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taryn

Today Show skydive segment

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Did anyone else just see the segment on the Today show about the first time AFF student who survived a 3500' fall? Is that right?!? If I understood correctly it was a static line jump in Seattle area.....Survived with a broken leg and jaw...That man is officially today the luckiest man on the planet! I guess sometime miracles do happen!


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yeah i just watched it - i didn't quite catch if his reserve actually opened or not? im pretty sure it didnt - but from what i gathered he wasted a lot of time trying to see how high he was? - who knows --but seriously thank God he is ok and those are the worst injuries he has
"life does throw curveballs sometimes but it doesn't mean we shouldn't still swing for the homerun" ~ me

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Is that right



I logged on to ask who had seen the entire segment... I just catched the end and it didnt make a whole lot of sense... he mentioned pulling his reserve by 2k...



Like you would be able to tell what happened by what either he or the media said.When is the last time you saw a skydiving incident reported correctly?

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he's lucky to be alive all right.
basically he had a mal which he chose to do nothing about. his reasoning was that he was taught to deploy his reserve by 2000 feet and since he was unable to see his alti he decided that looking at his mal and praying was more viable option. he basically said himself that he did absolutely nothing to try and correct the situation. basically, he froze.

(AAD would not have prevented this fatality.)
Padalcek - CCO, HF-17
http://www.theflyinghellfish.com
I'm not a real skydiver - but I do play one on dz.com.

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basically he froze


..well then it's a good thing that the student did not "thaw out" around 2 or 3 hundred feet,,, and THEN resort to Emerg. Procedures......... :S:o[:/]
....then there could have been a different outcome altogether.... such, as "low cutaway" "No time for reserve to open"....
Let's be CAREFUL out there......
Was there radio contact with this student??? was the "training" done on the same day as this Jump???
... Rainchecking a tandem and Rainchecking a static line jump are two different things....
Many students can easily LOSE the many many details which it helps to have RETAINED,,,, if they are unable to jump on the day they were trained....
This may or may NOT apply to this situation...
anyway... quick recovery....

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if i remember correctly (and feel free to correct me if im wrong) i think he had his training that day - he had waited for years to jump and finally decided to go with his brother and i think after his brother finally agreed they went all out in one day? something along those lines
"life does throw curveballs sometimes but it doesn't mean we shouldn't still swing for the homerun" ~ me

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..thanks for the accurate info...
i didn't mean to imply otherwise,,,, just wondering if the training and the jump coincided...
also was wondering WHY emergency procedures were NOT employed as soon as the mal. presented itself............... but that question can only be answered by the student .....

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This is what I posted in the incidents forum regarding this. Also note, as asked above, the training was the same day...

<>
The student was the 3rd out on the load and was part of a group of about 12 that wre out for the 1st jump course. The jumpmaster noted the the canopy opened on heading and was flying straight as the plane started to turn and he was pulling in the S/L bag. When he cought sight of the student again he was in a fairly fast turn. He had plently of time to try and correct but at no point made an attempt to use his SOS system or to try and counter the turn.

This is also what was reported from the ground by the radio instructor and other experienced jumpers, basically the canopy opened and was flying straight and then started turning. Radio was working and was checked as per procedure before the load. The radio instructor was trying to get the student to respond to the turn.

When the gear was looked at following the jump, all was in order but one of the break toggles was unstowed. If the student had released both toggles this probably would not have been anything but a normal jump.

<>

Scott C.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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I saw the interview on the today show and I could tell the student screwed everything up.

It's funny how they always twist the facts and the student always comes out looking like they did everything right.

Anyway, do most DZs give their students altimeters on Static Line jumps?

I did SL progression and never had one.

It seems like it would be one more thing to be distracted with.

Clint
D-24352



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It wasn't an AFF student. It was a static line student who after experiencing a malfinction failed to complete their emergency procedures and rode a spinning canopy into the ground. Broken leg, jaw and some minor internal damage.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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Kinda reminds me of a video (TV interview) i saw where the student blamed the equipment for the incident. Said he pulled his parachute but nothing happened, then the instructor pulled it out of the container and the parachute just flew away... They then showed the video. He had pulled his cutaway handle instead of the BOC hackey. Instructors pulled the pilot chute for the main out, clearing the now cutaway main out of the container before deploying his reserve.

How do people like this get on tv?!?
_________________________________________
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Kierkegaard

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