This skydiver noticed he was dangerously close to the group ahead of him (now below him), so he pitched while trying to throw on the brakes with his body. The deployment was messy and the bridle wrapped around his foot. He then, “went directly to reserve without chopping because I figured the main was still in the d-bag in the container and I wanted to prevent a snag hazard with the risers.” The reserve deployed clean, he tried to cutaway the main, but it was still snagged on his foot. He then tried to use a hook knife to get rid of it, but he dropped the knife. With the main dragging behind him he had too much drag to get to the dropzone, and having lost altitude awareness, the jumper was forced to try to land in a wooded area with a small clearing. Fortunately, he was able to land between the trees and was, ultimately, uninjured.
As this jumper points out, upon seeing the group beneath him, he “applied deep brakes with my body to prevent entering their airspace. That set me up for a deployment with my feet very close to the rig.” This body position likely created a burble, which prevented a clean deployment and tossed the bridle into his feet.
The jumper was wearing a Flysight and stated that the data showed that his group didn’t move much other than due to wind drift. He also stated that his video shows that, on a day with 4-6 seconds of separation, his group gave 8 seconds. That suggests that the group before them likely moved into their air space because they weren’t paying attention to whether they were moving up or down jump run.
By not following the intended sequence for emergency procedures (cutaway first, then pull reserve) this jumper may have contributed to the process through which the main entangled around their foot. Having the reserve out, before cutting away, eliminated the possibility of the main having a chance to unsnag itself when the jumper went back into freefall for a moment.
Every packer in the world is going to be nodding their heads to this, but in this situation the body position was very likely to blame. We understand that the jumper was panicked due to his close proximity to other group below him, but had he gotten back into that good, stable, belly deployment position, this incident would have simply been about groups tracking into each other's air space, and not about the bridle wrap.
This jumper lost all altitude awareness and didn’t look at his altimeter once while fighting through this malfunction. He stated that, “I tried to go for the dropzone but I had too much drag behind me to reach it.” However, based on the video, it looks like he thought about that aspect of the situation pretty far into the incident. Had he maintained altitude awareness he could have, potentially, made the decision to aim for the DZ earlier and been able to make it.
While deploying the main canopy, this skydiver realized they were at a higher altitude than expected and decided to hold on to their pilot chute for a few seconds to burn some altitude before completing the deployment. The bridle wrapped itself around the pilot chute as it danced in the wind and the pilot chute was unable to fully inflate once they finally released it, which briefly caused a pilot chute in tow before catching enough air to deploy the main. During the deployment, it appears the jumper panicked and almost entangled themselves in the lines, followed by a hard opening. Ouch.
This incident was due to the jumper holding their pilot chute rather than just letting go of it. Once they pulled it out of their BOC, that also pulled out quite a bit of the bridle. With all that bridle flopping around it was almost inevitable that the pilot chute would entangle and kill itself.
Once you’ve pulled your pilot chute out of your BOC, don’t hold on to it. And, if “for some reason” you’re going to do this, don’t let it go in the small of your back (lower back); at least extend your arm out and get it out of your burble. Letting your PC go in your burble is just asking for trouble.
We added a caveat about “for some reason” because we have seen one or two experienced jumpers on very high-performance canopies who do this on hop and pops. The argument could be made that they do so to ensure perfect body symmetry during deployment. Notably, when they do it, they keep their arm out and away from their burble. Either way, unless you’re at that level, there’s no reason to hold on to your PC.
Many military static-line jumpers can tell you about the horror that is a degloving injury. It’s what happens when a line wraps around a limb, a canopy deploys, then the line pinches down and leaves nothing behind but the bones. As this jumper’s canopy was deploying, they rolled over and got caught in the lines, making this type of injury possible. Just one more reason to make sure you do everything you can to have a clean deployment.
This wingsuiter said they were demoing a docile canopy to practice a new deployment technique, which resulted in serious line twists that they were still fighting as they hit their hard deck. However, instead of chopping at their hard deck, they kept fighting the line twists down to 600 feet above the ground! They then decided to land very close to the road and some powerlines rather than aim for one of the huge open areas. Overall, just a series of bad decisions that could've ended much worse.
