Texas Teen Survives Skydive After Parachute Fails To Open

Joshua, Texas teen, Mackenzie Wethington, had been wanting to skydive for awhile. She received that gift as a sweet sixteen present. But it turned out for the worst when her parachute failed. The story could have ended much much worse. Mackenzie miraculously survived! Keep reading to find out what happened, and more.

Mackenzie and her father, Joe, traveled to Chickasha, Oklahoma, where 16 year olds can jump by themselves. They had to sit through six hours of training at Pegasus Air Sports Center in order to be able to jump.

This is what happened according to Inquisitr:

The two did not have to tandem jump, as they were on a static line attached to the plane that would deploy their parachutes automatically. Joe jumped first and began his fall back towards the earth. His parachute opened without any problems. But as the Texas father landed and looked back, all he could see was his teenage daughter plummeting to the ground. Her parachute was not open.
According to Mackenzie’s sister Meagan, the primary parachute did not open. There is an emergency parachute and ground control was trying to talk her through opening it. But Mackenzie must have blacked out because she was not responding. Bob Swainson, who was on the plane, saw it differently.
“The jumper left the airplane. The parachute appeared to open ok. Soon after the opening the parachute started to rotate. There are a number of technical reasons why that could have happened possibly caused by the jumper herself. The jumper didn’t sought out the rotation in accordance with the training she received earlier and contented to rotate to the ground and hurt herself.”
Mackenzie was never able to open her parachute. She slammed into the earth not far from her father who rushed to her side. Her father Joe said she was screaming and asking him to rub her back. Medical responders rushed her to the local hospital, where miraculously, she is alive and recovering today.
“Her vertebrae broke in half,” said Meagan. “Her pelvic bone completely split in half. She has more broken bones in her back. She has two broken ribs … her teeth.”