Chris Keen Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Anybody else see this video ??? Skydiver Survives 5000 Foot Free Fall With his parachute hopelessly tangled, a skydiver free falls to earth and survives, all caught on video from his own helmet camera and fellow skydiver's camera. At 500 feet he waves good bye to the camera, certain he was going to die. Amazing ! Click here: http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=6714 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentlemanJim Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Miracles do happen from time to time Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 That is one lucky S.O.B.! Incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Ellis Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 This is one of those incidents where the jumper did everything right and still almost bounced. [When the human body impacts in a high speed vertical descent, you don't splat like a watermelon, you bounce back up to a few feet. In the sport, when someone dies making his last jump we say he 'bounced'.] Sometimes there's no explaning how someone survived a serious incident like this except to say it wasn't his time to go. USPA member 58558, sport parachute license D13011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear23 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCK Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 He better buy a lottery ticket, or maybe that was it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunuva Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 WOW he had a lot of time to think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 It was the energy absorbing blackberry bushes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPatterson Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 WOW he had a lot of time to think about it. Actually he didn't have that much time as the video clip was a minute & 30 seconds. An altitude of 5000' is normally a 15-20 sec delay but he chose to open at 4000' which is marginal terminal velocity (32' per sec squared) and is not something square parachutes like when they are packed in a bag. The difference is a bag packed parachute opens slower & softer as apposed to a free pack that a base jumper wants to open RIGHT now. His main problem was an uncontrolled spin caused by partial collapse of the cells in 1 side of the parachute which was probably caused by a line over 1 end. Line overs are usually packing problems caused by being in a hurry (sport parachutist pack their own main chutes) or defective rubber bands the lines are stored in. The failure of the main chute harness to separate could have been his body position on attempted release or it could have been mechanical which is less likely. In sport parachutist slang it was probably a 3 case of beer jump, 1 for the mains malfunction, 2nd for the reserve malfunction, 3rd for surviving the landing. Having to give the rigger that packed the reserve a bottle of booze is marginal since the reserve didn't deploy but the added wind resistance may have reduced the bounce. 2 for 2 on reserve deployments though I have broken the same ankle twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Ellis Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 The jump was made a one of the largest dropzones specializing in tandem skydives. 50 to 100 jumps a day. From my friends at dropzone.com it appears the exit altitude was 15000 ft AGL. Our unfortunate individual was doing camera work shooting the tandem pair. Normal stuff. I'll let the Incident Report from the New Zealand Parachute Association speak for itself. As a parachute rigger, there were some interesting things in the photos and text that raised an eyebrow. You won't get a comment from me as this isn't the forum for it. Considering the impact speed he got away with minimal injuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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