Parachute expert's award-winning stunt with Tom Cruise

Karen Saunders, of Skydive Langar, checks the parachute equipment for Tom Cruise during filming for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Karen Saunders, who works at Skydive Langar, was part of a team involved in a thrilling scene in the Hollywood blockbuster, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.

Cruise launched his motorbike from a cliff and then had to deploy a parachute as part of a hair-raising chase scene.

And it has just scooped the ‘Best Stunt Ensemble’ accolade at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

Karen Saunders with Tom Cruise and fellow members of the stunt team for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Karen’s crucial role was to maintain Cruise’s skydiving equipment during the shoot, for one of the most expensive films ever made.

Karen said: “It was a real pleasure to work with Tom and the rest of the team behind the movie, which included an amazing stunt team.

"I had so much fun working with everyone and it was a real professional highlight to be able to put my experience to work in such a new and challenging way.”

As the lead parachute rigger at the UK’s busiest skydiving centre, and with decades of experience in maintaining parachuting equipment globally, Saunders was selected as Cruise’s personal equipment monitor.

It was quite an experience for her working on the movie, which took $568million in box office sales, and which also stars Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson.

The Mission: Impossible series, which started in 1996, is a film franchise of action spy films starring Cruise as Ethan Hunt.

Karen added: “Of course, much of it was run-of-the-mill parachute maintenance and I was very comfortable with all of that, but being on the set of such a high profile movie certainly came with its own unique moments.

"It’s amazing to be able to sit down and watch the final product and to know that millions of people worldwide have seen it too. I’m very proud of it.”

At Skydive Langar, Karen is responsible for overseeing the proper maintenance of all of the centre’s owned equipment as well as providing those services for equipment owned by visiting jumpers.

When she’s not working with skydivers, she enjoys riding her motorcycle and has recently taken up bodybuilding.

Click HERE for information about Skydive Langar.