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MickeN

Odd incident

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Here's a story that happened to me a couple of years back. I’ve been reluctant to post it since it sounds a bit… unlikely. I have never in my wildest imagination thought something like this could happen. One lesson to take away from this is that we cannot imagine everything that can, and will, happen. Shit definitely happens.

I was jumping alone from our DZ's DeHavilland Beaver. Plan was to start flying 45 degrees off line of flight. I did a bad exit, a little headlow and turned into line of flight. I glanced over my shoulder to see where the aircraft was and saw it aiming directly towards me. The prop was huge and close and I thought I would collide with the prop or wing. At this point I didn't reflect over why I was infront of the plane, I was just surprised and sure it was going to hurt. Luckily I flew over the wing and the rest of the freefall.... well, I can't remember anything of it.

As it turned out the pilot put the plane on a step dive at the same time as I exited. This killed some of his forward speed while I probably gained, or at least kept, my forward speed when I f-cked up my exit. The pilot saw me briefly in front of the plane and too was sure I was going to hit the wing. He said I passed over the outer edge of the wing.

After this incident it was decided that whenever wingsuits are jumping last, the pilots must continue for 10 sec on heading and level before descending.

Has anyone ever heard about something similar to this?

/Micke

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At Empuriabrava I was almost hit by a Porter diving right after my exit. Pilot thought I was descending faster and wanted to catch up "to have a look". He apologized appropriately. It is a good idea to have a chat with a pilot that you do not know, to get a feeling for if he has experience with wingsuiters or not. And if the pilot wants to hang out with you, it is sort of a good idea if both of you agrees to that "plan".

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MickeN


Has anyone ever heard about something similar to this?

/Micke



I've been surprised by a pilot diving fairly hard in front of me after exiting last. I think it felt closer than it actually was. While it was nothing like what you've described, I can see how it could happen if the pilot dives hard immediately after you exit.

Scary shit!

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Hey Micke, you old Bautasten ...,

just imagine you have been in that plane (Porter roll).
You know that the exit is on the other side ....

Pic was shot from a freeflyer who was last out to make a pic from the Porter ... usually he does a sit exit like on the white Porter pic.
He showed it to the blue Porter pilot and he added some more ..

For your case, talking to pilots before something like that is always a good idea.....
--------------------------------------------------

With sufficient thrust,
pigs just fly well

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Hi Hajo ;)

Well actually we thought we had it all figured out between wingsuiters and pilots after several previous incidents. But all these incidents were longer into the jumps, not at exit. And never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it possible to end up in front of the aircraft two sec after exit.


Hajo

Hey Micke, you old Bautasten ...,

just imagine you have been in that plane (Porter roll).
You know that the exit is on the other side ....

Pic was shot from a freeflyer who was last out to make a pic from the Porter ... usually he does a sit exit like on the white Porter pic.
He showed it to the blue Porter pilot and he added some more ..

For your case, talking to pilots before something like that is always a good idea.....

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I was last on a WS exit in a Caravan and apparently the pilot didn't see me, hard diving turn with me in the door, threw me across to the other side of the plane and pinned me against the fuselage, I had to fight hard just to get back to a bench, screaming at the pilot the whole time. Finally he saw me and leveled off at about 10k. I exited pissed and dizzy.

I've also seen PAC pilots nose over as soon as my feet aren't touching the deck anymore. Unstable exit could potentially cause a collision. Even if not, I don't appreciate having my butt puckered by the pilot at the beginning of the jump.

10 sec rule makes sense, but pilots aren't much different than skydivers and I doubt many adhere to it.

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Some moons ago at Burning Man a friend hit the tail of a PAC without a wingsuit with his head. A couple of loads prior to that one I was the last man out of the plane and the pilot took off into a dive without me even exiting the plane. Some angry screaming and he finally let me leave. Not all pilots are attentive...

Some time before that, I was also last out of the plane doing a solo sitfly jump. After exiting I watched as the plane dove and flew directly under me. Some pilots just love to give shit to their passengers...

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