After what appears to have been a head-down jump (no details were attached to the video submission), this jumper began tracking away from his buddy when he realized that his risers had come loose and he was entangled in some lines. He was able to – miraculously – clear his arm out of the lines and deploy his main without further incident. (This jumper got pretty lucky that there were no line twists or that the related brake-fire didn’t result in a spinning mal.)
This incident most likely happened because the container’s riser covers came open in freefall. And, as was pointed out by one instructor who viewed this video, the fact that the steering line and toggle were also exposed and flopping around suggests that the risers had come loose earlier in the jump. The most likely cause was a rig that wasn’t freefly-friendly.
A lot of newer jumpers, who are oh-so-excited to get away from the doldrums of belly flying (kidding, kidding), start trying to freefly while using student gear or older containers they bought cheap. A lot of those rigs are not safe for freeflying and their usage can result in incidents like this. (Or worse. We’ve seen videos where people have almost died because improper gear caused a premature opening while the jumper was head-down.) Just because equipment is deemed airworthy does not mean it’s safe to use in all body positions. If unsure, jumpers should check with their rigger or S&TA to ensure that the gear they’re using is safe and freefly-friendly.
A wingsuiter has an asymmetrical deployment that quickly spins up into nasty line twists (I counted 5-6 twists), then he accidentally puts another twist in before realizing he was kicking in the wrong direction. Ooops! Luckily he manages to kick out the line twists without a cutaway.
As the wingsuiter pitched, their body rotated significantly to the left and they lost the symmetry that is crucial to wingsuit deployments, resulting in line twists.
In a wingsuit, maintaining body symmetry during a deployment is even more important than it is during a regular skydive — the extra fabric and drag are going to react very quickly to asymmetric conditions. Had they kept their body symmetric, the line twists may not have happened at all.
Altitude awareness wasn’t the cause of the line twists, but it should be noted that at no point does this jumper appear to check their altitude. It’s super easy to get caught up in something like line twists, get distracted, and not realize that you’re still fighting as you get dangerously close to your decision altitude for cutting away.
Ask five jumpers about how they would get out of line twists and you’ll get six answers. Some say to pull the risers apart and kick, some say bring the risers together and twist, some say just yell at it. (We definitely don’t endorse the third option.)
The most important part, that we should all agree on, is that altitude is king and that skydivers should never let dealing with line twists distract them to the point where they go below their cutaway decision altitude.
An inexperienced skydiver went low on a 9-way speedstar, didn’t track very well at break-off, and deployed under another jumper from the formation. The end result was a canopy collision on deployment, a bleeding arm with some skin left on the bridle and a torn pilot chute. Ouch.
I knew I was close and just hoped that my canopy would open fast enough.
There was lack of communication because this jumper (filming POV) missed the ground briefing but then he decided to change the plan at the last minute, which caused confusion. Also, there were jumpers with varying skill levels on this jump.
The jumper who went low was inexperienced compared to the rest of the group (150 jumps vs. 450 jumps) and the inexperienced jumper was supposed to be the base. When he didn’t make it in to the formation, he may have lost track of the group and didn’t know where everyone else was. Also, he may not have tracked as hard and far as he should have. The jumper above was consequently put into a position where he suddenly had a canopy immediately below him.
Better planning is a huge factor here. As the saying goes, “plan the jump and jump the plan.” There was a lot of miscommunication and not everyone was on the same page. Additionally, based on jump numbers, there’s a good chance the jumper who went low shouldn’t have been on a big-way. Several small mistakes led to a very scary situation, which could have been fatal. We’ve all heard it before but incidents like this are rarely the result of one single mistake. It’s typically one minor issue adding to another minor issue... and another… until suddenly the domino effect creates a very serious problem. The jumper who saw a canopy below them did what many skydivers are taught to do: immediately pitch. A better option might have been to track for another few seconds to create more horizontal separation. You never 100% know how much altitude a deployment will take — snivels, malfunctions, etc., happen — but you can control horizontal separation. In this particular case, these jumpers deployed around 4,500 feet, so there was some altitude to spare to continue tracking for more horizontal separation.
What do you do when you look down and see someone deployed underneath you? Do you try to track your ass off and pull in the basement? Do you immediately pitch and hope that your deployment is fast enough to keep you out of the other person’s canopy or that at the least it slows you down enough to make a collision survivable? Definitely an important topic for Safety Day.
After launching a two-way horny gorilla exit, this jump escalated quickly into a scary situation with a horseshoe malfunction. When this skydivers corks to his back, the deployment bag leaves the container and the lines attached to his left riser pass around his body, between his legs, and his right leg passes through the lines. The deployment bag trailing behind him extracts his pilot chute, initiating a deployment of his main. Yikes!
This jumper appears to have brushed the outside edge of the door with his container while exiting. That action could have resulted in his closing pin becoming dislodged. Or rubbing the rig against the door could have snapped a worn-out closing loop.
Jumpers should exit the plane by rotating their body in a manner that prevents their container from brushing against the sides of the door. The jumper should have exited with his container facing away from the sides of the door and then rotated back to face his partner. By facing the front of the plane on exit he likely brushed his container against the door.
We can’t tell if this was the case in this incident, but these types of incidents have sometimes been attributed to jumpers not replacing closing loops. A worn-out closing loop can snap with little to no provocation. This can be easily prevented by examining closing loops while packing and replacing them if they appear to have more than 10% wear.
A wingsuiter jumped out of a military aircraft for a special jump, claimed to be the first-ever wingsuit flight over Kuta in Bali, Indonesia, but he quickly loses control and deploys his parachute while spinning on his back.
The wingsuiter was exiting from the back ramp of a CN-295, a large twin-prop military transport plane, from 10k feet with 120 knots of ground speed. As he exited, his goggles became dislodged and popped down over his face. If he wasn't in a wingsuit, he might have been able to re-adjust the goggles in freefall, but the nylon straitjacket made it a bit more complicated.
The goggle-related disorientation resulted in a lot of input into the wingsuit that rolled him onto his back and created a fast spin. The jumper didn’t really try to deflate his wings so the spin continued to get worse. (There's a saying in wingsuiting, "BANANA, BANANA, BANANA!" that instructors use to teach students regarding how to react to this situation.) He was unable to see his altimeter or other jumpers, and knowing he was above a densely populated area, he decided to deploy early.
Luckily, his main opened clean and he landed without further incident.
Many experienced wingsuiters disagree with using ski goggles in their discipline. Others, however, argue that goggles are less prone to fogging than full face helmets and are more effective at preventing ambient air circulation from reaching the eyes. Either way, when using a piece of equipment, knowing how to use it effectively is critical.
When it comes to goggles, experienced wingsuiter Dan Wilson notes:
Not all goggles are created equal. Strap tension and tightness of fit are very important. When straps are worn over the helmet, they can sometimes slip off the helmet and come loose. When straps are worn under the helmet, the act of putting on the helmet can change strap location and alter tension... And sometimes people just don't choose goggles that fit them well.
Because the jumper really didn’t attempt to stabilize it was only through sheer luck that his main deployed cleanly. Some may argue that he should have tried harder to get stable first. In this case he couldn't see his altimeter, didn't know his altitude, couldn't check where he was, but knew he was over a densely populated area where off-landings could be difficult. His choice was a responsible and safe one.
A skydiver is almost never wrong for choosing to perform their emergency procedures if they think they’re in a situation where it’s warranted. It’s typically better to deploy unstable at a safe altitude than to sacrifice altitude for stability and place yourself in a precarious situation.
While attempting to approach the leader on an angle jump, this skydiver went head down to close the gap but lost control and ended up flying back against the direction of travel, narrowly passing between the leader and the rest of the group. We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: This skydiver went full meat missile. Never go full meat missile.
This jumper – unknown whether it was due to inexperience, excitement, or something else – decided that his priority was to get down to the leader come hell or high water. In pursuit of that goal he forgot that safety (his own and that of other jumpers) always needs to be the foremost concern on a skydiver’s mind.
This jumper bombed down to the exact spot he wanted to be in. What he should have done was come down – in a controlled manner – to the outside of the others. Once on level, he could have then made minor adjustments to slide into his slot and get closer to the leader. “Level. Slot. Dock.” is NOT just a belly thing: it applies to every skydiving orientation and discipline.
Especially on angle jumps, newer jumpers need to be kept in small groups where the leader can keep everyone safe. That requires some maturity and honesty on behalf of everyone involved. Skydivers need to be candid about their skill levels and anyone leading a jump needs to be willing to tell someone they’re not skilled enough to be on it. We don’t know the experience level of this jumper, so we’re not saying this was necessarily the case, but given their inability to get on level safely, it certainly could have been.
This wingsuiter deployed at 5,000 feet and opened into some line twists. He wasn't able to kick out of the line twists, so he cutaway and his reserve was deployed by a Skyhook, which opened into another set of line twists. Balls.
Wingsuits can be more prone to line twists for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that their basic nature makes symmetric deployment procedures far more critical. Small asymmetries have a larger effect while flying a wingsuit and even a small difference in the sides of the jumper’s body can cause their wake to become turbulent, resulting in line twists. Furthermore, the larger burble and wake caused by a wingsuit can cause a pilot chute and deployment bag to not clear the jumper as cleanly.
With virtually every line-twist scenario, there is a possibility that it was caused by a bad pack job. There’s no denying that as a potential culprit but it's also hard to confirm from watching the video.
Realistically, this jumper did a pretty good job on this deployment. From this video, they appear to continue flying straight, continue flying their body through the whole deployment process, and appear to maintain a (mostly) symmetric body position all the way through the deployment process. When their legs swing forward due to the relatively fast opening, there was some asymmetry but it’s going to be hard to control that factor in this situation. However, we cannot gauge how firmly they threw their pilot chute. If they did a weak toss there is a possibility that their pilot chute and deployment bag may have not deployed cleanly.
On every pack job, jumpers should take their time, not rush and not become complacent. Trying to rush to make a call, not replacing a worn-out stow band, etc., can cause mistakes which can result in line twists or worse.
Every video featuring line twists brings up a debate about which technique to use to clear them. Some folks say grab the risers, pull them apart, and twist your body in the opposite direction. Some people say bring the risers together to get the twists to come down to you. Ask a dozen jumpers and you’ll get thirteen opinions on which method is preferred. The important part is that you keep working and never give up.
While doing a training jump in South Africa before the start of the World Cup, this skydiver startled a flock of birds that were taking a dip in the swoop pond. As the birds began taking off, one of them clipped the jumper's canopy mid-swoop, sending him crashing into the pond. The jumper was fine… we don’t know about the bird.
Waterfowl are, by definition, drawn to bodies of water. As such, a swoop pond in the middle of a dry and arid environment is going to attract them. The possibility of a bird is always there in that type of setting – just ask anyone who has trained on the pond at Dubai – but this bird was evidently also a bit larger than normal.
The dropzone and competitors were actively trying to shoo these animals off the pond but they would evidently just return minutes later. In the words of one competitor,
“They’re not allowed to shoot ’em, so they spent days trying to chase them away. They would just come back though. Zero bird f#@&$ were given.”
One possible option would be to keep an air-horn by the pond and have someone hit it as a jumper is beginning their run.
During their first attempt at a 2-way tube exit, one of the skydivers had both the reserve and cutaway handles released from the Velcro as they separated in freefall. Fortunately, neither handle was snagged and pulled -- that would have been a lot worse!
While this video doesn’t show the exact moment that the handles got caught, it's possible that the second jumper's heels snagged the handles as they were separating.
Tube exits are notorious for these types of incidents. During these exits there's a lot of contact between jumpers and a higher possibility that something could get snagged. Another possible contributing factor is gear maintenance; the fact that both handles were stripped out of their Velcro housing could suggest that the Velcro was worn down.
If you launch an exit that includes a lot of contact between jumpers, consider the dive flow and discuss how you’re going to separate from one another in a manner that doesn’t leave you snagging each other’s gear. These jumpers said this was their first time (BEER!) attempting a tube exit; they may not have realized the dangers involved. If you’re doing something for the first time, make sure to get some input from more experienced jumpers.
On any jump, remaining vigilant about not grabbing/snagging/rubbing against handles is important. When choosing to do a jump which has an increased likelihood of such incidents, that need for spatial awareness only becomes greater.
There’s no way of telling from this video whether the Velcro on that rig was worn down. But the fact that both handles were stripped out of their housing makes it a possibility. During gear checks, jumpers should make sure their handles are secured well. If the Velcro starts wearing out, it needs to be changed out.
