Two friends decided to go skydiving and joked about racing each other to the ground. However, the harmless joke became a scary reality when one of the parachutes broke loose.
In a video with over 5 million views, TikToker Savanna Haycraft (@savanna.haycraft) films herself gliding down from the plane with her skydiving instructor. She looks around for her friend Avrie, who jumped out with another instructor.
Then, the POV flips to Avrie and her instructor. The skydiving expert tells Avrie, “We had the reserves malfunction.”
At first, Avrie is in shock and denial, repeating, “No, we didn’t.” The instructor tells her, “Do exactly as I say, OK?”
At the end of the clip, Haycraft says, “Well, she did say she wanted to race.”
Did She Parachute To The Ground Safely?
Viewers shared their concern for Avrie in the comments of the video, which doesn’t show how the situation ended.
“Hey, so, like, is Avery OK?” one asked.
Another wrote, “How did she survive??”
Haycraft posted a follow-up video with more footage from her friend’s skydiving experience.
Despite it being her first jump, Avrie comforts the instructor. She says, “Don’t panic. You’re not supposed to panic. We’re not going to die or nothing.”
The instructor stays mostly silent, focusing on steering the parachute. The pair quickly reach the ground and make a surprisingly smooth landing, despite part of the parachute flying off.
“I made it out alive! Thank God. I’m glad you know what to do in situations like that,” she exclaims after landing.
How Common Are Parachute Malfunctions?
While many first-time skydivers have a seamless experience, parachute malfunctions occur in around 1 out of 1000 jumps, even for experienced jumpers. However, many of these malfunctions aren’t fatal and involve only a partial malfunction.
BroBible previously reported that one skydiver’s parachute got stuck on the plane’s tail, leading them to dangle from 15,000 feet.
On the r/SkyDiving subreddit, experienced jumpers discuss how often reserve parachutes fail based on their own experience.
“My unscientific thought. I average a cutaway about every 850 jumps. So for my main to malfunction on any given jump is about 1 / 850 = 0.1 percent,” one wrote.
Another skydiver suggested, “Pretty low but not zero. Usually it’s not a case of the reserve ‘failing’ but the jumper doing something wrong which causes the main and reserve to interact, causing the reserve operation to be less than optimal.”
“Worrying about your reserve failing is like being concerned about your gas tank exploding. Yes, it can happen, but there are other things that are more likely to kill you,” a third remarked.
@savanna.haycraft so glad you’re alive lol @_amilli_1
BroBible reached out to Haycraft and Avrie via TikTok direct message and comment. We will update the story when they reply.