Captain Smith was watching when Bill pulled the rip cord. He instinctively grabbed the collar of Bill’s flying suit to help hold him in the plane. They were now in a most perilous situation. If the parachute now opened, it would drag both of them through the tail surfaces and probably both would be killed. If Smith released his hold and the chute opened, Bill would be dragged through the same surfaces and he would be killed or severely injured. The tail surfaces would then be so badly damaged that the plane would be uncontrollable. In that case Smith would be out of luck, for he did not have a parachute on.