SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. - Pregnant skydiver Shayna Richardson has survived a face-first plunge into the ground.
Richardson, 21, of Joplin, Mo., was making her first solo jump in Siloam Springs, Ark., on Oct. 9 when her main parachute failed and her reserve chute didn't fully deploy.
Richardson was falling at about 50 mph when she hit face first in a parking lot. Badly injured, but alive, Richardson spent 16 days in a hospital.
"I heard a snap and I started spinning and I didn't know why. I didn't know what to do to fix it. I didn't know how to make it stop," Richardson told Fort Smith, Ark., television station KFSM.
She cut away her primary chute so her reserve could deploy.
"It's called your guaranteed open. That's what everyone refers to it as," Richardson said.
But the reserve didn't open all the way.
"To have a malfunctioning reserve is one in a million. It just doesn't happen," Richardson said.
She spun out of control, heading straight for the asphalt of a parking lot below.
"At the end I said, 'I'm going to die. I'm going to hit the ground. I'm going to die,'" she said. "I don't remember it. I don't remember hitting the ground. I don't remember the impact or anything that came with it."
She landed face first.
