Bear Grylls Survived Freefall

In 1996, British adventurer Bear Grylls was taking part in a routine Special Air Service training jump over Zambia when his parachute failed to inflate at 16,000 feet. Grylls later said he should have cut away the main chute and gone to the reserve, but he thought he still had time to fix the problem. He slammed into the ground on his parachute pack, fracturing three vertebrae and coming dangerously close to a fatal spinal injury. He survived one of the highest freefalls ever lived through without a working parachute, then spent a year in rehabilitation before climbing Mount Everest about 18 months later.

Previous Fact Next Fact