This swooper followed the landing pattern set by the first jumper. Unfortunately, the first person down didn't realize that the wind shifted 180 degrees while the load was in the air. This swooper then realized that he was too low for his normal 450 degree turn, so he took it a little lower and decided to try for a 270 instead. He just went for it, stayed in the dive a little longer than he normally would, and when he realized he was low, he stayed on his rears instead of stabbing out on toggles. The first bounce didn't injure him, but on the second impact with the ground he landed on an outstretched hand and the shock traveled up his arm and shattered his elbow.
This jumper knew that his original plan had fallen apart and he decided to just try and send something anyway. Not only did he know that the winds were different from what he had originally expected, he also knew that he was lower than he wanted to be for that particular turn. Instead of just saying, "I'll get it on the next jump," he went for it without proper planning.
This first part is simple, if your plan falls apart as you come in to do a swoop, just land. Don't push it and don't play it by ear, prioritize your safety and get your swoop in our your next jump. The cost of a jump ticket is cheaper than a ten thousand dollar hospital bill.
Canopy coaches often have new students do a turn at altitude and then stab out just so they get familiar with how much pressure you need to apply to your toggles to pull out of a dive... it's a lot more than most folks think because once that canopy is picking up speed it takes a lot of muscle to get out of that dive. This jumper decided to stay on his rears because they were "afraid that those milliseconds during the switch (from rears to toggles) could make my canopy dive even more." That's a pretty big mistake which suggests that they needed some more coaching.
We don't have much information about this skydive because the video was submitted with minimal comment from the student, who was at a non-US dropzone. (We don't know if it was a USPA affiliate.) This was described as a AFF "Level 6 jump." In short, the student went into a flat spin and the instructor attempted to stop it but largely failed. They then lost control of the student, the instructor sunk out, and watched the student deploy from a hundred feet away. The student reported some line twists but landed safely. Sadly, the incident caused the student to quit skydiving, they stated, "It's too dangerous (maybe I'll go to the wind tunnel)..."
Again, we have minimal information on this jump, but suffice to say that this whole incident appears to have happened due to a instructor who either didn't have the confidence, or the ability, to get in there and stop a rotation that rapidly put their student into the spin cycle. Admittedly, once a student starts spinning, staying on level — let alone get in there and stop the spin — becomes much harder. However, the video is deeply suggestive of an issue with the instruction here.
First, while we know that sometimes a great student suddenly has a brain fart, this jumper does not look like they had the control requisite to pass their Cat C jump. Further, while — yes — the instructor initially attempted to stop the spin, it needs to be noted is that, as one experienced AFF-I put it, "The student never earned the right to be released after that. The instructor should have held on until the student corrected the body position before being released."
We normally love to crack jokes and add some light humor into Friday Freakout, but this is a particularly rough video, and it sadly made someone think that a sport dedicated to safety, is too dangerous for them. The first way this could have been prevented was by the jumper having not been cleared for this level of AFF jump. Further, if this instructor wasn't capable of handling this type of instruction, they shouldn't have been allowed to take a student up. No student should be allowed to go up into the air with an instructor who is incapable of assessing the need for them to intervene in a flat spin and then making that intervention. Lastly, if you know your student is of a body size you cannot fly with, you should have good enough judgment to have someone else take them up.
This group was launching a linked four-way belly exit with outside video. However, seconds after they exit, one of the skydivers had a premature opening that ripped him out of the group! (Seriously though, they had some pretty solid grips on each other because you can see him quite literally get pulled out of the formation.)
There's no video from inside the plane, however it doesn't look like the jumper brushed against the door, and while the jumper had relatively old gear, we were told that on the ground the elasticity of the BOC was checked and it was fine. That means that the pilot chute was sneaking out before these jumpers exited and nobody noticed.
If you've ever jumped with folks who have a wall — or a drawer — filled with medals from winning nationals or worlds, you may notice how they almost look like they have a nervous tic from how often they check their pilot chute. You're getting on the plane, and they're touching the small of their back. The door is about to open to get some air, and they're touching the small of their back. They move around a little trying to get more comfortable, and they're touching the small of their back.
