Skydiving is not for the faint of heart even at the best of times, even more so becoming a skydiving instructor.
For many people even going up in a plane is more than enough, let alone jumping out of one.
But when Australian skydiver Christopher Jones was training to become an instructor he ended up with a nasty surprise during a jump.
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Christopher leapt out of the plane with instructor Sheldon McFarlane when he suffered a seizure in midair and passed out.
So that left Christopher hurtling towards the ground in Pinjarra, Australia while unconscious in a nightmarish scenario.
Fortunately, Sheldon was able to make his way over to Christopher and deploy his parachute.
Christopher recalled that he regained consciousness while still in the air, but luckily he was dangling from the parachute.
The 22-year-old had fallen unconscious at 9,000ft, before falling while unconscious for 6,000ft.
He said it was 'possibly one of the scariest moments of my life', saying: “The next thing I know I wake up at 3,000 feet, thankfully underneath a fully inflated parachute."
Christopher also paid tribute to Sheldon for his actions, saying: “He’s a hero. He’s a massive hero."
As for Sheldon, he explained that it was part of a routine and he was simply carrying out his duty as an instructor to ensure that his student was safe.
He said: “It was fine. We don’t do it all day everyday, but part of our training is to look after students.”
The instructor added: “I was just glad to get to him, stop him turning and make sure he had a parachute above his head.”
Christopher was ultimately able to land safely once the parachute had deployed.
Sheldon also explained that skydivers have a failsafe device which is designed to open the parachute automatically in an event like this.
There had not been any medical indication that Christopher was not fit to jump. Although he had previously had seizures, this was his first one in four years.
A doctor had also signed him off for the jump, saying that it was safe for him to do so.
The entire incident was captured on a helmet mounted camera that Sheldon had been wearing during the jump.
In the stomach-churning footage Christopher falls unconscious and tumbles away from Sheldon.
Sheldon is able to make his way over to him in the air and pull the ripcord before deploying his own parachute.
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Kit Roberts