sunday afternoon when they jumped from 14,000 feet and their parachute lines tangled, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
According to The Ledger, Bryie was rushed to a local hospital in the United Kingdom. Though his injuries were serious, he's reportedly in stable condition, according to The Ledger.
Phillips told investigators both he and Bryie jumped at 14,000 feet. At 9,000 feet, Phillips was above Bryie and said Bryie came up under him too fast with an open chute. The parachute's lines entangled both men, WFLA-TV reported.
Phillips' chute was still open as they were falling but Bryie's was completely "cocooned" in his lines. Phillips managed to get himself free at about 3,000 feet, but Bryie was spinning horizontally while fully wrapped in lines and his parachute was only partially open.
According to The Orlando Sentinel, the pair was trying to perform a maneuver reserved for experienced skydivers which involves one diver holding the canopy of another's parachute. This so-called Canopy Relative Work maneuver can link up many divers at once.
"You can never be trained to fall through space with no parachute," said Arch Deal, a veteran skydiver with more than 6,000 jumps under his belt.
