WHOA! Don’t blink or you’ll miss this cringe-worthy close call. One of the skydivers on this angle jump got too far ahead of the group, and instead of adding brakes to slow down to close the distance gap, they ended up turning back towards the group in the opposite direction. This skydiver went full meat missile. Never go full meat missile. A collision at this speed could have been fatal, so luckily there was no impact with the group.
There were varying levels and distances from the base/leader on this jump. Based on how much the meat missile was moving laterally relative to the rest of the group, it’s questionable whether they were at the appropriate skill level to be on this jump. If a jumper cannot control their speed on a track, if they cannot speed up or slow down as needed, and they’re not proficient at breaking off and picking a heading; they need to work on that prior to getting into group movement jumps.
An 8-way movement group isn’t exactly small. In a group that size, everyone should be capable of staying together or getting back into their slot or quadrant safely. Intro angle and tracking jumps should be kept small; probably around 3-4 jumpers, one of whom (preferably the leader) should be experienced.
Make minor adjustments to increase or decrease speed as needed to maintain levels, but never turn 180 degrees towards a formation — especially on a movement jump (angles, flat tracking). “Level. Slot. Dock.” applies to every skydiving orientation and discipline.
When putting a jump together everyone needs to be upfront about their skill levels and what the minimum skill level should be for the jump. A big part of that process is honesty; people need to be truthful about where they’re at and organizers may need to be blunt and tell a person if they’re not qualified to be on a particular skydive.
These skydivers were having fun canopy flocking and the lead jumper got pretty close to the jumper below. Close enough that he tapped the center cell of the canopy below with his foot, which caused the trailing canopy to partially collapse! It appears that, as this jumper (maybe?) released his toggles to go for his cutaway handle, the canopy reinflated and he was able to recover control.
Initially, we thought that this was a turbulence issue. Anything traveling through the air creates a pocket of turbulence behind it. When we're jumping and falling straight down vertically, we call that the "burble." When a wing — be it a plane or a canopy — is traveling through the air horizontally, it does the same exact thing and the phenomenon is called "wake turbulence." That wake spreads out behind a wing and causes turbulence.
However, Richo Butts — an extremely experienced competitive canopy pilot and XRW organizer — reviewed the video and pointed out two things. First, he discounted our turbulence theory and said that he's happy flying his "entire center cell in the burble of a canopy pilot's body in front of (him.)" Second, he stated that at 0:31, it appears that the lead pilot's foot makes contact with the trail canopy's nose. Related to that point, he explained that the stability inherent in a skydiving canopy "is achieved by having the line attachment points farther in from the nose and that's no good when someone stands on it."
This incident could have been avoided had the lead canopy been a bit more careful in his approach. We don't know the experience level of these pilots but coming in like that and making contact is potentially dangerous. Fortunately, it didn't have any consequences more serious than maybe a soiled pair of underwear!
Notably, in this video it appears that the jumpers were (probably) still high enough where a full canopy collapse could have still been dealt with by cutting away. It's important that jumps where canopies are in close proximity are completed, and jumpers separate from one another, prior to descending to altitudes where cutting away would no longer be a safe or realistic option.
One skydiver was flying directly towards another jumper under canopy and neither did anything to avoid a collision. Consequently, a collision took place! Thankfully both jumpers were able to recover from the incident and landed safely.
This video submission didn’t include details, but it seems possible that the jumper whose perspective we are viewing took it for granted that the other person would turn to avoid collision. (Yes, we realize that we’re making assumptions ourselves, haha.)
Either, or both, of these jumpers may have been so focused on their landing patterns that they completely forgot to pay attention to what was going on around them.
We believe it was one of our favorite canopy coaches, Greg Windmiller*, who explained a few years ago at the Parachute Industry Association Symposium how he hates the phrase, “Keep your head on a swivel” because it causes jumpers to just whip their heads around without taking the time to process what they’re seeing. That may have been sort of what happened here. The jumper almost certainly saw the canopy coming at him, but didn’t actually recognize the danger.
*Greg: If we misquoted you, or if it wasn't actually you who said that at all, please let us know!
A lot of jumpers say that, while tracking away from a formation and while under canopy, they presume everyone in the sky is trying to kill them. It may sound like paranoia but it’s not the worst mentality to have. Never assume someone knows what they’re doing, never assume they are going to avoid you, and never assume that they see you… even if they’re staring straight at you.
This wingsuit pilot deployed into heavy line twists, which he tried fighting for a minute and a half before finally deciding to cutaway — losing quite a bit of altitude in the process. Unfortunately, at that point he was stuck over a populated urban area and his only safe landing option was a soccer field… with an active match! He put it down right near the center of the field, but he still got a yellow card for not standing up the landing.
While flying a wingsuit, body symmetry during deployment is even more important than during a regular skydive because the extra fabric and drag are going to react very quickly to asymmetric conditions. It looks like this jumper may have had an asymmetric body position and it may have resulted in these line twists.
