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.
This 5-way freefly jump had an uncomfortable amount of separation — both vertically and horizontally — between the jumpers, with only two of them flying close to each other. As those two jumpers broke off, another jumper appeared out of nowhere with their canopy in mid-deployment! No separation. No awareness. Not cool.
Approximately fifteen seconds into the video we see that one jumper is notably high above the rest of the group. We are assuming that’s the person who came down and deployed in close proximity at breakoff. When a jumper is off level with the rest of the group it makes it incredibly difficult for the rest of the group to remain aware of their position and, vice versa, it makes it harder for the jumper to know where everyone else in the group is.
The fact that this was at minimum a five-way vertical jump where only two people got together raises serious questions about whether this jump should have been attempted in the first place. When multiple jumpers who are not able to stay on level and in proximity to each other decide to skydive together, it can be a recipe for disaster. Keep groups small until you can jump safely with one another.
If you get off level from the other jumpers in your group, your only job until breakoff altitude is to get back on level — either with the rest of the group or with whomever chose to be the "base" for the jump. As you do so, you also need to maintain awareness of where the group is so that you don’t come barreling into them like a meat missile.
The jumper whose perspective we are viewing did very little to track away after he and his partner in the white/red jumpsuit broke off. Unless planned, failing to track is a dangerous practice because others will not be expecting you to pitch in place.
This skydiver pitched her pilot chute while riding a wingsuit rodeo, but the pilot chute got caught in the wingsuit’s burble and wrapped itself around the jumper’s neck. She unwrapped it but, again, it caught around her neck a second time! She was able to clear the bridle from her neck and the main deployed — albeit with a snappy opening and a few line twists.
The burble created by the wake of wingsuit is far wider and longer than many people think. This is why wingsuiters use longer bridles and are taught to have a confident and strong pitch when deploying their canopy. In this incident, the rodeo rider did not have a longer bridle and her pilot chute got caught in the wingsuit's large burble.
This jumper noted that before going up, she had discussed the dive flow and said she would get off the wingsuiter before deploying her main. She was – correctly – concerned about the burble. However, the wingsuiter told her not to worry about it and that she would be fine. Her instincts and logic were right. Had she stuck with her gut feeling and dismounted the wingsuiter before throwing her pilot chute, this incident would not have occurred.
Wingsuit rodeos seem to have become increasingly common over recent years. As that has occurred, there appears to be a trend towards letting jumpers of relatively low experience participate in them. Fortunately, that was not the case in this video. This was an experienced and skilled skydiver who knew the dynamics of the jump, and – given the potential for what could have been a fatal injury – did an amazing job dealing with the situation. A newer jumper would potentially have not been able to remain as calm and this situation could have ended very differently.
After a fun belly jump flying through a hula hoop with friends, this skydiver tracked away – albeit a bit weakly – and pitched. Her canopy deployed but it was an unstable mess that turned into line twists and quickly began diving down, which almost resulted in a canopy collision (48 second mark)!
The jumper, who has been in the sport for less than a year but has over 300 jumps, had previously been chastised for chopping a canopy that others told her she could have landed. With those criticisms in mind, she kept fighting the malfunction – for roughly 25 seconds – until her audible altimeter told her she was at her hard deck. At that time, she cutaway her main and landed her reserve.
The jumper notes that her brakes were stowed but had not been set. She had been using a packer and believed that they would set her brakes for her. The failure to set the brakes may have contributed to the tension knots that prevented her canopy from inflating normally.
The debate between packers and jumpers regarding who should be setting the brakes has been around a long time and we’re not going to settle it here. Ultimately, it’s everyone’s responsibility to keep themselves and those around them safe.
As a jumper, you should be doing everything you can to set yourself up for success and that includes making your packer’s life easier by doing the small things like setting your brakes and uncollapsing your slider.
As a packer, you have an implied responsibility for that pack job, and you should always check to see if the jumper did those small things. If they keep forgetting to do those things, you can always just tell them that they should find someone else to pack their canopy.
This fun little rhyme comes from the USPA and this jump highlights what they’re talking about. Once you know there’s no saving your canopy, don’t mess around and fight it for longer than you have to. This jumper spent approximately TWENTY FIVE SECONDS fighting something that she knew wasn’t stable and wasn’t square. Had her reserve had a malfunction; had she needed to find a safe place to land in an area that wasn’t all agricultural fields; had she had a hard time pulling her cutaway handle, she would have had less time to deal with those issues.
In our minds, one of the biggest points this video brings up is the fact that this was a newer jumper who had been harshly criticized, early in her skydiving career, for having chopped a canopy others thought she could have landed. To the keyboard warriors who engage in discussions like that, please stop. You weren’t in the jumper’s shoes and if they’re willing to risk losing a few thousand dollars of nylon to save their own lives, who are you to judge them? They did what they thought they needed to do to stay alive and that is almost always a decision that should be commended.
