Woman Performs Death Defying Parachute Jump From a Hot Air Balloon

A woman executed a death defying parachute jump from a hot air balloon as she attempted to backflip on her way down to earth.

Robyn Young and her boyfriend took to the skies above Perris, California, to capture some incredible scenes as they hitched a $150 balloon ride.

Young, who started skydiving in 2016, shared a video on her TikTok page showing the view from her head camera, as she grabbed a piece of rope attached to the balloon and swung out into thin air.

Another angle, taken from the basket, shows her attempted flip, which even Young admitted "looked kind of bad."

The clip, which has been viewed 2 million times, was captioned: "She was falling on her back. But she flipped over and pulled her chute. I thought I witnessed the last supper."

The 35-year-old explained exactly what happened on the jump, telling Newsweek: "With this balloon jump, I basically was trying to do a dead air exit back flip and then didn't rotate enough. It's actually pretty sloppy but I had a lot of fun scaring the people on the balloon.

"In the end, my mission was accomplished, I had a really awesome jump that was super safe and a very soft landing! I need more swing exits to make them look better for sure but the important thing is I did not panic, waited for air speed and then flipped immediately to my belly and deployed with a lot of altitude to spare. In any air sport altitude is like gold, you should spend it wisely!"

She chatted more about the jump in a series of videos uploaded on Thursday, saying: "I'm the girl in the video who did the balloon jump that was looking a little bit crazy.

"I saw it and I thought, ooh, that looked kind of bad. So I wanted to help you all sleep at night and if you're interested in the sport make sure I don't ruin it for you because it's really fun and super safe. When you're jumping from a balloon there's no one else in the air so I couldn't have hit anyone.

"There's no buildings around there's no cliffs, all you have is freedom. And once I had airspeed I just flipped to my belly and I deployed my parachute. My boyfriend then executed a perfect backflip which made me look like an idiot and landed right next to me, softly at skydive Perris."

Explaining why her dismount looked so awkward, she said: "Basically I wanted you to know I was just trying to do a backflip, and I didn't get fully around. So since it was dead air, I just had to wait a few seconds, flip to my belly, and deploy."

Responding to comments, she compared dead air to "complete nothing holding you."

And while it may have looked dicey to the untrained eye, Young stressed she was never in any danger and had more than enough time to open her parachute, indicating the balloon was at 5,400 feet.

"I deployed my parachute really high," she said, confirming she'd opened her parachute by 4,000 ft. "I was jumping from a balloon which is five-four so I knew I had plenty of time before I reached terminal speed."

Young continued: "I definitely didn't think I was going to die. I have enough experience that I knew I had plenty of altitude and time to get some airspeed and flip over. So I wasn't scared I just felt stupid, because I was like, oh man this balloon jump costs $150 and now I'm just on my back like a turtle. But if your first balloon jump that happened, it might be scary."

Responding to questions over what would have happened if she couldn't flip onto her belly, Young explained: "Yeah it will work the same but there could be a bridle entanglement with your legs that could cause problems. Might have a cut away then.

"Yeah it definitely looked bad. I felt super calm for me I just felt stupid cause I let go a little later and couldn't backflip."

Ultimately she said skydiving "feels like floating" and she encouraged people to look into the sport.

Speaking to Newsweek, she said: "Skydiving is like a full shock to your mind, body and soul. You feel many things when you jump including every emotion there is out there. It's the ultimate way to feel an overall sense of accomplishment and trust in yourself. You feel like a superhero and that you can conquer anything."

Commenting on the original video, Sara Stark wrote: "I would never do this, my stomach flipped over so bad just from watching."

"I would forget to pull it," Nancy Noveron admitted.

Stephmhere commented: "Good lord that was a tense couple of seconds."

While Niinamaldonado simply added: "Gut wrenching."

Update 6/28/21, 11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment, video and photos from Young.