History Main / ParachuteInATree

* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': In "Wingin' It", when Mime falls out of a plane, the skin on his face comes lose and functions as a parachute. He gets caught in a tree and has to cut off his skin to get free.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Well [[{{Pun}} chute]], how do I get down?"\\

* ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'': This happens in the comics, usually involving an evil German soldier who finds our hero in such a helpless state and is about to shoot him, until a third party pulls a BigDamnHeroes.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-John Steele Parachute Memorial in Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, France]]-]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ste_mere_steele2217_6644.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, 1944.]]

* ''Film/Deadpool2'': In the scene of X-Force parachuting in the city, Deadpool is the first to reach the ground, his chute getting caught in a billboard. He easily free himself, however, while the rest of the team is nowhere as lucky (except for Domino).

* An unlucky wind change in ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' resultes in a skydiver getting his parachute entangled in the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Lucky for him, George is there to swing to the rescue.

* In ''Film/ThatManFromRio'', the hero has to ditch a plane over the Amazon jungle and parachutes down -- getting stuck in a tree and dangling just above a hungry crocodile in the swamp.

* ''Literature/FlightOfTheIntruder'': [[spoiler:Jake Grafton]] not only ends up hanging from a tree after ejecting, but has the further indignity to somehow end up hanging from his parachute upside down. Fortunately, he was hanging only a foot or so off the ground.

* In ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' Tim Allen (AsHimself) gets stuck in the tree in Drew's back yard after a failed parachute publicity stunt. Drew doesn't cut him down since the idea of having a celebrity stuck in your tree is funnier than letting him leave.

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII provided a number of examples:

** During D-Day, a paratrooper named John Steele became snagged on the church spire at Sainte-Mère-Église and played dead for two hours before being cut down and taken prisoner by the Germans. This was depicted in the movie ''Film/TheLongestDay'' as listed above. The church still has a monument to him and the other paratroopers, in the form of a statue of a paratrooper dangling from the spire, as well as stained glass windows depicting Virgin Mary and the paratroopers.[[note]][[AGoodNameForARockBand Which also sounds like a great name for a band.]][[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'': While he isn't quite completely stuck, a Russian paratrooper at the beginning of the level Wolverines! has an [[https://youtu.be/BdcNOLmvgwg?t=110 awkward landing on a slanted roof]], preventing him from quickly getting away before he is gunned down by an allied Humvee gunner.

* In one episode of ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', after moving into a new house, Mike discovers Music/BuddyHolly, still alive and guitar in hand, hanging from a parachute in one of the rooms. He has apparently been there since 1959 (23 yeas at that point). Mike tries to capitalise on the songs Buddy has thought up since then only for the parachute to give way and Holly fall screaming through the floor.

* During D-Day, a paratrooper named John Steele became snagged on the church spire at Sainte-Mère-Église and played dead for two hours before being cut down and taken prisoner by the Germans. This was depicted in the movie ''Film/TheLongestDay'' as listed above. The church still has a monument to him and the other paratroopers, in the form of a statue of a paratrooper dangling from the spire, as well as stained glass windows depicting Virgin Mary and the paratroopers.[[note]][[AGoodNameForARockBand Which also sounds like a great name for a band.]][[/note]]
* One history of the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships SAS Regiment]] related an anecdote from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, about a trooper who got scattered away from the drop zone due to bad weather and landed in an orchard. Unable to see anything in the dark, and unwilling to risk injuring himself in a fall by cutting himself loose, he patiently waited for dawn, [[{{Irony}} only for first light to reveal his feet were half a foot above the ground]].
* Also during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when the British Airborne Division was new and still trying to hash out their methods, the top brass were not impressed when half the troops had to be rescued from trees by the local fire brigade after a parachuting demonstration.
* Another example occurred during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with famed French resistance spy Nancy Wake, whose parachute got tangled in a tree when she landed in the Auvergne province of France. When the resistance leader found her, he remarked, "I hope that all the trees in France bear such beautiful fruit this year." Her response? [[DeadpanSnarker "Don't give me that French shit."]]

* Postwar, smoke jumpers (paratroop firemen) would carry ropes to let themselves down out of trees (which they would often aim for; getting snagged in a pine isn't bad if you have a face mask and probably softer than whatever open ground is available).