Whether it was confidence that he could clear the line twists, a fear of embarrassment over cutting away, or any of a hundred other reasons; this jumper seemed to have really thought that he could clear these line twists. He kept fighting them but, as a result, he put himself in a spot where he had limited landing options.
During a wingsuit deployment, a small degree of body rotation can result in deployment issues. By taking just a half second and ensuring that their body remains in a neutral and symmetric position, a wingsuit pilot can drastically reduce the chance that their deployment will result in line twists.
This USPA slogan was intended to encourage folks with diving malfunctions to cutaway early but — arguably — it applies to this scenario as well. The jumper spent over a minute and a half thinking that — despite his upper body strength slowly getting drained through constant effort — he would be able to finally get out of these line twists. Had he chopped earlier he may have managed to make it to a non-emergency landing area.
Fortunately for this jumper, delaying his cutaway didn’t really result in any particularly devastating repercussions. He walked away embarrassed (and with a yellow card) but it should be reiterated that he was jumping over a highly populated urban area with very few outs. If he had a malfunction with his reserve, the lack of altitude resulting from his delayed cutaway could have been a recipe for disaster. Even some minor line twists with his reserve could have resulted in him landing in power lines or slamming into a building.
This is another video from the city landing in Iraq we posted last week where 12 self-trained, inexperienced Iraqi skydivers attempted to perform a demo jump at a local carnival (watch Part 1 here). They knowingly decided to jump in decently high winds (around 20 mph), which pushed them 5.9 miles (9 kilometres) from the intended landing area! This jumper only had 68 jumps under his belt. He realized he had few good options and stated that he saw a small park where he intended to land. It appears he continued to drift further with the wind, so he intended to land in a small lot next to a building. Unfortunately he still had too much altitude and ended up slamming into the second storey of the building instead. Despite falling 10-15 feet after bouncing off the wall, he was okay!
This skydiver only had 68 jumps under his belt before attempting this demo jump. This lack of experience obviously contributed to the fact that, upon realizing that he was landing off, he made some bad decisions and wasn't able to set himself up for success. That being said, looking at the video, there were really no good options and a skydiver with thousands of jumps would also have been hard pressed to find a suitable landing area. Not impossible, but certainly not ideal.
As we previously noted in the Part 1 video from this demo jump, these jumpers were very inexperienced and should never have been attempting a demonstration jump. There is a reason why the USPA sets a high standard for allowing people to do demos and it's not just about accuracy, it's also about knowing enough about conditions to know when to scratch a jump and not get out of the plane. That being said, please read the Additional Notes section (below) because the jumpers in this video are in a rather unique situation.
Simply put, these jumpers needed more training and knowledge. If they had the requisite experience for this type of demo jump they would have known that they should have never gotten off the ground, let alone out of the plane. Demonstration jumps require unique considerations and, really, the nuanced planning and coordination that goes into them isn't something that inexperienced jumpers know enough to pull off successfully.
As previously noted, these skydivers jump at Firnas Aero Club in Iraq. They're a small self-funded club with 22 skydivers and are all pretty much self-taught. They have no instructors and apparently just bought the gear, got in a plane, and started jumping; learning as they went. A few of them have traveled outside of Iraq to get formal training and have earned USPA licenses, but most have not.
This is obviously a very dangerous way to learn to skydive and we don't endorse it. However, we think it's a pretty amazing testament to the passion of these jumpers who said they didn't care about the obstacles in front of them, they would learn to skydive.
This incident was the result of 12 inexperienced skydivers in Iraq who were invited to perform a demo jump at a local carnival (watch Part 2 here). They knowingly decided to jump in decently high winds (around 20 mph), which pushed them 5.9 miles (9 kilometres) from the intended landing area! With only 148 jumps under his belt, this jumper realized that he was in a terrible situation and had nothing but bad options for landing. He aimed for a small school yard but miscalculated his approach and ended up landing on the roof. He flared late and hit the roof hard, which resulted in a broken ankle and dislocated foot. Thankfully, post-surgery, he was walking again within two months and jumping again within four.
These relatively inexperienced jumpers — another skydiver on this jump had only 68 jumps (that video coming soon) — would never have been allowed to do a demo jump under USPA standards. They knew the winds were hauling and decided to jump anyway. Inexperience and bad decision making: it really is as simple as that. However, please read the Additional Notes section before judging them.
Before doing a demo jump there are a lot of steps that should happen to prevent incidents like this. This includes checking the upper winds, having someone on the ground at the landing area to check wind speed and direction, etc. Once the data is collected, experienced and safety-conscious jumpers who realize the conditions aren't conducive to a demo jump, will just scratch it and stay on the ground.
These skydivers jump at Firnas Aero Club in Iraq. They're a small self-funded club with 22 members and are all pretty much self-taught. They have no instructors and apparently just bought the gear, got in a plane, and started jumping; learning as they went. A few of them have traveled outside of Iraq to get formal training and have earned USPA licenses, but most have not.
This is obviously a very dangerous way to learn to skydive and we don't endorse it. However, we think it's a pretty amazing testament to the passion of these jumpers who said they didn't care about the obstacles in front of them, they would learn to skydive.
