35-year-old skydiver Holly Wiffen had an incredible ordeal when she lost consciousness after accidentally being struck in the head during a jump in N, causing her parachute to fail to open and sending her into a free fall from a height of 3,500 meters.
Footage from another skydiver’s camera captured the moment when Wiffen, who has completed 425 jumps, received the accidental blow to the head.
As seen in the footage, the 35-year-old loses consciousness and continues her freefall “uncontrolled.”
Skydiver survives 10,000-foot fall after being knocked out pic.twitter.com/uLBQDGQ9Ro
— The Sun (@TheSun) September 7, 2026
What saved her life in the August 7 accident was a coniferous tree, which absorbed part of the impact.
At the hospital where she was taken, it was determined that she had suffered a fracture in her left leg and a fracture in her spine.
The video shows Wiffen jumping along with about eight other skydivers from an aircraft using a technique known as “tracking,” in which the athletes increase their speed by falling horizontally.
As the group scattered, one of the skydivers collided with Wiffen just as she was changing position, causing pieces of equipment to fly off and her to lose consciousness.
After the collision, the 35-year-old began falling uncontrollably from a height of approximately 3,500 meters, while the collision occurred at a speed of about 160 kilometers per hour.
According to The Sun, the speed Wiffen reached during her uncontrolled descent was approximately 240 kilometers per hour, while other skydivers noticed the accident and tried to reach her in midair. One of them attempted to grab her but was unsuccessful and was forced to open his own parachute a few hundred meters above the ground
At some point, however, Wiffen, at an altitude of about 300 meters, managed to pull the ripcord on her parachute—though she herself doesn’t remember anything about the free fall. This deployed the reserve parachute, but a few seconds later, a second backup safety system deployed, as the sensors detected that she was moving at excessive speed and at a very low altitude.
The combination of the two parachutes created the phenomenon known as a “downplane,” slowing her down, while the tree standing in the middle of a vast expanse of open fields proved crucial, as it significantly reduced the force of the impact.
Although she went through an experience that nearly cost her her life, Wiffen is already planning her next jump. “If I hadn’t hit the tree, I would have crashed into the ground and wouldn’t have had a chance of survival. Most people don’t survive accidents like that. I want to get back as soon as possible. Still, knowing what happened and how close I came to death, I’m also feeling a little nervous.”
Source: Proto Thema
