I Can't wait to see this on Youtube

A body-shaped crater remains where Michael Holmes slammed into the ground after his parachute failed, sending him spinning toward Taupo.

In an interview for which he is reported to have been paid over $20,000, Holmes told TVNZ's Close Up how he tried to cut the tangled parachute, or roll onto his back, but G-forces were swinging him around.

Realising his number was up, he tried desperately to think of his last words.

"I tried to think of something, the right thing to say for the camera. But I looked at the ground again and without thinking I just blurted out "Oh s..., I'm dead ... bye!" he told Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper.

Holmes – a former champion skydiver from Britain and 7000-jump veteran – survived, suffering a punctured lung and broken ankle when he landed on a blackberry bush after jumping from a plane at more than 3600m. He spent 11 days in Taupo Hospital.

Holmes estimated that he reached terminal velocity of 193kmh during the freefall part of his flight, but that the drag of the parachute had reduced his impact speed to about 128kmh.

The Taupo Tandem Skydive cameraman's 30-second fall was captured on his helmet camera. Jonathan King, a friend who was jumping with him, also filmed the fall.

As the ground spins dizzyingly below, Holmes can be seen checking his altimeter to calculate how much time he has. He said he knew the reserve parachute would tangle with the other parachute if he could not cut it free. "No matter where I was going to land – the water or the ground – I was expecting that I will die from this."

Unable to control his descent, Holmes was denied the luxury of choosing a landing spot. He had considered trying for Lake Taupo but decided if that happened he would probably drown.

When he hit the ground Holmes blacked out. "I thought that was it. I was dead."

King, who landed safely nearby, expected the worst as he scrambled through the blackberry in search of his friend. "I was expecting he was dead, or pretty close to it."
Footage from King's helmet camera shows him find Holmes bleeding and broken but able to talk. "You're alive, mate, you hit hard," he told him.

Where he landed, there is still a body-shaped crater in the ground. King said Holmes was incredibly lucky to avoid a tree trunk just metres away. "There are car bodies in here. It's not a nice place."

Holmes agreed. "Looking back, I was lucky to have so few injuries. My helmet was not even scratched."

Holmes said the accident was "a one in a million-type scenario", and he hoped to jump again soon. "I'd do it again now if the doctors let me," he said.

Holmes was inundated with media requests from around the world, and he hired Sydney-based celebrity public relations adviser Max Markson to broker his exclusive story. It is understood he was initially offered 15,000 ($NZ43,000) by a British media outlet.

TV3 head of news and current affairs Mark Jennings said TV3 was offered Holmes' story for $25,000, but decided it was not worth the money.

Close Up executive producer Paul Patrick said TVNZ bought Holmes's footage, but did not pay for an interview. He would not disclose how much was paid for the "staggering" footage.