the history of sky diving dates back to 1485 when leonardo da vinci sketched the first blueprints forachute. these days, hundreds of thousands of people jump from high places and planes every year, deploying parachutes to bring them safely back to earth. according to the united states parachute association, the likelihood of a fatal crash is roughly 1 in 140,000. and the sky diver you're about to see escapes that fate by the skin of his teeth. an experienced sky diver is sailing down to earth at 45 miles per hour. like he's done more than 300 times before. but this time, something goes horribly wrong. >> are you okay? >> i've been in other situations where i've got out of them. this one here was one where the winds happened to catch me at the wrong time. i had to make some really fast decisions. and obviously, it didn't pan out the way i wanted it to. i was hoping to miss it, but i didn't miss the trailer. >> april 30, 2011. high above colorado's fremont county airport sky diving instructor tommy ferguson is preparing for his third and final jump of the day. >> i had already put out t