TERRIFYING video shows the moment a skydiver is knocked out cold at 10,000ft when another jumper crashes into his head.
Ben Pigeon was sent into a death spin and was only saved when an instructor was able to reach him and pull his chute.
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Ben was one of three jumpers filmed leaping out of a plane along with the instructor Andy Locke.
Andy’s helmet camera shows how they joined hands in a head-first dive over the landing zone near Dallas, Texas.
They they split apart to continue their freefall practice.
Suddenly one of the group is seen zooming past Andy at high speed and slamming into Ben’s head.
He is knocked unconscious on impact and spins out of control.
Andy, an experienced instructor, spreads himself flat and steers himself towards helpless Ben.
His camera shows how he grabs hold of Ben, stops his spin and pulls the cord on his reserve parachute at around 5,000ft.
Amazingly, concussed Ben regained consciousness and was able to execute a “textbook” approach, although he landed “like a sack of potatoes”.
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The dramatic 2014 video only emerged six years later when Ben posted it on Facebook during the first coronavirus lockdown.
He said: “I am posting this because I am bored, but also to promote the six-foot (social distancing) rule.
“If we had used the six-foot rule during this jump, a femur would not have connected with my head at 200 plus mph.
“But then again, following the six-foot rule, a fellow jumper would not have been allowed to pull my chute when I was knocked unconscious at 10,000 feet.”
He continued: “Side note: For non skydivers, finding the drop zone can be difficult
“Especially at this drop zone because it is all farmland, and it all looks the same. You have to identify roads to figure out where you are.
“I was so concussed that I lost three days of memory.
“How I found the drop zone is beyond me. I could have dropped into power lines or the highway.
“Not only did I find it; I flew a perfect student pattern, but did not have the strength to flare (meaning the landing hurt also).
“I was so out of it. When first asked if I was OK, I said, ‘What do you mean I just got out of my tent?’ and then pointed to my parachute.
“I am not saying Jesus took the toggles, but someone looked after me that day.”
‘Sack of potatoes’
In a follow-up post, Andy revealed it was the tenth jump of the day and, despite a rehearsal on the ground, the skydivers were “tired” and made mistakes.
He said of Ben: “The hit obviously had knocked him unconscious.
“He was in a flat spin on his back. The only thought I remember having was ‘Get there’.
“I then transition to my belly, and use all the surface area I could to fly over to him. I stop his spin, and tried to roll him over to his belly to no avail.
“At 5,000 feet I make the decision to pull his reserve. My logic behind the decision of pulling his reserve, rather than his main, is that the reserve is designed to open and land more docile than a typical main parachute.
“I then got down to the ground as fast as I could, so that I could notify someone to call 911.”
He added: “The KO’d jumper regained consciousness under his reserve, and somehow flew a text book student pattern.
“He landed like a sack of potatoes in the main landing area. The other jumper landed safely in the main as well.
“Everyone walked away that day. Some with a bruised ego, some with a bruised face
“Truth is, this accident could’ve happened to anyone. This accident changed the way I go about jumping — for the better. “
In November terrifying video showed a plane spiralling out of control and almost hitting a group of nine skydivers in South Africa.
In 2019 a lucky skydiver cheated death when a gust of wind stopped him from slamming into a building in Brazil.
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