Shropshire paraglider tells of America crash cliff drama

He knew he had badly damaged his back when his flight off the cliffs in San Diego went badly wrong, and he plummeted downwards smashing against the rock face. Realising the wind could whip up and drag his chute – and him – off the ledge Mark, 46, made the decision to get out of the harness, usually his lifeline.

"I knew that, without the chute, if I slipped and fell, I probably wouldn't survive. But if the wind took it and me off the ledge I could be tossed around like a rag doll."

Mark was reliving his accident after returning to his home in Melverley, Shropshire, with wife Rachael and his three children yesterday.

Just three weeks after the accident at Torrey Pines, ion America, doctors told him he was well enough to get on a flight home.

Today Mark said that as soon as he took off from the top of the cliffs on October 5, the first day of his holiday, he knew he had made a mistake.

"I went into emergency mode. I know I had done something to my back, but I could wiggle my toes and I felt pain, which was a good thing.

"I got myself into a position on the ledge to try to protect my back and had to wait to be rescued. It was a very lonely time."

Surgeons found out that Mark had broken two lower vertebrae and had to use bone from one of his ribs to fuse them together. Thanks to his general fitness, he was out of hospital within days and into first a rehabilitation unit and then a hotel until on Friday he was given the go ahead to return to Britain.

"It is just great to be back. I felt very alone in America even though with things like Skype and Facebook it was much easier to keep in touch with friends and family."

Offers of help came from an unusual source, including the family of the late actor, Patrick Swayze.

"I worked with Patrick on scenes in the 1991 film, Point Break and kept in touch with him and his family.

"I had intended to go go-carting at a business run by his sister-in-law, Marcia, while I was on holiday.

"When they heard about the accident they got in touch and told me that if I needed anything while I was in America I only had to ask. It was nice to know that if I had needed help they were there."

He says people constantly ask him whytook off from the top of a cliff in San Diego, in no wind and says the answer is simple.

"I have two heads, one is Mark Dann the instructor, the other Mark Dann, adrenalin junkie. I was on holiday, not working, and that day I had my adrenaline junkie head on, the one that pushing the boundaries, the one that wants to do something a bit different.

"I behaved in a way I would never behave with my instructor's hat on."

He added: "I know why the accident happened and what I did wrong. If I didn't know then I wouldn't fly. But I made a mistake and its one I will never make again."