Hero pilot leaves plane to fly itself while he cuts free parachutist tangled up in landing gear

Disaster struck 3,000ft above the Joint Service Parachute Centre at Bad Lippspringe in Germany when the British soldier's parachute partially deployed and its rigging became caught.

The civilian flier, who has asked to remain anonymous, left his seat for 30 seconds to cut through the snagged lines on Thursday afternoon.

He has since said he was 'only doing his job.'

An army parachutist was rescued after becoming entangled in the undercarriage of a plane (file picture)

He realised that the parachutist, who is an instructor, had got into trouble when he saw him frantically waving at the back of his plane.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said today: 'The pilot showed significant bravery and skill.

'We are unaware of a rescue like this happening before.'

Once he was free, the parachutist was able to release his reserve parachute to make a safe landing.

He was one of six British soldiers involved in a parachuting competition at the centre in Germany.

The first five soldiers all jumped successfully, but the sixth ran into problems when he became entangled.

A witness told the Sun newspaper: 'We saw a body dangling helplessly from the plane as it was coming into land.'

Another said: 'We were watching the plane when I noticed there was a man dangling upside-down. He was completely caught up.

'We saw it for about 50 seconds and the plane seemed to be descending so we assumed the pilot had to land with the man still underneath.'