In short, pretty much anytime there's a chance that their pilot chute could have gotten dislodged, or anytime there's a chance for it to catch air, they're double checking to make sure that thing is still safely nestled in their BOC. It's a great habit to develop and once it becomes second nature you can be pretty sure that this type of incident won't happen to you.
Just before break-off on this 2-way belly jump, one jumper got flipped over the other right before "tracking away" — but neither jumper really tracked. When they deployed, they were dangerously close to each other and nearly had a midair collision.
The jumper who submitted the video said that the second jumper failed to turn 180 degrees away and tracked under him. However, from what we're seeing here this was really just poor tracking by both jumpers. As seen best in the second jumper's video (camera 2), the first jumper sees his buddy, waves off, doesn't really create any distance, sinks out a bit, checks his altitude, and deploys. The second jumper at least tries to track a little, but also doesn't get much distance before deploying.
We really hate using cliches on Friday Freakout, but this is one of the most important cliches in skydiving. When it comes to tracking and canopy piloting, you need to make room and consider anyone around you as a threat to your life. These two didn't create space, didn't track, and — evidently — didn't consider the other jumper an immediate threat to their life. As a result they both had super lazy tracks and opened up in each other's faces.
Helicopter jumps are the best! (And that's coming from the writer who once caught his reserve handle on the skid!) But on this help jump from ~4,000 feet, this skydiver deployed his main at around 2,500 feet... but nothing happened! Already low, the jumper went straight to his reserve. As his reserve deploys, the main canopy's deployment bag ended up coming down to him — so he grabbed it, then stowed it between his legs. He's in the saddle around 1,900 feet, lands safely, and promptly reports that he owes some beer!
The jumper didn't tell us what caused this bag lock. However, generally speaking, there are quite a few factors than can cause one. A lot of them are packing related; for example, long line stows can catch and cinch on each other or an improper stow can get pulled into a grommet. Alternatively, they can happen due to poor gear maintenance, namely, an old worn our pilot chute that should have been replaced a long time ago.
Again, a lot of bag locks result from a lack of diligence during packing, or due to folks not paying attention to basic gear maintenance. Both of these are failures that result from laziness. Keep those line stows short, replace your gear when it's getting worn out, and don't rush your packjobs!
This video is a bit on the longer side because we wanted to include the discussion the jumper had on the ground with a staff member from the DZ. They chatted about the fact that, rather than cutting away, the jumper went straight to his reserve. Admittedly, he was rather low and every second matters during a high speed malfunction. And at the end of the day, he did a great job saving his own life. However, he was also lucky that the main didn't deploy and entangle itself with the reserve... because that could have definitely been a bad day.
Well... not to pick on wingsuiters… but seriously folks, it’s like they TRY to find reasons to land off! We love them though and, to be fair, despite what went down here, this jumper made it pretty close to getting back to the dropzone. At break-off, this jumper appears to slow down, flare, deploy… and there’s a tension knot! (A photo of which could be used in a textbook on what malfunctions look like.) The jumper, after some delay, realizes that he’s not going to clear it, chops, takes a second, and deploys his reserve. After some frustrated yelling, he safely lands off.
Tension knots are one of those unpredictable malfunctions that sometimes just happen. Some canopies are more prone to them, and packing errors can cause them because improperly stowed lines can catch and grab onto one another, effectively cinching down as they’re drawn taut on opening.
Also, not untwisting your brake lines can sometimes lead to tension knots; under tension, twisted-up lines can fold up, locking onto themselves or other lines. One thing a rigger who viewed this video suggested is that during that initial snivel, some of those lines may have caught on one another.
This really comes down to diligent packing procedures. Everything from making sure your lines are set down properly, your brake lines are untwisted, and you’re not throwing down your canopy and letting all that work you did flaking everything perfectly isn’t suddenly undone. At the end of the day though, sometimes it’s just bad luck, and that’s why it’s important to remember your emergency procedures.
So, this jumper was low already we think. At one point you can see the analog altimeter on his wrist, and he’s at about 2,500 feet when he unstows his brakes on his main. Then he gets that diving canopy, and then he chops, and then he takes a second before pulling reserve. That’s a lot of altitude getting burned up and, if he had an issue with his reserve, or had he not been jumping over a bunch of farmland, those altitude-eating delays could have resulted in some serious problems.
