Bad Day at the Office ……… Or Maybe a Good Day at the Office

You definately owe him a pint


Shorthouse is on the left

A jumper for the Red Devils UK army parachute team had his chute fail.

One of his fellow paratroopers caught his failed parachute with his legs, and lowered both of them into the a nearby harbor:

A Red Devil parachutist had a lucky escape when his chute failed to open during an airshow - but a team-mate caught him in mid-air.

The Army freefall parachute display team was performing at the Whitehaven Air Show in Cumbria on Friday night when the parachute failed.

Pictures on social media show the men coming down together and crashing into the harbour waters.

A message on the show's Facebook page said both were all right.

It said: "We can confirm that the Red Devil parachutists are both safe and sound. For the first time in 25 years they had a parachute fail.

"One team member caught his team-mate and brought him into Queens Dock. Our safety procedures worked perfectly and a huge thank you to Whitehaven Marina for getting them out of the water so quickly."

………

"It's a testament to the training and the skill of the British Forces and we are just happy that last night's drama had a happy ending.

"Within ten minutes of landing the lads were tucking into pie and peas and a pint and there was an audible sigh of relief in the crowd when we were able to announce they were both safe."

………

An Army spokesman said: "We can confirm that there was an incident during the Whitehaven Air Show, when a member of the Red Devils display team's parachute failed to open correctly.

"A team mate assisted in his safe landing, both men were unharmed, and we are now investigating to find out the cause of the incident."

You have to love the understated response of both men:

Cpl Mike French, 34, was performing at the Whitehaven Air Show in Cumbria on Friday when the accident happened.

His parachute wrapped around Cpl Wayne Shorthouse but they managed to land in the harbour.

Cpl Shorthouse, 32, said he was no hero and both men had been trained for such a scenario.

Cpl French said the plan had been for his parachute to be caught by Cpl Shorthouse as the first stage of building a formation.

"As soon as I had made contact with Wayne from the back, I looked up and saw the parachute was a little bit wrapped around," said Cpl French.

"It was pretty much straight away you realise it's not exactly how we planned to do it but then training kicks in and members of the Parachute Regiment, the British Army, we always train for every eventuality.

"Display parachuting and especially canopy formation within display parachuting is a very difficult and dangerous aspect of sky diving so constant training is one of the things that kept us [safe], the communication and Wayne having a good parachute above his head."

Asked if he could repay his colleague, Cpl French said: "A pint of beer maybe."

Cpl Shorthouse, however, said he was "just doing his job".

Both men said they were looking forward to the next display.

Both of their responses are seriously bad-ass.

Cpl French should definitely get Cpl Shorthouse a pint of bitter.