This incident was the result of 12 inexperienced skydivers in Iraq who were invited to perform a demo jump at a local carnival (watch Part 2 here). They knowingly decided to jump in decently high winds (around 20 mph), which pushed them 5.9 miles (9 kilometres) from the intended landing area! With only 148 jumps under his belt, this jumper realized that he was in a terrible situation and had nothing but bad options for landing. He aimed for a small school yard but miscalculated his approach and ended up landing on the roof. He flared late and hit the roof hard, which resulted in a broken ankle and dislocated foot. Thankfully, post-surgery, he was walking again within two months and jumping again within four.
These relatively inexperienced jumpers — another skydiver on this jump had only 68 jumps (that video coming soon) — would never have been allowed to do a demo jump under USPA standards. They knew the winds were hauling and decided to jump anyway. Inexperience and bad decision making: it really is as simple as that. However, please read the Additional Notes section before judging them.
Before doing a demo jump there are a lot of steps that should happen to prevent incidents like this. This includes checking the upper winds, having someone on the ground at the landing area to check wind speed and direction, etc. Once the data is collected, experienced and safety-conscious jumpers who realize the conditions aren't conducive to a demo jump, will just scratch it and stay on the ground.
These skydivers jump at Firnas Aero Club in Iraq. They're a small self-funded club with 22 members and are all pretty much self-taught. They have no instructors and apparently just bought the gear, got in a plane, and started jumping; learning as they went. A few of them have traveled outside of Iraq to get formal training and have earned USPA licenses, but most have not.
This is obviously a very dangerous way to learn to skydive and we don't endorse it. However, we think it's a pretty amazing testament to the passion of these jumpers who said they didn't care about the obstacles in front of them, they would learn to skydive.
This incident was the result of 12 inexperienced skydivers in Iraq who were invited to perform a demo jump at a local carnival (watch Part 2 here). They knowingly decided to jump in decently high winds (around 20 mph), which pushed them 5.9 miles (9 kilometres) from the intended landing area! With only 148 jumps under his belt, this jumper realized that he was in a terrible situation and had nothing but bad options for landing. He aimed for a small school yard but miscalculated his approach and ended up landing on the roof. He flared late and hit the roof hard, which resulted in a broken ankle and dislocated foot. Thankfully, post-surgery, he was walking again within two months and jumping again within four.
These relatively inexperienced jumpers — another skydiver on this jump had only 68 jumps (that video coming soon) — would never have been allowed to do a demo jump under USPA standards. They knew the winds were hauling and decided to jump anyway. Inexperience and bad decision making: it really is as simple as that. However, please read the Additional Notes section before judging them.
Before doing a demo jump there are a lot of steps that should happen to prevent incidents like this. This includes checking the upper winds, having someone on the ground at the landing area to check wind speed and direction, etc. Once the data is collected, experienced and safety-conscious jumpers who realize the conditions aren't conducive to a demo jump, will just scratch it and stay on the ground.
These skydivers jump at Firnas Aero Club in Iraq. They're a small self-funded club with 22 members and are all pretty much self-taught. They have no instructors and apparently just bought the gear, got in a plane, and started jumping; learning as they went. A few of them have traveled outside of Iraq to get formal training and have earned USPA licenses, but most have not.
This is obviously a very dangerous way to learn to skydive and we don't endorse it. However, we think it's a pretty amazing testament to the passion of these jumpers who said they didn't care about the obstacles in front of them, they would learn to skydive.
