A Perthshire skydiving instructor saw his parachute fail for the first time in around 1500 descents during a tandem jump at the weekend.
And local residents even called emergency services to the Errol Airfield site after concerns over seeing a “collapsed” chute.
However, the back-up chute was swiftly and effectively deployed and the pair landed safely, with no one injured.
The incident took place at Paragon Skydiving Club’s base at the airfield at around 6pm on Sunday.
The site has been used as a parachuting drop zone since 1998 and the facility provides everything needed to learn and conduct skydives.
After a thorough safety briefing from the team, thrill seekers are flown 10,000 feet above ground level.
They then jump out and freefall for about 30 seconds - at approximately 120 miles per hour - before the instructor deploys the main parachute.
However, Sunday’s incident meant that experienced club instructor Ian Cessford had to take action.
Owner of Paragon Billy Gollan said: “The parachute locked and it became un-flyable, so he jettisoned it and his reserve came in.
“The tandem instructor Ian Cessford properly assessed the situation and came back with the tandem student and landed where he should have on the ‘X’ in the field.
“That particular one was the first malfunction he has had in 1500 tandem descents.
“So he said it has been a while and they are few and far between.
“He has around 5000 tandem descents in his career so far and is very experienced.
“Tandem students are attached to the skydiving instructor and she didn’t even know she was on a reserve by the time she landed.”
The tandem parachute set in question costs around £15,000, with the main chute, costing around £5000 alone. It landed in a field beside the local health centre.
Billy added: “The farmer that owns the cows and the land went and retrieved the chute, which was excellent of him.
“He rescued it for us and he was really helpful and we are really grateful for that.
“We are still missing the reserve bag though and had a look around to see if we could find that.
“If anyone finds that it is a white bag with a mesh covered spring on it and has our name on it. When it is activated the bag detaches from the reserve chute and it falls to the ground.
“The full sets are expensive because they are very sophisticated and have a lot of safety measures installed.”
Chief instructor Jim White also reassured locals on social media about the incident, posting: “Thank you very much for your concern.
“I can assure you there is nothing to worry about.
“Unfortunately one of our tandems had a malfunction of the main canopy, which is very rare, but can happen.
“The instructor carried out their reserve drills which require jettisoning the main canopy and operating the reserve parachute.
“What you saw falling was the jettisoned main canopy.
“No one was injured [and] the main canopy was recovered by a local farmer.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said : “Around 6.20pm on Sunday, June 27, we received a concern call reporting that a parachute had failed to open.
"All persons were traced safe and well. This was a false alarm with good intent.”
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