This 22-year-old Australian would forever consider himself to be the luckiest person on earth after he was rescued mid-air when he suffered a seizure during a skydiving training course last year, although, the video capturing the rescue efforts was just recently released,.
Jones’ had a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot but was dashed when he was diagnosed with epilepsy. However, after four years without a seizure, he decided to try skydiving to experience the same feeling pilots do, according to Australia’s ABC News.
“I’ve always wanted to have the feeling of flight, so I just thought considering I can’t fly a plane due to my condition, I thought I’d give it a go,” Jones said.
During the skydive in the video below, the fun jump quickly turned scary when instructor Sheldon McFarlane noticed Jones started rolling onto his back. McFarlane says Jones would have landed safely even if he hadn’t reached the ripcord as he was equipped with an automatic activation device that would have deployed the parachute once he reached a lower altitude.
“At no time was I worried he was going to hit the ground without a parachute, but given the circumstances and where we were I thought it would be better to get him under parachute earlier than later,” McFarlane told ABC News. “As far as difficult, yeah, it was OK. I got him.”
Jones said he woke up at 3,000 feet, under the parachute, and landed safely. According to reports, he had been unconscious in free-fall for over 30 seconds, NBC News reports.
Check out the dramatic rescue operation:
