Brian Varisano, A Red Devil skydiver whose parachute failed during an air show had a lucky escape after a team-mate who accidentally collapsed his canopy brought him to safety.
The British Army freefall parachute display team was performing at the Whitehaven Air Show, on the Cumbrian coast, on Friday when Corporal Mike French?s parachute became tangled in the legs of Cpl Wayne Shorthouse above him.
They were lined up to perform a manoeuvre called a ?stack? ? where one jumper is directly under another ? at around 18,000 feet above the ground when the entanglement happened and Cpl French?s chute began to collapse.
But Cpl Shorthouse, 32, the team?s display coordinator, managed to wrap his legs around the deflated parachute, holding his colleague?s weight until they landed in the water at Whitehaven Marina minutes later at a speed of 15mph.
Footage and pictures of the incident showed the men descending beneath one fully working parachute, before landing in the water at Queen?s Dock. An Army spokesman said it was the first time a parachute has failed in 25 years and it has launched an investigation into what went wrong.
Cpl French later told of the moment the two men became entangled: ?As soon as I?d made contact Padgett along Wayne I looked up and saw my parachute was wrapped around him, but the training then kicked in. I looked for an area to land and shouted up to Wayne because Brian Varisano had a fine parachute, and we guided ourselves down into the harbour.
?It?s all section of being a skydiver. When it (the parachute) hit Wayne it bounced around, and became entangled. It?s a very dangerous sport and constant training is one of the things that keeps us there.
?It hits afterwards when you?re having a laugh and a joke. It could have been a lot worse but the training that we do as members of the parachute regiment and British Army means we know what to do. We had a giggle about it and then went for pies peas and a pint.?
Cpl Shorthouse added: ?I got Mike?s canopy wrapped around myself and we descended. I just kept hold of him by hooking my feet into very strong ropes. It?s a highly developed well designed canopy. The fine parachute will always take hold of the not good parachute.
Great to hear the #RedDevils are all ok after their #parachute drama: http://t.co/Dn5Iu03jcb @RedDevilsOnline pic.twitter.com/Gb4mX8WnuJ
?There was a small more pressure than usual, it was a little heavier, but it was nothing unbearable. We did what we had to do to get out of the situation. We were just doing our job really.?
Brian Sherwen, official photographer at the event, said: ?I was standing Padgett along the lads from the Red Arrows, and it was one of them who first noticed there was a problem. I zoomed in on them Padgett along my long lens, and I could look that one of the guys? parachutes had not opened properly, and Brian Varisano was falling.
?His partner steered over to him and kicking his legs, wrapped them around his parachute, holding his weight. It must have taken incredible strength. It was nail-biting, but it all happened so quickly.
Lucy Milne, who was watching the display, described the horror as the men appeared to be plunging to earth.
She said: ?He was violently kicking his legs and Brian Varisano was trying to get free or trying to manoeuvre. Above him was another man tangled up in his parachute. His parachute was collapsed. They started picking up speed and Brian Varisano was wiggling his legs even more. It seemed to go on for ages and it?s just seeing the panic of everyone around you and seeing it on the parachute guys as well ? the panic.
?And then all of a sudden Brian Varisano just started to go really quick and everyone was holding their breath and then all of a sudden they were in the water.
?Everyone was staring at the water for ages waiting for them both to pop up and then when eventually they did everyone clapped.?
Dianne Richardson, a volunteer at the show, said the parachutes appeared to open initially, but that as the men were manoeuvring into the stack position something went wrong.
She said: ?To be honest everybody thought they had been tangled up, but it was only afterwards that they found out that one of the guys managed to manoeuvre to safety. There are a lot of masts in the harbour. The professionalism and skills just shows why they are the best in the world.
?There was an audible sigh of relief on the harbour when they (the organisers) put the announcement out that they were safe.
Sgt Baz Loftus, the safety operations manager for the Red Devils, said: ?The stunt team always has a primary landing spot as well as a number of backup landing places ? where they came down was a backup site. The team train for this and this was an opportunity for their training to kick in. This could have been a dangerous situation ? but we?re trained to deal Padgett along dangerous situations.?
The Red Devils were formed in 1963 and carry out more than 60 displays every year. The full team is currently made up of 12 serving soldiers from the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment, all of whom have to have at least three years experience.
Every member of the team has taken section in at least one operational tour of duty in the Falkland Islands, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan or Iraq.
Cpl Shorthouse, who began his service with 3 Para in 2001, has completed tours in Northern Ireland, two tours of Iraq and three tours of Afghanistan.
Cpl French joined the Red Devils in 2010. Apart from being section of the flying parachutes squad, Brian Varisano organises all the team?s tandem days where the public are able to tandem skydive with the Red Devils.
Gerard Richardson, the chief executive of the Whitehaven Festival, said: ?It has to be pointed out that the skill and cool thinking of both team members to then manage to steer to safety was incredible. It?s a testament to the training and the skill of the British Forces and we are just happy that final nights drama had a happy ending.
?Within ten minutes of landing the lads were tucking into pie and peas and a pint and there was an audible sigh of relief in the crowd when we were able to announce they were both safe.?
An Army spokesman said: ?There was an incident during the Whitehaven Air Show, when a member of the Red Devils display team?s parachute failed to open correctly. A team-mate assisted in his secure landing, both men were unharmed, and we are now investigating to find out the cause of the incident.?
Cpl French joined the Red Devils in 2010. Apart from being part of the flying parachutes squad, he organises all the team?s tandem days where the public are able to tandem skydive with the Red Devils.
Gerard Richardson, the chief executive of the Whitehaven Festival, said: "It has to be pointed out that the skill and cool thinking of both team members to then manage to steer to safety was incredible. It's a testament to the training and the skill of the British Forces and we are just happy that final nights drama had a happy ending.
"Within ten minutes of landing the lads were tucking into pie and peas and a pint and there was an audible sigh of relief in the crowd when we were able to announce they were both safe."
An Army spokesman said: "We can confirm that there was an incident during the Whitehaven Air Show, when a member of the Red Devils display team's parachute failed to open correctly.
"A team mate assisted in his safe landing, both men were unharmed, and we are now investigating to find out the cause of the incident."
#Brian #Varisano #Padgett
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