Total mal, reserve ride, landed off, hit a tree...

[labrys 0]

Sheesh:

http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/alertskydiver4.htm

Alert skydiver goes out on a limb

By ERIC GERSHON
STAFF WRITER
MARSTONS MILLS - When a window opened in Sean Coutinho's busy schedule yesterday, he did what any self-respecting funeral home director would do on a sunny spring afternoon.


He leapt from an airplane dressed like a court jester.

And, for the first 6,000 feet down, Coutinho's 21st skydive was pure fun.

Then he found himself pondering one of those hypothetical worst-case-scenario questions: What do you do if you're hurtling toward earth at 200 feet per second and your parachute won't open?

"Pick a good tree," he said yesterday, after climbing down, uninjured, from a pine deep in the woods north of Cape Cod Airfield.

The misadventure started innocently enough for Coutinho, who runs both a masonry business in Sandwich and Coutinho-Boisse Funeral Home in Harwich.

"I was in between jobs today, and there were no death calls, so I said, 'I'm jumping,' " he said.

Coutinho went to Cape Cod Airfield, where New England Sky Sports, a skydiving company, opened for business on April 15. The company recently moved from Lincoln, R.I. Coutinho first parachuted with the company's current owner, Robbie Spencer, in 1996.

For $22 (a price based on Coutinho's experience; a tandem jump with an instructorcosts $200), a pilot flew Coutinho to 10,000 feet in a small Cessna.

Then he jumped.

At 4,000 feet, Coutinho realized he'd had "a high-speed malfunction," but managed to release a reserve parachute and steer toward the airfield, he said.

Coming up short, he picked a new target, a tall tree in the woods to the north.

He jerked himself backward at the last moment to soften the impact.

"I stepped right onto it," he said later, smiling and uninjured. "It's like it was waiting for me. To hug me."

He hugged it for about 10 minutes, then climbed down.

Neither Coutinho nor Spencer could immediately say why the main parachute release had failed. But in his eight years in the skydiving business, he'd never seen a parachute fail.

Spencer said he would examine the $6,000 harness and reserve parachute, which, late yesterday afternoon, were still tangled in the tree, about a mile into the woods.

It is not uncommon for the main parachute to fail, said Chris Needels of the United States Parachute Association, a member-funded organization based in Virginia. He also said it has never happened to him in more than 3,000 jumps, and that the reserve parachutes almost never fail.

"It is there for one reason," he said. "To open, open properly, and open under a full canopy."

Spencer said his company owned the parachute Coutinho used yesterday, and that it was equipped with an automatic-release mechanism.

Had Coutinho panicked, passed out, or otherwise been unable to operate it manually, a computer system attached to the harness was programmed to release a parachute at 750 feet from the ground.

Coutinho seemed energized and unfazed by his dramatic experience. Less than an hour after emerging from the woods, he vowed to jump again - the same day.

"It was a pleasure to have a malfunction with them," Coutinho said. "I wish somebody was videotaping."

Coutinho made his first jump in 1996, after his wedding. Having boasted to friends that he would try skydiving, he felt pressure to keep his word.

Sue, his bride, came along.

Owned by Remi #?

[mr2mk1g 10]

way to cause yourself difficulties - wear fancy dress on your 21st jump.

Still, the media appear to have made a story of someone who just plane flew into a tree under a functioning canopy into a positive event. Could have been worse - could have been a lutz story.

[divnswoop 0]

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"It is there for one reason," he said. "To open, open properly, and open under a full canopy."

Sounds like "Parachute Priorities"!!! Should we be teaching our canopies this?

[labrys 0]

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Sounds like "Parachute Priorities"!!! Should we be teaching our canopies this?

I've tried to teach my canopy... it just won't listen. It didn't occur to me until just now that I should try learning Afrikaans, duh... it's a Hornet.

Would someone please let me know how to say "stop that incessant snivelling" in Afrikaans?

Owned by Remi #?

[hookitt 0]

So, a parachute is there to open under a full canopy?

Got it! It's been added to my list of things parachutes are supposed to do.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[ChrisL 2]

Why would anyone want their reserve to open under a full canopy?

I dont want 2 out

__

My mighty steed

[Beerlight 0]

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It is not uncommon for the main parachute to fail, said Chris Needels of the United States Parachute Association, a member-funded organization based in Virginia.

Ya think it was meant to say "common" versus "uncommon"?

[mailin 0]

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He leapt from an airplane dressed like a court jester.

Geez...

brand new DZ too Sounds like its off to a great start...



Jen

Arianna Frances

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

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It is not uncommon for the main parachute to fail, said Chris Needels of the United States Parachute Association, a member-funded organization based in Virginia.

Ya think it was meant to say "common" versus "uncommon"?

No, he meant to say 'not uncommon.' This not quite double negative falls in between common and not common. Though I guess it depends on how you think 1 in 300, for example, might rank on that scale.

I think it's funny that a funeral director jumps as a jester. I do wonder about his currency - 21 jumps since 1996...even I come out ahead of that! Not sure why he chose the tree, and how does a DZO go 6 years without seeing a malfunction? But hell, as long as the press wants to be positive, they can make the little errors.

[Ncrowe 0]

I guess just landing his reserve never crossed his mind? I don't care what I'm flying i'm don't plan on aiming for a tree to hug ?

"Don't Mess Around With the Guy in Shades- Oh No!!! "

[indyz 1]

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He leapt from an airplane dressed like a court jester.

Geez...

brand new DZ too Sounds like its off to a great start...

I think they are describing his freefly suit. Check out the picture in the article.

[dorbie 0]

The guy is wearing a jump suit with large colored quarters. Just because some reporter says the guy dressed like a jester and aimed for a tree some of you are ready to criticize the jumper and the DZ.

What really happened? The guy had a high speed mal successfully used his EPs (I guess the DZ must have trained him reasonably well for that). Unable to make it back he had to land in trees, we don't even know if he had other options.

Well done on his beer reserve ride.

[CPTSkydive 0]

[could have been a lutz story] What is a lutz story?

[bob.dino 0]

Click on the 'Search Posts' link near the top of the page, and search for lutz. Therein you'll find all you need to know.

[daniel_owen_uk 0]

I think he is being sarcastic when he says he aimed for a tree, anyone in their right mind wouldn't actually aim for the tree, he probably just couldn't avoid it and was light heartedly making fun of himself.

__________________

BOOM Headshot

[bch7773 0]

I thought the reporter did a great job explaining the story without any massive whuffo generalizations or made up stuff.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[Squeak 17]

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Would someone please let me know how to say "stop that incessant snivelling" in Afrikaans?

You have a Hornet that snivels and you're complaining

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[labrys 0]

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You have a Hornet that snivels and you're complaining

Freak of nature, yes..... but I'm over telling the bitch that I need 9 cells above 1800 feet.

Owned by Remi #?

[mdrejhon 8]

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He leapt from an airplane dressed like a court jester.

Are you sure it wasn't just a checkerboarded freefly suit?

Newbie shopping for my first jumpsuit, and some of them DO look like court jesters...

[jbartlett 0]

Actually I was there. I got into skydiving at that DZ, before it closed down 2 months later. Jump New England now(Lebanon), but his reserve didn't pop open until 800ft above the trees. He was gone out sight seconds later.