This might be one of the craziest premature openings we've ever seen! This skydiver had a snappy premature opening while flying feet-first on an angle jump, which resulted in his container actually ripping, flipping over his back and hitting him in the face.
It’s hard to see what was happening after he cut away, but he thinks his reserve entangled with the main canopy. Not being able to look up, he said he “tried to rip and tear with (his) hands everything that was behind (his) head to try at least partly open reserve.” He didn't follow his emergency procedures to pull his reserve handle, but he had an RSSL and fortunately the reserve finally deployed, and he landed safely with minor injuries.
You can see the damage that was done to the container near the end of the video. It's crazy to see how powerful a high-speed premature opening can be and he's so lucky to be alive.
This individual was not using freefly-friendly gear and believes that was the cause of this incident. This isn't the first time we've seen this and, unfortunately, it probably won't be the last.
The jumper was the first to admit that they should have pulled their reserve handle after cutting away regardless of whether they had an RSL or not. They believe that relying on their RSL contributed to the mess they had behind their head.
If you’re going to freefly, you should have gear for freeflying. If the gear you have isn’t appropriate or safe for a particular type of jump, you should sit that one out.
This jumper freaked out a bit (understandable, given the circumstances involved) and didn’t follow his emergency procedures. It doesn’t matter if you have an RSL/MARD/Skyhook/whatever; if you’re pulling your cutaway handle, you should be pulling your reserve handle as well.
The speed of the deployment is so fast that their container actually rips and flips over their back and slams into their face. It was initially suspected that this individual had fractured some vertebrae. Thankfully, that was not the case and he only had soft tissue damage. But these jumpers were flying feet-first and going fast; at those speeds a premature opening like this can cause serious damage due to deceleration forces. Injuries that can happen due to this type of premie can be very serious and potentially fatal.
Nearly getting hit by a car when you're landing off-DZ in a field typically isn't something you'd expect to happen, but that's exactly what happened here!
This skydiver knew they were not going to safely make it back to the dropzone so, being an experienced jumper with intimate knowledge of the off-landing sites in the area, they decided early to pick a safe place to land. They set themselves up for an up-wind landing down a stretch of access road cut between two plots of farmland. Then, as they were just 10 or 15 feet off the ground, a Jeep comes tearing past them! (Turns out it was another jumper who had been driving in the area looking for a canopy that had been cutaway.)
This jumper knew where they wanted to land, set themselves up very precisely, and were very focused on landing in that narrow strip of access road. Assuming there was no reason to look behind them, they failed to keep a 360-degree field of awareness and didn’t see a Jeep barreling down the access road.
When landing off – and especially on a road – it’s never outside the realm of speculation that a vehicle would be driving around.
In this incident, it could just as easily have been a farmer who would have no reason to think about the possibility of a jumper landing in front of their truck! As such, when landing off, jumpers need to maintain an even higher level of situational awareness than they would normally have, and they need to remember that they’re not in a controlled environment where everyone on the ground (should) know to think about the fact that there may be skydivers above.
The random farmer in our hypothetical scenario (above) would have no reason to think about looking up and checking for canopies before tearing through a private road he owns. However, skydivers who are in a known off-landing area… during a large event where they know folks have been forced to land off quite a bit… should know better! We’re not absolving the canopy pilot of their share of the responsibility, but we just wanted to put it out there that the driver probably could have given more thought about where they were.
This wingsuiter forgot to disconnect his seatbelt before exiting the plane, which left him stuck hanging under the plane on jump run! Luckily there was another skydiver still in the plane who quickly whipped out his trusty hook knife and saved the day, but unfortunately the second jumper also had to deal with heavy line twists on opening. A very eventful jump to say the least.
According to the video submission, there was a last second change in exit order that may have led to an undue level of confusion. Potentially that may have contributed to the jumper being preoccupied with the exit and forgetting to do something basic like ensuring that his seatbelt was undone.
Undoing your seatbelt and making sure it is clear of your gear is a basic concept. But, generally speaking, anyone sitting near anything that could potentially snag their gear needs to be aware of that danger and proactively ensure that it is not hooked to any of their gear before the door opens. Let alone before they exit.
There’s really no excuse for this incident because, not only should you remember to undo your seatbelt, but any experienced jumper should be checking to make sure all seatbelts are tucked away before the door opens.
We’ve touched on this quite a few times in recent posts: when you’ve established an exit plan and dive flow on the ground, don’t change it up in the plane. There will always be another jump, so changing the plan while in a loud plane where you can’t really discuss things in a calm and discernable fashion is not the right answer.
Seriously, the second jumper is owed a bottle of liquor and not just beer. They immediately comprehended what was going on, knew where their hook knife was, whipped it out, and cut the wingsuiter loose. This was an epic save.
One of our good friends has previously assisted in reviewing Friday Freakout videos and has harped on the fact that every jumper should have a hook knife and have it as part of their gear checks and emergency procedures. This video demonstrates why that individual, while a hippie of sorts, is absolutely correct in his opinion on this matter.
