These skydivers did a chill horny gorilla exit that was going pretty well... until it wasn’t. Once the back of their containers were exposed to the relative wind, one of the jumper's had a premature opening. As the pilot chute goes screaming past his head, he realized what was happening and quickly tried to clear the bridle. Either due to his efforts, or just naturally, the bridle slipped out from under his arm and the main canopy inflated without any issues.
This container looks freefly-friendly. So, the most likely cause of this incident is the pilot chute catching the relative wind. Direct exposure of the container to the relative wind during a horny gorilla like this one creates a lot of drag on any exposed surface of the pilot chute. And that small amount of exposure – which may not cause a premature deployment during a belly jump – can more easily cause one during a freefly jump.
In this video, we can’t see how the jumpers exited the plane and whether there was some incidental contact between the container and the aircraft. However, that is a very common way for a pilot chute to get dislodged just enough for the wind to then deploy it during a skydive.
On the ground, in the plane, and before exit: check your gear and have a buddy check it as well. Reaching behind to touch your BOC and see if your pilot chute is seated properly is NOT the same as having a friend look and make sure there’s no fabric peeking out that could catch the wind. The same goes for having someone check to make sure the elastic on your BOC is tight enough to prevent the pilot chute from getting dislodged.
Again, we can’t see anything in this video that suggests contact with the plane. However, it’s a common cause of this type of situation. We would be remiss to not consider it and note that – by rotating their container away from the doorframe and protecting it from incidental contact – jumpers can avoid bumping their BOC and accidentally dislodging their pilot chute.
These skydivers did a chill horny gorilla exit that was going pretty well... until it wasn’t. Once the back of their containers were exposed to the relative wind, one of the jumper's had a premature opening. As the pilot chute goes screaming past his head, he realized what was happening and quickly tried to clear the bridle. Either due to his efforts, or just naturally, the bridle slipped out from under his arm and the main canopy inflated without any issues.
This container looks freefly-friendly. So, the most likely cause of this incident is the pilot chute catching the relative wind. Direct exposure of the container to the relative wind during a horny gorilla like this one creates a lot of drag on any exposed surface of the pilot chute. And that small amount of exposure – which may not cause a premature deployment during a belly jump – can more easily cause one during a freefly jump.
In this video, we can’t see how the jumpers exited the plane and whether there was some incidental contact between the container and the aircraft. However, that is a very common way for a pilot chute to get dislodged just enough for the wind to then deploy it during a skydive.
On the ground, in the plane, and before exit: check your gear and have a buddy check it as well. Reaching behind to touch your BOC and see if your pilot chute is seated properly is NOT the same as having a friend look and make sure there’s no fabric peeking out that could catch the wind. The same goes for having someone check to make sure the elastic on your BOC is tight enough to prevent the pilot chute from getting dislodged.
Again, we can’t see anything in this video that suggests contact with the plane. However, it’s a common cause of this type of situation. We would be remiss to not consider it and note that – by rotating their container away from the doorframe and protecting it from incidental contact – jumpers can avoid bumping their BOC and accidentally dislodging their pilot chute.
