which documents well-known sport and wartime military parachuting and free-fall mishaps and accidents. Simply put, it is possible to survive a fall from altitude w/out injury, though not very likely (though I’m sure you knew that already)
There is one incident not mentioned on the site - that seems to be a bit of an urban legend, though several archived usenet/google posters swear it really happened, was mentioned on CNN, or “I was there” etc.
It goes something like this: A cameraman was filming numerous group jumps repeatedly throughout a busy day. At one point after a break or lunch or whatever, he gets back on the plane but forgets his parachute because of intense interest in film, camera, angles, etc. Nobody notices, he was first on the plane and has his back to the wall. Any longtime photographers can probably attest to a bit of absentmindedness. Supposedly this unfortunate soul plunged to his death, but is this an urban legend?
I got nothin’, but I do have a great parachute story about an Italian Air Force pilot in the late 1920s who was asked to test an experimental parachute, and protested to his CO that it probably wouldn’t open.
I’ve seen footage on several of those “reality” type shows that claims to be exactly this. It’s always the exact same clip, for what that’s worth.
The clip starts with the camera man inside the plane, filming the other guys as they jump out the door. Then the camera man jumps out the door, and you get a bit of the typical footage of some skydiving acrobatics. The announcer then usually says something to the effect of the fact that everyone starts to realize the camera guy doesn’t have his chute on, and they keep trying to get close to grab him but he thinks they are screwing up the acrobatics and keeps moving away. Then the other guys pull their chutes (so that they don’t go splat too, presumably) and you get a bit of footage of the camera guy looking all around. The announcer says at that point he finally realized he didn’t have his chute on, and the clip ends. To my untrained eye, I can’t tell if the other guys really are trying to get close to him and grab him at any point in the clip or not, and you don’t get to see the ground rushing up at the guy or anything, so I can’t say for certain that it’s real footage. All I can say is that on several TV shows it has been presented as such.
I recall this clip from when it was new (I think) at the end you see the camera look down toward his chest as he realizes that he doesn’t have a D-ring to grab.
I think they are helmet mounted, so anywhere the user looks, the camera follows.
Feel really bad if this happened, not only because it sounds like something I could see myself doing.
He reached for the D-ring by feel, and when he could not locate it, he looked down at his chest. The camera being helmet mounted, followed his line of sight. At the point where he realized that there was no D-ring, the camera moved around lot,* I would say that he panicked. They cut the film off just after that, so you did not see the impact.
*You could imagine him thinking “Huh that’s odd, I don’t feel the D-ring, guess I will have to eyeball it.
I don’t see it.
HOLY FUCK I FORGOT TO PUT ON MY CHUTE.”
I’ll try and find the name for you but yes, this did really happen. I helped run a skydiving club in college (mid 1990s) and some of my friends watched the tape in question, I read a few accounts of it in various skydiving magazines. IIRC the cameraman in question was just going up to film exits (rather than jumping himself) and thus wasn’t wearing his gear. On one jump run he actually got into position as if he was going to exit before somebody pointed out that he’d be jumping to a hasty conclusion (sorry).
Later that day he went up, did the same thing and this time nobody noticed until it was too late.
If you think it would be impossible for any rational person to get into a jump plane sans parachute I have seen it happen firsthand. A friend of mine was a jumpmaster and on one very busy day he took a load of students up only to land a few minutes later, run out of the plane, get his gear and then go back up. He was a bit shaken up afterwards. The first-jump students didn’t catch on to what had happened.
I did a bit of googling a couple years ago and iirc did find a name and yet another archived link to a newspaper account of someone with a similar name killed in a skydiving incident, but it didn’t mention the details, and I didn’t pan anything more out than that. I suppose snopes would list this as “undetermined”, though I’ve read at least one account who “remembered seeing it on CNN”. It certainly sounds plausible enough, but then most UL’s often have at least the germ of that.
Interesting, I couldn’t for some reason pull that thread up when I searched “Forgot Parachute” and other similar phrases. I like one phrase in that thread “It could be an UL, but it actually happened.” Still trying to wrap my brain around that one. Thanks!
Minor nit: Sport parachute rigs usually do not use a D-ring on the main. Instead, the pilot chute stores in a small sleeve. The skydiver pulls it out and to one side, and releases it into the airstream. The pilot chute then deploys the main chute. This results in a slightly lighter and more compact rig, and eleminates some wear-mechanisms. (which would require inspection, maintainance, etc.)
This pretty much requires, though, that the wearer be in stable “flight”. Emergency chutes use a spring loaded pilot chute that will deploy correctly from most any attitude, as stable flight takes practice, which wearers of emergency chutes normally don’t have.
Also, standard training for emergency chutes emphasises LOOKING at the D-ring before grabbing it. (with both hands, BTW) If you grab one of the harness straps instead, there is a good chance that you will spend the rest of your life pulling on it.
Neither do I. I wear an emergency chute when I fly my sailplane. I’ve got a couple of friends who are very experienced skydivers. I’m 6’5" tall which causes cockpit space issues. I’d like to custom design a chute, to free up some space. This has caused me to ask lots of questions about skydiving practice. Unfortunately, all emergency chutes used in certified aircraft must be FAA certified which is a very expensive process.
Also, most of the jump planes I’ve seen skydivers use could only be described as “perfectly good” if you were being sarcastic.
Getting off-topic but have you contacted any of the sport gear manufacturers? Years ago one of them (I think it was Relative Workshop or Rigging Innovations) had an ad showing the range of harness sizes that they produce featuring a tiny (under 5’ tall) lady and a very large (6’ 6") guy. I’m not positive but I think that some of the folks who make sport gear also make emergency equipment for pilots (although most of them specialize in one part of the system- harness/container vs. the actual canopies). They might be able to help you out.
FWIW, sport parachuting gear has to have the combination of harness/container plus emergency parachute certified as well, probably under the same regs as your bailout gear (TSO C23c isn’t it?). The main canopy isn’t subject to FAA regs as far as I know.
Yes, commercial jump planes don’t always inspire confidence on first sight; they are stripped of unneccesary weight (much of the interior, seats, etc) and they get an awful lot of wear and tear from being packed full of jumpers. I’m not a mechanic or a pilot but many of the people who actually worked at the DZs I used to jump at were both and it seemed like things were kept in good mechanical condition; sort of like fleet vehicles, they aren’t pretty but they run well.
