Life’s been tumultuous lately, but at least it’s been going better than it has for this poor paratrooper:
I guess you could say that he had a good day, because his gear kept his reserve on his body after the shock of his main not opening.
And people wonder why I never went airborne.
DaddyBear’s Den 
Lazy Bike Commuter
/ August 27, 2013I don’t think I have EVER been surprised when someone chooses not to jump out of a plane. On my mom’s side two of my uncles were in the 82nd and 101st, respectively. Apparently they were a bit crazy.
I don’t know how he did it, but my uncle in the 10 1st once snuck onto a submarine and took one of the life rings on a bet. I think it’s still at my parents’ house somewhere.
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Drang
/ August 27, 2013DPM camo, and black boots, so Brits, or maybe some Euro Army that wears Brit camo.
Chopper blast, from the way he was dangling; I’ve heard horror stories about the static line getting caught on C130 jumps and hanging by the tail, banging against the fuselage while they rig the gear to winch you in.
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daddybear71
/ August 27, 2013I thought it looked too slow for fix-wing. And yeah, that looks like a British uniform.
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Old NFO
/ August 27, 2013DAYUM!!!
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daddybear71
/ August 27, 2013Yeah. I want to see the video of his next jump.
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AndyN
/ August 27, 2013I wish they had audio with it because the end looks like they’re explaining things, but it looks like his good day involved a jumpmaster who knew how to innovate. I could be mistaken, but it looks like that’s not his reserve. It looks like what happened is that after he got in the way of the static line and suspension lines as his main was beginning to deploy, someone in the aircraft attached an already deployed canopy to his static line snap hook and then let him go.
If it had been his reserve, you would have seen it deploying outward from his body, not appearing fully deployed above him. Of course, if it had been his reserve there’s a decent chance it wouldn’t have deployed at all, because the ripcord for a reserve is on the right side, and considering the way his right arm was twisted around when he got entangled I’d be surprised if he’d been able to pull it.
I’m not sure how they’re teaching kids these days, but 30 years ago we were taught that as soon as we cleared the aircraft door we were to pull our arms in and wrap them around our reserve. I’m sure there’s a valid reason why the guys in this clip are doing things the way they are, but the whole point of bringing your arms in is to reduce the risk of your limbs flapping around in the way of your static line.
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