Page 307 - Demo

303see the aircraft burning a little way away and started to think about the landing. There was a little quarry, or perhaps just a patch of bare earth below. This was close to a hedge and so I decided to steer away from it. I found a cord and pulled it, the parachute turned around and started to go down faster, so I let go. When I looked down again, I could see that I was going to land safely in the field. I was drifting forward and to the left and so prepared myself for a forward left landing. I adopted a good parachute position and I think my previous parachuting helped here. I knew what to expect but at the last moment remember thinking %u201cthis is not going to work%u201d. However, it did.I lay still for a second and then got out of the harness. Whilst doing so I could see Dode was standing up. I took off my life preserver and inflated it, putting the locator beacon aerial vertical. I looked across to Dode and could no longer see him and so I set off towards him. He then got up again and walked towards me. I gave him a hug and asked if he was OK. At this point a car came down a track towards us and so we walked towards it. At the same time a Tucano appeared overhead and so we gave it a wave to show we were OK. Another car came with the owner of the field. He did not seem very concerned about it all. A lady then appeared on a horse. Someone told us there was an ambulance on the way. I said that a helicopter would come for us and that the lady with the horse should move away. At that moment a Sea King appeared. There did not seem to be any point in firing a flare or anything as my parachute was laid out in the field and the helicopter was coming straight at us. I told Dode to go back to his parachute and wait and went and sat onmine. The helicopter landed and the crewman came across. He said that he was going to put me in a neck brace and put me on the stretcher. There did not appear to be any point arguing and so that is what happened. A civilian ambulance arrived at some point, and they helped lift us into the Sea King.What had happened is that one of the 4 propeller blades had snapped off. The out of balance force had ripped the gearbox and part of the engine out of the aircraft. Shortcuts had been taken in the manufacturing of the blade and a whole batch were later rejected. I was asked if the