This jumper says they didn’t want to chop because it was a demo canopy and didn’t want to lose it. That’s a horrible argument. Regardless of whether it’s a demo or not, if you lose a canopy, you’re going to wind up having to buy a new one if you can't find it. Heck, if you lose a demo, at least you’re assured some people will help you look for it – the rep for the manufacturer might even get out there with you.
As they hit their hard deck, they said “I was confident I could spin out of the line twist in approximately 500 feet as I was now spinning and could grab the lines.” It’s called a hard deck for a reason. If you hit your hard deck, you don’t roll the dice and hope you’re going to fix the issue before it’s too late. Just chop it.
The jumper was attempting a deployment technique which creates a larger burble – “being head high during deployment, not allowing for clean airflow over the top of the wingsuit and generating a larger burble." The jumper said they didn’t have a weak pitch, but given the result, it’s likely that it may not have been quite as strong as they thought. Either way, as they pointed out themselves, “the extra burble caught the pilot chute and d-bag, spinning me up for 6-8 twists” before the canopy even opened.
The most dangerous issue with this jump, the fact that this jumper ignored their hard deck, is easily dealt with by simply using common sense and following your training. It’s that simple.
Firstly, wingsuits create a large burble. If you’re going to – intentionally – do something that makes said burble even bigger you better be ready to have a nice confident pitch and get that pilot chute out of the burble. Additionally, a professional wingsuit pilot consulted on this video noted that a slightly asymmetrical deployment may have also contributed to exacerbating the issue.
This jumper decided to land near a road, a fence, and some trees. Why? Because they didn’t want to walk too far. (Remember that terrible reasoning comment?) They had massive fields to land in safely but, instead, they put themselves in a corner. This could have easily ended badly.
While setting up in the door, this belly group had 3 people outside plus a videographer. As the center float gave the up-down-out count, he rubbed up against the front float’s hacky which pulled the pilot chute out of the BOC and deployed the main canopy. Fortunately no one was entangled with the premature opening and he was clear of the plane.
A well-known, highly experienced belly flyer and coach examined this video and provided us a variety of minor issues that contributed to this incident. They believe it wasn’t a single one of the following issues (see below) but rather the fact that they all coalesced during a single jump. These factors include the way jumpers line up and the timing of the exit count. Additionally, the equipment being used may have played a role in this premature deployment.
The jumpers in this video were stacked right-to-left on top of one another and that creates a higher likelihood of equipment rubbing against equipment and an increased chance of a snag. Many belly jumpers try to minimize the amount of surface area they expose on the step but these individuals were simply just facing the door. Had they been facing somewhat into the relative wind rather than being squared up facing into the door, the center float may not have caught the front float’s hacky that caused the premie.
The center float did a very aggressive up-down-out count rather than what some belly coaches prefer: using the leg for an out-in-out count. The latter count puts a jumper’s body in motion and helps ensure both that the jumper giving the count doesn’t leave late and that the other jumpers clearly see the count and don’t leave early. In this video, the front float may have left early or the center float left may have left late, but what it comes down to is that they didn’t leave together. Had they done so, this probably wouldn’t have happened.
We can’t tell from the video, but two equipment issues could have potentially prevented this incident; if the front float had a tuck tab that hacky may have not come out and – if their BOC happened to be loose – replacing the BOC could have also prevented this from occurring.
This jumper, with only around 400 jumps, was evidently “learning to swoop.” To quote the notes provided with this video submission, “As you can tell, the turn was too low.” The only additional information provided was a list of injuries: lumbar spine fractures at L3, L4, and L5, a fractured and displaced tailbone, a chipped bone in the heel, and two broken toes.
Swooping looks cool and lots of baby jumpers see folks skimming the pond and that’s all they want to learn. There’s nothing wrong with that! However, between the video and the jump numbers, it’s possible this individual was pushing the envelope too quickly and wasn’t getting proper instruction.
As this guy impacts you can see his shadow and his hands are still on his rear risers. It looks like he didn’t even think about going to toggles. To quote one experienced jumper, “It’s like someone offered him a big ‘SAVE YOUR LIFE’ button and his response was, ‘Naw, I’m good!’” One of the basic drills some canopy coaches teach new swoopers to do is a turn at altitude, build up speed and then stab out on toggles. Partially it’s so that they learn muscle memory of what to do if they’re seeing what this guy saw. The other part is to learn how much toggle pressure you need in order to pull out of a turn. (If you haven’t done it, it’s likely a lot more than you think.)
