This was an AFF-I evaluation jump with an unexpected "fly by."
As the instructor-in-training tracks away at break-off, he nearly collides with a canopy from another group in freefall! The group before the AFF-I was given 14 seconds of separation on exit, but one of the jumpers tracked up jump run and opened higher than expected.
This is the end result...
While climbing out of the door on jump run, a wingsuiter has a horseshoe malfunction and gets pulled off the plane from a premature opening. His closing pin was popped open in the plane, and the d-bag was extracted from the container once the wind hit his rig.
As the d-bag was flapping around in the wind, his pilot chute was extracted from the BOC, which caused the premature opening. Luckily his canopy or body didn't hit the tail of the plane, otherwise this could've been much worse.
A tight closing loop and regular gear checks can help prevent an incident like this. Gear checks, gear checks, gear checks.
One of the skydivers in this group had a premature opening while sit flying, which came very close to hitting another jumper above him.
It's hard to tell if the jumper above bailed onto his back to avoid the premature opening or just lucky timing for break-off. Either way, this was way too close and could've ended badly.
Here's what the jumper had to say about his gear and the incident:
The rig was modified to be freefly-friendly by the manufacturer, and it had a brand new BOC.
The main canopy was the smallest size possible that would fit into that container, which might have made the BOC too loose and caused the premature opening.
The rig has since been sold to a belly flyer.
The term "broken" might be a stretch for the canopy malfunction, but unfortunately this BASE jump accident resulted in some broken teeth and an injured leg.
After opening, this BASE jumper felt the canopy moving backwards towards the cliff. As she pulled the toggles, it was uncontrollable and unstable. She looked up and found her control lines in a big cluster. As she continued to pull on her toggles, the tailgate hang up cleared 15 feet from the ground, which sent her canopy surging forward and slamming her into the ground.
The end result was some broken teeth and an injured leg, but no major injuries.
A newly A-licensed jumper has a scary premature parachute opening with a borrowed rig that wasn't freefly friendly.
It was a recipe for disaster — an old container with a worn out BOC (bottom of container), no bungee cord connecting the leg straps together, loose chest strap — and Emily came very close to actually falling out of her harness!
For those of you who aren't aware of the importance of a bungee cord on the leg straps: when sit flying, your leg straps can ride up near your knees. Without a bungee cord connecting the leg straps, this creates a hole you can fall through if there is an upward force on your rig (e.g. premature deployment at an inopportune time, as seen in this video).
To learn more, watch the video below as Zach Lewis demonstrates how easy it is to fall out of your harness if your rig isn't freefly friendly:
Watching the pilot chute on a reserve parachute pop open as you're about to climb out of the plane is a skydiver's worst nightmare.
Thanks to the cat-like reflexes and awareness by Woody and Jay, they were able to contain the premature opening, pull Raymond back into the plane and close the plane door (the sliding door was stuck, so Jay had to climb out so he could pull down harder to dislodge it).
As Raymond passed through the tight door in "the hole" at the back of the plane, the reserve cable got snagged on the left side of the door, which popped his reserve open.
I felt something rub on the right side of the door, so I immediately put my hand on my main handle to make sure my pilot chute wasn't pulled out.
What I didn't realize was that one inch of my reserve cable was exposed and got snagged on something.
After reviewing the incident with the manufacturer (it was a Glide container by Peregrine, but this is not isolated to that container/manufacturer), it was determined that the chest strap fastened tightly is what caused an inch of the reserve cable to be exposed.
This is a scary yet helpful reminder to be conscious and careful about rubbing your gear in the plane.
Thanks to Jay Aven for sharing his video so others can learn from this incident.
WOW, this zoo dive had all the ingredients for a sketchy skydive: no plan, no control, no attempt to break off or track away, no clear airspace before deploying a parachute. Oh, and no shoes.
He was wearing a camera though. Check.
I don't know what the initial plan was for this 3-way jump, but it looks like the jumper filming POV video loses control on his back. By the time he flips on to his belly, the lower jumper deployed his main at 7,000, which nearly resulted in a mid-air collision with an opening parachute.
Plan the jump and jump the plan.
A Russian BASE jumper has an off-heading opening, sending him straight towards the cliff. He does his best to get on the rear-risers, and luckily his canopy doesn't get caught on any of the ledges on the way down. Phew!
On his AFF Level 4 jump, this skydive student pulled his pilot chute to deploy his parachute, but the bridle got caught around his arm which prevented the main parachute from opening.
The student reached back again to feel/find the pilot chute, but couldn't find it and he followed his emergency procedures: cutaway and pull the reserve.
Just as the student began his EPs, the instructor managed to clear the pilot chute from the student's arm — potentially avoiding a complication or entanglement with the reserve deployment.
I say that's a +1 for the instructor, well done Kauê Parra.
