helicopterAll six passengers gasped… Or rather, they didn’t even have time to gasp before it all happened…
On a winter day, a helicopter took off from an airfield with six passengers on board. One of them, Gennady Oshipkov, was sitting by the door. As the helicopter climbed, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Someone commented; embarrassed, he opened the door to toss the cigarette out. A gust of wind caught him and hurled him out of the helicopter. He fell from an altitude of about 320 meters (1,050 feet). That’s when the other passengers gasped.
But Oshipkov turned out to be a quick thinker and remarkably calm. In the few seconds of his fall, he twisted so he was facing down, spread his arms and the flaps of his winter coat wide — which helped slow his descent. Rather than crashing into trees, he landed in a clearing blanketed by about two meters (6.5 feet) of snow.
Another helicopter was dispatched to search for the missing passenger. Oshipkov was taken to a hospital, and after an examination doctors found he was completely unharmed!