Aspiring swoopers should find professional coaches. Some jumpers spend tens of thousands of dollars on tunnel time but then just start downsizing their canopy, thinking that’s the key to swooping. It’s not. The best canopy pilots can take a lightly loaded Sabre 2 and tear across a pond relying on skill. (Hell, there are wingsuiters out there who are known to come across the landing area pulling freestyle moves on Pilot 7’s.) Learning to swoop isn’t just about getting a tiny canopy, it’s about knowing how to get every bit out of the canopy you’re already flying.
Again, we don’t have much background on this jumper's situation but it’s possible no one at their DZ was telling them to slow down and get coaching or this jumper was ignoring advice. If it’s the former, the folks who know this guy need to do a better job fostering a safe environment. If it’s the latter, someone at the DZ should have grounded him before he put himself in a situation to potentially get himself killed.
This jumper had some line twists combined with a left-side toggle fire on opening, causing the canopy to quickly start diving while they attempted to undo the line twists. They took some (*cough* too much *cough cough*) time before deciding to cutaway and then they also missed their reserve handle on the first attempt. They finally managed to deploy their reserve on the second attempt but were in the harness dangerously low.
In the slow-motion view it’s pretty clear that the toggle is out of the keeper in the first few seconds of the video. There are quite a few possibilities which can cause a toggle fire; the simplest is that the jumper may have not stowed it. Alternatively, they may have stowed it poorly and left it or some lines loose; poorly stowed brakes and brake lines can be hit by the slider as it comes down, knocking the toggle out of the housing. Poorly closed riser covers can also expose a toggle to the air and can potentially free it from the housing. Lastly, if the rig is old, the toggle keeper could also be worn out/loose.
Each of those items should be addressed and noticed while packing; make sure to stow your toggles, make sure to close your riser covers, and make sure your brake lines aren’t hanging out. During every pack job you should also be examining your rig to make sure that the toggle keepers are still serviceable and tight and that your riser covers aren’t worn out and apt to come undone during a jump.
This jumper fought that diving canopy for way too long. At one point in the slow-motion view it looks like he’s still fighting the line twists after he hits the 2,000 foot mark. The fact that he missed his reserve handle on the first attempt after cutting away is exactly why you need to cut away earlier; because after you chop you still need to get under your reserve, deal with any issues the reserve may have (line twists, etc.), find a safe place to land, and then actually fly there.
This jumper didn’t have any sort of RSL/MARD/Skyhook system so when they chopped low and had a hard time finding their reserve handle they were getting dangerously close to the ground. You should never rely on those systems but this is a perfect example of a jumper whose situation would have been better if they had one installed. (We’re also hoping they had an AAD but that’s a whole different discussion!)
This wingsuiter deployed their main canopy around 4,000 ft and had a pilot chute in tow for 9 seconds. The pilot chute got caught in the the wingsuit burble, did a loop, tied itself off, effectively killing itself and preventing a normal deployment. Once he realized the main wouldn't deploy he went straight to his reserve parachute, which is when things got a little messy. The reserve had some line twists, then the main deployed as well and got entangled around his feet! The jumper cutaway the main, took some time getting it untangled from his feet, and once the main flew away he cleared the reserve line twists around 1,800 feet.
This whole incident probably boils down to the way the jumper pitched their pilot chute. In their words, “I made a very weak pc pitch at 4000', and dropped it in my burble.” That’s actually a bit of an understatement because, if you watch the slow-motion portion of the video, you’ll see that the jumper actually grabbed their PC, went to toss it, and instead of releasing it at the apex of their pitch, they held onto it for a half second. By doing so, they lost the inertia given by their arm moving away from their body. That pilot chute had a slim chance of escaping the burble.
Wingsuit deployments are far more sensitive and prone to issues; you need to flare your suit, time your pitch, symmetry matters far more, and even your canopy choice has a larger effect on how your deployment goes. (While we don’t endorse any specific brands, our go-to suggested reading material on the topic is Squirrel's article about wingsuit deployments). This jumper’s mistake occurred when they didn’t make a nice strong pitch of the pilot chute, making sure it got away from their body and cleared the burble.
