An extreme sports fan decided to propose to his girlfriend mid-way through a parachute jump but ended up fumbling the ring while she watched in horror as it tumbled uncontrollably to earth.
Brandon Strohbehn and his girlfriend Nicole Nepomuceno used a special type of tandem jump where they face each other as they leaped from the aircraft while 12,500ft above California.
Nicole wrapped her legs around the firefighter's waist and strapped herself to his harness before exiting the plane.
Brandon turns the ring towards his girlfriend Nicole so she could get a better look while floating down to earth
On the way down, Brandon, from Oceanside, California, pulled a ring from his jump suit's pocket, opening the box so his girlfriend could inspect it.
On the way down, Brandon, from Oceanside, California, pulled a ring from his jump suit's pocket, opening the box so his girlfriend could inspect it.
Nicole's joy is short-lived when the ring gets caught in the slip stream and is ripped from Brandon's grasp
As he was about to hand over the ring, it 'slipped' from his grasp and plunged to earth.
As he was about to hand over the ring, it 'slipped' from his grasp and plunged to earth.
Brandon filmed the jump from a special helmet mounted camera and caught his girlfriend's reaction as she saw the ring float for a second in mid air before tumbling out of control.
Before the jump, Mr Strohbehn arranged with members of the two families to hide around the landing zone with the genuine ring.
He said: 'The original plan was to do it out of a hot air balloon. I had a bunch of friends helping with the coordination and helping to keep Nicole from knowing what was going on.
'We actually had planned it as a going away jump for a friend that was heading to North Dakota - it was the perfect cover, Nicole had no idea.
'The balloon jump got canceled multiple times due to weather so I was fed up. I wasn't gonna let another weather hold keep me from asking her to marry me.'
He said: 'So, two months after the original planned balloon jump, we had a "birthday boogie" for Nicole's birthday at Skydive San Diego.
'Our plan was to jump the whole weekend and camp down there. So I decided this would be the perfect time to make this happen.
'Maybe even a good birthday present. So we came up with the Mr. Bill plan.
'I got a fake ring, knowing that I was going to drop it on our Mr. Bill high pull at 12,500ft. Then I called all her family and coordinated - with the help of her brother-in-law and my brother - them to come down on the day I was going to propose.
'We even had a special staging area in one of the classrooms that my brother would escort them to so Nicole wouldn't see any of her family there and get suspicious.
'Then, once we got on the plane that was taking us up for our proposal jump, my brother had all of her family and my family come out and wait for us to land.
'She was super surprised and couldn't believe all her family was there. In the end, it ended up being a great thing that the balloon jumps were canceled because it gave us a chance to have all of our family there to celebrate with us for this epic day.'
Once safely on the ground, Brandon produces the real engagement ring as he bends down on one knee
The couple now have 224 skydives each under their belts, although they almost failed to get together in the first place.
The couple now have 224 skydives each under their belts, although they almost failed to get together in the first place.
Friends insisted that the pair were a perfect match, but they resisted all attempts to be set up on a blind date.
Brandon added: 'Neither of us wanted to be set up on a blind date, so when we first met at a country bar just by chance, I think we both wanted to make sure that it was clear we were not interested in what our friends were trying to force us into.
'But, as it turns out, we were both attracted to each other but didn't want to admit it yet. It didn't take too long after for us to start "running into each other" more often.
'Our first unofficial first date was snowboarding up at Big Bear - a local mountain in San Bernardino.
'We were just going "as friends", so it was by no means a "real" date, but we both knew what it was. Not too long after, we started officially dating.'
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