'What an idiot': thoughts of a skydiver who survived 13,000ft fall ""What an idiot," I thought. I was pissed off, and gutted for my wife and kids," he said, revealing his thought process as he fell. What a stupid way to orphan your kids. Then that was it. I thought I was a goner. I was definitely very lucky. The ground was like a big sponge. I could wriggle my toes so I knew I hadn't broken my spinal cord, The weather conditions had been good when he jumped, but his main parachute completely failed to activate. Mr Dunne, who has performed almost 4,000 parachute jumps in his lifetime, had leapt from a plane to film four other skydivers executing a formation below him. But he ended up filming his own descent - footage he says he never tires of watching. He was spun around by his main chute as he tried to unhook a piece of equipment, called a slider, which had become trapped. With 15 seconds to impact, he grappled to release the reserve chute, which finally opened four seconds before he hit the ground. It was just enough time to jerk him upwards so that he landed upright, with his left leg and his bottom taking the impact. "I knew it would hurt, then boom," he said. It was a huge impact. An eyewitness described seeing the skydiver "hit the ground hard" and bounce several times, with much of the impact taken by the damp undergrowth. A friend ran to Mr Dunne and told him to lie still but he could not breathe. "I just had this tremendous pressure on my chest," he said. He was given emergency treatment before being transferred to Christchurch Hospital to have a steel pin put in his back. He then spent 10 weeks there, undergoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy. He believes the soft landing probably saved his life. Mr Dunne, who runs a skydiving company, emigrated to New Zealand with his wife Sally and their children in 2005. He is now back home in Taupo, using crutches to walk, and has already begun to mountain bike. It could take another year to 18 months for his left leg to fully heal however. Speaking of his plans for another jump, he said: "Definitely, it's do-able. The spine will be strong enough but I may have to figure another way to land.