# Ultimate Parachute Mishap **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489 "2006-12-24T22:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/21 "2006-12-25T21:48:28Z")
The strange thing is that, according to **Omar** ’s link, the incident happened in April, 1988; yet, according to \*\* Schuyler\*\*'s link, they knew all about it in 1987. They could have warned the guy ahead of time. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/22 "2006-12-26T05:50:40Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] I bow to your superior knowledge. I don’t jump out of perfectly good airplanes. [/QUOTE] I do. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gene1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@gene1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gene1970)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/23 "2012-09-02T15:35:39Z")
I actually have footage of this. I can’t find it anywhere on the internet. My mom used to record the news all the time so we had a ton of news on vhs from the 80s and 90s that I put on dvd. anyway the guy is falling filming another guy and the other guy opens his chute and you see the photographers guys arm fly out and you can almost just feel him being like oh crap! then it cuts out. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/24 "2012-09-02T15:45:31Z")
When the internet was new (circa 1992) I remember people talking about this video. I could say that I remember seeing it, but I would probably be recalling a false memory. It would be interesting if someone could dig it up. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/25 "2012-09-02T15:53:30Z")
> [@gene1970](#): > > I actually have footage of this. I can’t find it anywhere on the internet. Yes, I’ve seen it too, but for some reason it’s not on YouTube anymore. However, I did discover [this clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXQ1qEh9ar8), which isn’t quite the same. 😉 ETA: Do zombies go skydiving? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/26 "2012-09-02T16:07:43Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > 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. > > He then took off and tested it anyway. > > It didn’t. zombie or no did he get a medal? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/27 "2012-09-02T16:34:40Z")
[Cliff Judkins.](http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/09/survival-f-8-crusader-pilot-falls-15000-with-failed-chute-and-lives/) 15000 ft. Survived. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/28 "2012-09-02T17:02:23Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > 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.) That’s true today, but was it true in 1988? Didn’t they use “rip cords” earlier? I heard that the new style as you describe is used because it’s more reliable and simpler. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/29 "2012-09-02T17:02:57Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > [Cliff Judkins.](http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/09/survival-f-8-crusader-pilot-falls-15000-with-failed-chute-and-lives/) 15000 ft. Survived. Wow, that’s an incredible tale of misfortune and bad luck! Thanks for sharing that. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/30 "2012-09-02T17:11:16Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > That’s true today, but was it true in 1988? Didn’t they use “rip cords” earlier? > > I heard that the new style as you describe is used because it’s more reliable and simpler. I parachuted once in about 1983. It was a static line, meaning the pilot chute was tethered to the plane and opened automatically. But the backup plan, if that didn’t open, was in fact a ripcord back then. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/31 "2012-09-02T18:02:58Z")
[Cite from The Houston Chronicle](http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1988_534933/skydiver-tapes-his-fall-to-death-without-chute.html). Not an urban myth at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/32 "2012-09-02T18:19:20Z")
This is what happens when you get so used to parachuting that you get complaisant. Also the para centre sounds at fault for not insisting everyone does a proper gear check on each other before boarding. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/33 "2012-09-02T20:59:08Z")
And to seal the deal [here’s the story](http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0O0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=skydiver+forgot+parachute&source=bl&ots=0NxEFBUOI3&sig=5MzDhZgBJUfCHTfyEWLh64Mgr4A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zcZDUIy5IaWM0wWGoYDYDA&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=skydiver%20forgot%20parachute&f=false) from The Weekly World News, 03 May 1988, courtesy of Google Books. Top headline, a few pages back, “_Cookie Monster Murder Suspect Hid 7 Victims in his Bedroom, Say Cops: Courtroom Testimony Claims Strangler Slept with Muppet Doll_”. > [@](#): > > Muscular Harrison ‘Marty’ Graham, 28, begged a judge to let him cuddle his battered, stuffed Muppet, Cookie Monster, during his murder trial in Philadelphia. But Judge Robert Latrone wouldn’t let Graham have the doll because it is evidence. However, lawyer Joel Moldovsky bought Graham a hand puppet to hold in court. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489/34 "2012-09-02T23:21:08Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > ETA: Do zombies go skydiving? Yes, but they don’t bother with parachutes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ultimate-parachute-mishap/385489.md?page=1)