SURPRISE FOR TWO

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 27, 31 July 1940, Page 8

SURPRISE FOR TWO

FALL OUT OF PLANE

PARACHUTE SAVES OFFICER

(By Trans-Tasman Air Mail, from "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, July 24,

A Royal Australian Air Force officer fell out of his aeroplane while flying upside down near Sydney, but made a safe landing by parachute. An instructor, who' accompanied him landed the machine.

The pilot and the instructor were practising aerobatics. The safety clip on the pilot's harness pulled loose when the machine was flying upside down after a slow roll. Unaware that his pupil had fallen out, the instructor turned after admonishing him for a bad roll, and discovered the cockpit behind him empty. He straightened up the machine, and looked over the side, to see his pupil floating towards the earth on an open parachute. "That's my favourite parachute. It's worth its weight in gold, but I hope it's a long time before I have to use it again," declared the officer, as he displayed the equipment which saved his life. "I certainly had an effective initiation to parachute jumping, but I'm still wondering how the thing opened. We were at a height of about 4000 feet. I did a left-hand roll and a right-hand roll, and then the instructor took over. We started a roll. I felt myself slip a bit, but thought the belt would pull me back. I then realised that I was still slipping. I grabbed for anything and everything, but got nothing, and the next thing I remember I was floating in mid-air.

"Just for a few seconds I didn't know quite what had happened, or where I was, until the plane zoomed around in front of me. The instructor waved. I blew him a kiss, and then I started to think of all I had been taught about parachutes. It was two years since I had -had a ground lesson with parachutes, and as we are not given any jumping in our course of instruction, I was suddenly faced with the problem of applying as quickly as possible my knowledge. "I had a good look round at the countryside, and I had a nasty feeling when I found that there was nothing but tall trees everywhere below. I had visions of being suspended from a tree-top. I sighted a small clear patch in the midst of the jungle, and by spilling air out of the chute, coupled with a terrible lot of good luck, I gradually floated down towards the patch. I just sat tight and waited, waving now and again to my instructor, who cruised round me as I floated down. I landed on my back, but I was able to regain my feet almost immediately. It was a lucky break."