This cringe-worthy low cutaway is beyond crazy, but luckily this skydive student walked away without a scratch.
As an inexperienced skydiving student, cutting away can be scary, but altitude is our friend. Following emergency procedures and making a decision to cutaway early with altitude to spare is far better than waiting until the last second — or worse, waiting until it's too late.
Remember the importance of a canopy controllability check: is it there, is it square, does it flare? If not, follow your emergency procedures.
Maybe this student did a controllability check and decided at a higher altitude that it was (relatively) safe to land, but only noticed the fast descent rate as they got close to the ground, then got scared and cutaway? It's hard to know what the student was thinking at the time.
On the bright side, at least he/she doesn't have to look for their main canopy 😉
This cringe-worthy low cutaway is beyond crazy, but luckily this skydive student walked away without a scratch.
As an inexperienced skydiving student, cutting away can be scary, but altitude is our friend. Following emergency procedures and making a decision to cutaway early with altitude to spare is far better than waiting until the last second — or worse, waiting until it's too late.
Remember the importance of a canopy controllability check: is it there, is it square, does it flare? If not, follow your emergency procedures.
Maybe this student did a controllability check and decided at a higher altitude that it was (relatively) safe to land, but only noticed the fast descent rate as they got close to the ground, then got scared and cutaway? It's hard to know what the student was thinking at the time.
On the bright side, at least he/she doesn't have to look for their main canopy 😉
