Here's another incident of a premature opening for a new skydiver (jump #37) using rental gear that's not freefly friendly. Dealing with some whiplash after your chin hits your chest from a snappy opening is a small price to pay, but it's best just to avoid situations like this by using the proper gear.
DISCLAIMER: Watching this video may result in sweaty palms and/or soiled underwear.
This skydiver had a double malfunction after a line got caught on a tab (closing loop tab) on his container.
When he cut away, the main risers disconnected but the line was still wrapped around the tab, leaving the main canopy trailing behind him and caused an entanglement as he deployed his reserve parachute.
He fought the entangled mess all the way to the ground, and the end result was a hard landing on the tarmac — but he survived!
He got lucky.
Hook knife: No
RSL: Yes
Container: Javelin J1
Main Canopy: Stiletto 135
Reserve Canopy: Micro Raven 150
This was a known issue in the early 2000's and Sunpath issued a Service Bulletin for these containers.
He bought the container used and he thought the problem had been addressed — albeit incorrectly. In hindsight, he realized that he should've been more vigilant about knowing his gear and doing routine inspections.
Did I mention: he got lucky.
This skydiver had a line over malfunction while deploying his main canopy, which is a relatively easy malfunction to deal with.
A line over occurs when a line passes in front of the canopy nose prior to inflation, which can cause the canopy to look like a "bow tie" and generally results in an uncontrollable spin.
This skydiver followed his emergency procedures by cutting away and pulling his reserve.
A wingsuit, a burble and a slider-down opening with line dump at full speed, all rolled into one. Gear: TonySuit X-Bird, PD Spectre 97, 11.5 foot bridle, and a 30 inch PC.
Thanks to Hedeen for sharing this footage.
This dizzying wingsuit flat spin will make you feel dizzy just watching it.
It was this wingsuiter's first time flying this type of wingsuit, and he was working on belly-back transitions. He exited on his back, which went well, but as he transitioned to his belly, he went into a flat spin.
He initially struggled to recover from the flat spin by collapsing his wings, but after about 30 rotations, he managed to recover from the spin and deployed his main.
Here's a dirty low BASE jump... Russian-style. After a short delay on a short exit, this BASE jumper lands on a roof and nearly slides off the edge of the roof.
Two skydivers landed off the DZ after a long spot, and one of them got a shocking surprise. Literally.
This jumper was paying more attention to his friend landing below him and didn't notice the electric cattle fence he was heading straight towards.
He ended up landing on his rear risers and stalled his canopy into the 'hot' fence. #FunnyNotFunny
A premature reserve opening on a hybrid jump isn't a malfunction you see very often, but it's something to think about next time you plan a hybrid jump with your friends.
Apparently one of the belly flyers was wearing a harness that didn't quite fit and also had a short reserve cable. When the other skydiver went into a stand to hang from the chest strap, the force of the drop pulled on the reserve cable which caused the premature opening.
This isn't just another skydiver on a tracking jump — it's a wingsuiter attempting to chase a tracking group, but turns into a meat missile instead. I don't know if this was part of the "plan," and I know we all screw up from time to time, but this is how people die in our sport. Just say NO to meat missiles.
