A professional skydiver was left spinning out of control after her parachute failed to open.

To make matters worse, the handle Kate Hoffstetter uses to cut away malfunctioned chutes did not work - making her unable to open the reserve one.

Ms Hoffstetter, who has 15 years experience skydiving in the USA, had waved off a man taking part in a tandem jump when she saw the 'cutaway system' had broken.

Good start: Ms Hoffstetter, who has 15 years experience skydiving in the USA, had waved off a man taking part in a tandem jump when she saw the 'cutaway system' had broken

Horror: During a terrifying descent on September 25, she was spun round and round by the failed chute until she was able to release it

Out of control: Ms Hoffstetter explained how she had used the cutaway handle four times previously without any problems

During a terrifying descent on September 25, she was spun round and round by the failed chute until she was able to release it.

She said: 'I have cutaway and used my reserve four times prior to this without an issue, but this time the cutaway handle was stuck and would not move.'

Ms Hoffstetter, who has performed more than 8,000 jumps, was eventually able to land safely, but says she would have died if the failed chute had not detached.

She added: 'I screamed in the video because I knew I couldn't move it. I would not have survived without getting rid of this canopy.

'I ended up grabbing the small amount of exposed cable just above the handle to cutaway - I was pretty upset about it as you can tell.'

Relief: The white reserve shoot opens and Ms Hoffstetter is able to descend safely