He Was Plunging to the Earth with a Broken Parachute. Then, He Met a Man Flying Upward.
A man decided to finally cross skydiving off his bucket list. After sitting through what felt like an absolute eternity of safety briefings and simulator training, he was finally ready. Adrenaline pumping and excitement hitting a fever pitch, he took a deep breath and leaped out of the airplane into the open sky.
The freefall was absolutely exhilarating. After enjoying the rush for a few moments, he reached down and pulled the ripcord to deploy his main parachute.
Nothing happened.
Swallowing a wave of panic, he yanked on it again. Still, absolutely nothing. Remembering his training, he frantically reached for his emergency backup chute and pulled the second cord with all his might. The backup chute completely failed to open.
Now in a state of absolute terror, plunging toward the earth at terminal velocity, he began violently ripping at both cords, but to no avail.
Suddenly, as he stared down at the rapidly approaching ground, he caught sight of something truly bizarre. Another man was in the air right next to him—except this guy wasn’t falling. He was rocketing straight up into the sky.
Just as the mysterious flying man blasted past him, the skydiver, completely scared out of his wits, cupped his hands and screamed at the top of his lungs:
“HEY! DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT PARACHUTES?!”
The other man, flying upward at Mach speed, screamed back:
“NO! DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GAS STOVES?!”
