As anyone who has ever had a seizure will tell you, there’s never a right time. However, 9,000 feet above the earth, mid-skydive, just before you pull your ripcord is an especially bad time to suffer one. For Australian Christopher Jones, it was the most terrifying time of his life. It was the fifth dive for the 22-year-old, and he was at an advanced enough stage in his training that he was allowed to jump out of the plane alone, without a tandem partner. However, at around 9,000 feet above Western Australia, something went wrong. Halfway through the skydive, Jones had a seizure and rolled onto his back. The video below captures the heart-stopping 30-second period when Jones began to seize violently and spiral out of control in his free fall. His instructor, Sheldon McFarlane, initially thought that Jones had freaked out, but then he recognized that the young skydiver was having a medical emergency. Fortunately, he was able to catch up to Jones and deploy his parachute. Skydivers use sensors that automatically deploy the parachute before someone gets too close to the ground, so McFarlane was never concerned that Jones would hit the ground without a parachute. Robin O’Neill, Chief Instructor and Business Manager at Western Australia Skydiving Academy said that with his history of seizures, Jones probably shouldn’t have been diving in the first place. He got through the screening process because he had a letter from his doctor, indicating that his condition was under control and she considered him fit to skydive. That, of course, was the end of his skydiving career. Jones said that he regained consciousness at about 3,000 feet and was able to land safely, though it was the scariest moment of his life.
