This skydiver — with 277 jumps — was at 1100 ft. in gusting winds when he decided to do a toggle 360 before starting his landing pattern. He didn't realize that one of his canopy's cells had already collapsed, and as he tried to whip it around, the rest of the canopy began to collapse and twisted him up. Fortunately, the canopy reinflated, and he was out of the twists at around 700ft.
By not realizing that his canopy already had a collapsed end cell, this jumper put himself into a bad situation. Jamming the toggle on that side as far down as he could while in turbulent and gusting winds likely initiated the further collapse.
The jumper admitted that “one cell was already collapsed and [he] didn't notice upon opening.” On the first day of AFF, jumpers are taught that — after deploying — they should check that the canopy is square, slider down, and the canopy is steerable. During that check, the jumper should have noticed that his end cell had collapsed, which at full altitude isn’t really a big deal. (Heck, there are some canopies that regularly have issues with end cells not wanting to inflate on opening.) However, the remedy is pretty simple, this jumper could have attempted to reinflate that end cell by simply pumping the toggles.
To many jumpers, the most glaring aspect of this video will be that, at just about 1,000 feet, this jumper — without really checking his airspace — decided to pull a toggle 360. Yes, that’s what probably caused his canopy to collapse, but outside of that, this is dangerous because once you’re in the pattern, you’re supposed to be flying in a conservative manner. At that altitude, everyone else in the sky is expecting you to be predictable, to keep going in the direction you’re going until you’re ready to turn onto your base leg.
This skydiver — with 277 jumps — was at 1100 ft. in gusting winds when he decided to do a toggle 360 before starting his landing pattern. He didn't realize that one of his canopy's cells had already collapsed, and as he tried to whip it around, the rest of the canopy began to collapse and twisted him up. Fortunately, the canopy reinflated, and he was out of the twists at around 700ft.
By not realizing that his canopy already had a collapsed end cell, this jumper put himself into a bad situation. Jamming the toggle on that side as far down as he could while in turbulent and gusting winds likely initiated the further collapse.
The jumper admitted that “one cell was already collapsed and [he] didn't notice upon opening.” On the first day of AFF, jumpers are taught that — after deploying — they should check that the canopy is square, slider down, and the canopy is steerable. During that check, the jumper should have noticed that his end cell had collapsed, which at full altitude isn’t really a big deal. (Heck, there are some canopies that regularly have issues with end cells not wanting to inflate on opening.) However, the remedy is pretty simple, this jumper could have attempted to reinflate that end cell by simply pumping the toggles.
To many jumpers, the most glaring aspect of this video will be that, at just about 1,000 feet, this jumper — without really checking his airspace — decided to pull a toggle 360. Yes, that’s what probably caused his canopy to collapse, but outside of that, this is dangerous because once you’re in the pattern, you’re supposed to be flying in a conservative manner. At that altitude, everyone else in the sky is expecting you to be predictable, to keep going in the direction you’re going until you’re ready to turn onto your base leg.