Some folks argue that, in a high-speed malfunction like this one, going straight to reserve is justifiable because there’s not a lot of time and you’re losing altitude fast. However, many experienced jumpers counter that if anything Is out – even a pilot chute – you should cutaway before deploying your reserve because by not cutting away first, your main is still attached and begging to entangle with your reserve. This video supports the latter argument because, had this jumper cut away before deploying his reserve, the main would have more than likely just fallen right out of his container and not posed an entanglement risk at all. It should also be noted that this could have been a lot worse; the main could have entangled with the reserve.
Some viewers may be curious as to why the main, which didn’t deploy initially, deployed after the reserve came out. When a reserve is sitting in a container, it puts pressure on the main, in turn helping the main keep pressure on the pin. When the reserve is deployed, that pressure is relieved, potentially allowing the pin to be extracted far more easily; even by a pilot chute that has been killed.
This skydiver's right arm was pulled out of the socket on the exit, leaving him with a dislocated shoulder for the entire jump and unable to pull his main canopy. Shortly after the exit, he realized he was in trouble and didn’t want to endanger his fellow jumpers, so he tracked away to pull high. At around 7,000 feet, he attempted to pull his main but couldn't reach his BOC to deploy the pilot chute – attempting to do so flipped him over – and ultimately he decided to “just cut, and pull reserve.” Once his reserve deployed he still couldn't use his right arm, so he unstowed the left toggle and held it in his teeth, then unstowed the right toggle and steered the canopy one-handed. A combination of subtle inputs and (we’re assuming) harness turns get him turned into the wind and he then attempts to modify a PLF in order to avoid hitting his right shoulder. Bravo to this jumper for managing to keep his cool and handle the situation calmly.
The official word from the jumper was that “my buddy and I drop at different angles and he pulls my right shoulder out of socket,” but we think that the issue was probably due to a mistimed exit count. It looks like the one jumper leaves a half second earlier than the other and, combined with those angles, it may have been the reason for that shoulder getting yanked out of place.
Practicing your exit (and your whole jump) on the ground is a key part to a successful skydive. Rehearsing what you’re going to be doing is going to set you up for success in the air. We don’t know if that was a factor here but a lot of the time we see jumpers rushing to catch a load and discussing their exit and their dive in the plane. That’s not a good practice and it can result in potentially dangerous situations when there is a breakdown in communication.
This guy deserves a round of applause for staying cool and calm when he was stressed and probably in a ton of pain. Most people would have been panicking but he had the wherewithal to track away from his buddies, realize he needed to go to his reserve, and figure out how to control his canopy using one arm. Seriously man, bravo. You had a bad day and you did everything right to keep it from getting worse.
We already noted that this jumper was in a crazy situation and did an amazing job of coping with it. One item that can be debated, however, is the decision to cutaway and then pull reserve. In this situation there is arguably no reason to cutaway first. Really, it just added an extra step and an extra item to worry about because he held onto the cutaway handle. That being said, there are many jumpers who argue that it’s better to just have one set of Emergency Procedures and that they will always cutaway before pulling their reserve.
This skydiver, an AFF-I with around 1,000 jumps, deployed her main but wound up with a spinning mal that required her to cutaway. When she cutaway, the main didn't release completely due to the tuck tab on the right riser never opening, and she had to fight to keep her main and her reserve from entangling. Fortunately, the tuck tab eventually released and she was able to get rid of her main and land on reserve. Kudos to this jumper for how well she handled this situation!
The video submission noted that “the tuck tab of the right riser never opened, so that made the risers ‘uneven’.” Tuck tabs – and the way we set them – can be a bit finnicky at times and it’s really important that jumpers take the time to set them properly.
Based on the write up that came with the submission, the biggest factor in this incident was a relatively unpredictable issue with how the tuck tab didn’t release; resulting in an uneven deployment that required a cutaway. The best way to prevent this type of issue is to ensure diligence during packing.
Props go out to this jumper for their situational awareness and their fantastic efforts at remaining aware of their altitude. At multiple times you can see her glance at her altimeter. This may sound silly, but it’s actually rare to see someone this cognizant of their altitude during a malfunction.
This jumper was fortunate that her main and reserve finally separated but – had that not been the case – she would have potentially wanted to use a hook knife to dump the main that did not want to leave. That leaves us begging you the question: Do you practice EP’s with your hook knife? And is your hook knife part of your gear checks?