This guy was helping a friend work on their sit fly. They break off, he tracks away nicely, waves off, pitches, and BOOM! You can actually see one of the broken lines fly past his face! He looks, knows what's up, and immediately chops. He doesn't have an RSL and his altimeter had rolled over on his wrist, so he pulls his reserve immediately as well. He thinks his arm caught one of the deploying risers, resulting in heavy line twists on the reserve, but he does a commendable job getting out of them and lands back at the DZ.
We really don't know why the lines broke, but — while this was a decently loaded canopy (a JFX 114 loaded at 2.3) — it doesn't look like a particularly hard opening. So we're guessing the lines were worn out and the jumper kept thinking he could get a few more jumps out of them before he replaced them. There's really no way to be sure but that's our guess and if that was the case, then this video is a great example about why you should replace worn lines.
You know how the canopy manufacturers, your coaches, riggers, and packers are always telling you to replace your lines? Yeah. You know where we're going with this one... it's really easy to keep thinking that you can get a few more jumps out of those raggedy frayed lines but there's a reason the previous owner gave you a discount on the canopy while telling you that you should probably change them out in fifty jumps or so.
IF this jumper was jumping on frayed out lines (again, we don't know for sure if that was the case) then he made a lot of good decisions after that one bad decision.
This wingsuiter was just cruising along, having a fun time, and — in true wingsuiter fashion — wanted to figure out a way to land off! So, as he was about to deploy his canopy, he went head low, started diving, and flipped onto his back. When he couldn't recover, he pitched anyway. His canopy came out rather messily and with a line-over to boot. He was forced to cutaway, but landed safely.
While we all love to blame our packers, this is clearly a case of user error. Going from wingsuit flight to canopy flight is arguably one of the most sensitive parts of any type of skydive. The wingsuit pilot has to be super aware of what they're doing and needs to keep their body very symmetrical to not only avoid rolling over (like we see here) but also to prevent the wingsuit's large burble from affecting the deployment bag on it's way out. Here, the pilot went head low, ended up in a dive, failed to recover, rolled over, and pitched on their back.
One quote we often use comes from a wingsuiter we love dearly here at Teem, they note that "The pitch is just the start of the deployment process, not the end of it; wingsuit pilots need to hold that body position until their canopy is open." There are many ways to deploy while flying a wingsuit. Many newer jumpers are told to completely collapse their wing to make their burble smaller. Folks who have been flying wingsuits for a while drop their legs a little to increase the pressure on their lower body, flare, decrease forward speed, and deploy while a bit head-high.
Before we comment further, we want to note that, when in doubt, cutting away and going to your reserve is the right call. That said, this jumper appears to have been freaking out a bit and that was probably a factor in why he wasn't able to recover and get stable again before pitching. The panic that sets in when things get a bit wonky is something almost every jumper experienced in AFF, but we all learn that taking a split second to relax, arch, and reset is all it takes to recover.
This 59-year old jumper fell in love with skydiving after her first tandem, so she came out to get licensed! (We love hearing stories about people who get into the sport later in life!) On her first Instructor-Assisted Deployment (IAD) jump, she was a bit nervous. After taking her time getting out of the plane and setting up — nothing wrong with that! — she exited, but the instructor appears to throw the pilot chute up, and it end up clipping the tail! Thankfully, it released as her main deployed. Aside from some line twists and some missing paint on the tail of the plane, everyone was okay.
While the student's exit wasn't the best and their body position was as spread eagle as one can get — to the point of resembling a starfish — that wasn't the cause of the issue here. A slow motion viewing of the video shows the instructor releasing the pilot chute and all of their fingers are splayed out pointing at the tail. By releasing the pilot chute towards the back of the plane, they were the ones whose actions led to this incident.
The US Parachute Association Instructional Rating Manual (the "IRM") notes that IAD Instructors "must deploy the pilot chute out and down in a manner that ensures clearance from all parts of the aircraft." That didn't happen here. Effectively, this instructor looks like they almost threw the pilot chute at the tail rather than down and out. Thankfully, however, the jumper, the plane, and everyone on board was okay. We're also glad to say that, despite this rocky start, the jumper followed through with getting her license!
