After punching through clouds and breaking off from a 3-way jump (without much of a track), this jumper sees a canopy deploying in front of him, which was another jumper from the group exiting after him. The other jumper appears to pull on his left toggle as the canopy was inflating, which may have helped avoid a head-on collision. Some jumpers might say "that's NOT a close call," but let's be honest, this should NOT be a normal proximity for canopy openings — this was pretty damn close, and fortunately there was no collision!
Initially, we thought the jumper coming down was the third jumper from the original group. However, we don't think that was the case because that jumper had a lot of white on his suit, and this jumper did not. This was likely a jumper from the following exit group, who got out way too soon, busting through and almost nailing the folks who exited before him!
Again, we have no video to prove this point, but it seems like another group chased this group out the door. To prevent that, you need to know how much time to give the group in front of you based on ground speed and then just make sure to take your time, and count slowly. What we think in our heads as “one------two------three------four------five------six” is actually “one!two!three!four!five!six!” There are a few ways to address that issue. One is to count out loud. By verbalizing one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, etc. and nodding your head to the rhythm of each syllable, you’ll force yourself to slow down. For newer jumpers, another method is to hold your fingers out in front of your face and count out loud while counting on them; combining verbalization with a physical action also tends to help jumpers slow down their count.
As this cameraman hits the cloud layer, he should be tracking away from the rest of his group. However, it looks like he doesn't really track much at all. He appears to turn to his right, then turns back to his left, and doesn't seem to track. This is likely because, without any visible references, he didn't really know whether or not he had properly turned away from the rest of the group. When you can't see the ground nor the other jumpers, it's kind of hard to know what direction you're moving in.
We just talked about not jumping through clouds two weeks ago! In that video, there was a premature deployment which would have been impossible to see by jumpers above, creating an obviously dangerous situation. The clouds weren't the cause of that incident, but they were certainly a huge danger. In today's video, these jumpers hit break off altitude while in a cloud layer and had no references when they turned and track. If these jumpers had checked the spot and seen the cloud layer, they should have asked for a go-around or ridden the plane down. Also, as we've noted before, they wouldn't be violating Federal Aviation Regulations Part 105.17 and putting the pilot's license at risk!
After punching through clouds and breaking off from a 3-way jump (without much of a track), this jumper sees a canopy deploying in front of him, which was another jumper from the group exiting after him. The other jumper appears to pull on his left toggle as the canopy was inflating, which may have helped avoid a head-on collision. Some jumpers might say "that's NOT a close call," but let's be honest, this should NOT be a normal proximity for canopy openings — this was pretty damn close, and fortunately there was no collision!
Initially, we thought the jumper coming down was the third jumper from the original group. However, we don't think that was the case because that jumper had a lot of white on his suit, and this jumper did not. This was likely a jumper from the following exit group, who got out way too soon, busting through and almost nailing the folks who exited before him!
Again, we have no video to prove this point, but it seems like another group chased this group out the door. To prevent that, you need to know how much time to give the group in front of you based on ground speed and then just make sure to take your time, and count slowly. What we think in our heads as “one------two------three------four------five------six” is actually “one!two!three!four!five!six!” There are a few ways to address that issue. One is to count out loud. By verbalizing one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, etc. and nodding your head to the rhythm of each syllable, you’ll force yourself to slow down. For newer jumpers, another method is to hold your fingers out in front of your face and count out loud while counting on them; combining verbalization with a physical action also tends to help jumpers slow down their count.
As this cameraman hits the cloud layer, he should be tracking away from the rest of his group. However, it looks like he doesn't really track much at all. He appears to turn to his right, then turns back to his left, and doesn't seem to track. This is likely because, without any visible references, he didn't really know whether or not he had properly turned away from the rest of the group. When you can't see the ground nor the other jumpers, it's kind of hard to know what direction you're moving in.
We just talked about not jumping through clouds two weeks ago! In that video, there was a premature deployment which would have been impossible to see by jumpers above, creating an obviously dangerous situation. The clouds weren't the cause of that incident, but they were certainly a huge danger. In today's video, these jumpers hit break off altitude while in a cloud layer and had no references when they turned and track. If these jumpers had checked the spot and seen the cloud layer, they should have asked for a go-around or ridden the plane down. Also, as we've noted before, they wouldn't be violating Federal Aviation Regulations Part 105.17 and putting the pilot's license at risk!
