Parachutist lands on pitch during game

[AviationTD 0]

Anyone know the story behind this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH1Wd0dXh8Q

[Anvilbrother 0]

American here, what's pitch, all I see here is kicks.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

[AviationTD 0]

Don't ask me. That's the title of this film. It must be the British term. This story was reported by BBC news.

[shropshire 0]

Anvilbrother

American here, what's pitch, all I see here is kicks.

Football pitch mate. Where they play Football... as it's really played Not carry ball

All seems pretty good natured too.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[skyjumpenfool 2]

shropshire

All seems pretty good natured too.

Still, reggardless of where it took place, it did not look planned? I'm hoping it was a "last option" out for an off landing and not a demo gone bad/late?

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[cpoxon 0]

Stadium is very close to a DZ

http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/topic/17402-skydiving-in-print/page-6#entry233174

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[normiss 622]

I absolutely LOVED the good nature attitude of all involved.
To me, it looks like an unplanned off landing.

In the US, security would have tackled him and arrested him.

[mattjw916 2]

based on this weekend's news he and a bunch of innocent bystanders might have even been hit by a hail of bullets in the process...

then they'd go to his house and shoot his dog for good measure

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[Arvoitus 1]

I dunno, seems weird that he decided that the best options was to land on the field during the game when it would appear that there were *a lot* of alternative outs to land to. Hell I'd even go so far to call him a selfish prick to interfere with the game with that landing.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[normiss 622]

Given that view, I would very likely make the same choice.
Hard to tell what it's like during a game.
I expect a game field to be a nicely maintained and smooth field, those others around there...no way.
I won't land in a crop field if I can help it.
Is that an off-road field too? Nope not there either.
Some that are hard to tell....but if I were in what looks to me to be the NE corner on my way back to airport?
Good chance I'm choosing that field.

[TommyM 3]

I had to do the exact same thing on a balloon jump. I had other outs but each one presented slightly more risk than the baseball field I chose. When I exited the basket I planned on landing in a dirt field but as I got lower I noticed power lines and other obstacles not seen from the balloon. The players were actually thrilled to get a free demo. Myself and the two other jumpers got free beer, hotdogs and ride back to the launch site. It's difficult to judge a jumpers safety decisions unless you're under the canopy with him/her....like cutting away, it's a personal decision.

[mahirob 0]

I get what you are saying, but why would he not land in the perfectly well maintained fields to the west of the stadium. Seems like he wanted the applause more than anything. He put himself and other in danger of getting hurt for no reason at all.
http://goo.gl/pC11m4

[Squeak 17]

mahirob

I get what you are saying, but why would he not land in the perfectly well maintained fields to the west of the stadium. Seems like he wanted the applause more than anything. He put himself and other in danger of getting hurt for no reason at all.
http://goo.gl/pC11m4

You are making a ton of assumptions with zero support for them.
Google earth does no show you the direction of approach, the Soccer pitch may well have been the safest landing area based on his approach. Coming in from the NE, would put the practice field on the wrong side of the stadium. there is a very big difference in distance from one to another. Especially if you want to avoid a low turn.

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?

[mattjw916 2]

not much more dangerous than a typical landing area at a big boogie...

your honorary "Fun Police" badge is in the mail though

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[mahirob 0]

He's claiming he got "lost in the clouds"
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/parachutist-who-landed-salisbury-citys-2278707

Everyone else landed on target, but he got lost in the clouds. You are right Google Earth is a bit inaccurate. It isn't showing all the new construction behind the stadium. He came in from the SE. That snail sign is on the North East perimeter of the stadium.

I'll stop speculating because nonsensical comments about my character are being made for no reason. This site normally screams safety especially when it comes to incidents revolving helmet cams; so I was chiming in on the other landing areas that were available.

Edited for clicky on the link

[DJL 232]

Lighten up, Francis

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[Squeak 17]

mahirob

He's claiming he got "lost in the clouds"
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/parachutist-who-landed-salisbury-citys-2278707

Everyone else landed on target, but he got lost in the clouds. You are right Google Earth is a bit inaccurate. It isn't showing all the new construction behind the stadium. He came in from the SE. That snail sign is on the North East perimeter of the stadium.

the direction in which he is facing on landing does not have to be the direction of approach to the stadium.

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?

[normiss 622]

There's equally a chance you're right, maybe he could have chosen another location.
He chose this one and it worked for him.
Maybe he's only got 30-something jumps and panicked a bit when he was disoriented.

I say he did ok. I hope he had a few beers and enjoyed the game.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

normiss

There's equally a chance you're right, maybe he could have chosen another location.
He chose this one and it worked for him.
Maybe he's only got 30-something jumps and panicked a bit when he was disoriented.

I say he did ok. I hope he had a few beers and enjoyed the game.

I was wondering that too. If you're coming from the north anywhere that field does look like the best out. Could be an inexperienced jumper, a bad spot, a bad spot on a track jump or a combination of the three. Could be a somewhat more experienced skydiver tracking at a new DZ. It's pretty easy to end up in some unusual places if you don't really know the lay of the land yet. I'd plan to do a few belly jumps at any new DZ, but I could totally see getting sucked into a tracking dive 5 minutes after arriving too...

The camera on his hat doesn't look like something an inexperienced skydiver would be wearing, but it's not like the helmet camera police are ever out ticketing inexperienced skydivers.

*edit* I wonder what his canopy risk assessment score is. He DID get a yellow flag though, so it's not like his actions weren't unpunished (I assume the yellow flag was for him and suitably punished him for landing there.)

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[Arvoitus 1]

FlyingRhenquest

***There's equally a chance you're right, maybe he could have chosen another location.
He chose this one and it worked for him.
Maybe he's only got 30-something jumps and panicked a bit when he was disoriented.

I say he did ok. I hope he had a few beers and enjoyed the game.

I was wondering that too. If you're coming from the north anywhere that field does look like the best out. Could be an inexperienced jumper, a bad spot, a bad spot on a track jump or a combination of the three. Could be a somewhat more experienced skydiver tracking at a new DZ. It's pretty easy to end up in some unusual places if you don't really know the lay of the land yet. I'd plan to do a few belly jumps at any new DZ, but I could totally see getting sucked into a tracking dive 5 minutes after arriving too...

The camera on his hat doesn't look like something an inexperienced skydiver would be wearing, but it's not like the helmet camera police are ever out ticketing inexperienced skydivers.

*edit* I wonder what his canopy risk assessment score is. He DID get a yellow flag though, so it's not like his actions weren't unpunished (I assume the yellow flag was for him and suitably punished him for landing there.)

Well, according to the news article hes got 1300 jumps and according to the british forum its a tandem factory, so my money is still on 'dickhead attention whore who just wanted to be seen'.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[mr2mk1g 10]

That's a _very_ expensive lense on his stills camera - he's a pro camera flyer - and this occured in the UK, where the helmet cam police are well and truly out in force. Vary rarely would anyone get away with getting on a plane with a camera without C-license (200 jumps plus a few extra qualifications). In any event, it's in the report that he has 1300 jumps.

Given the sheepish way he quickly gets off the field, I don't see this as a deliberate thing. Sure, there are loads of outs on 3 sides of the stadium, which I saw as odd at first, but just by reading his body language I don't think this was intentional. Discussion on the UK forum also indicates it was not.

My take is he was probably trying to make it back to the DZ but judged too late that he wouldn't clear buildings so took the only out he'd left himself with. That in itself is worthy of Monday morning quarterbacking to some degree, but I doubt this was as daft as some are making out.

I think he should have made the call to take a different field earlier - maybe the cloud was so low as to prevent that? I'd be surprised if it was but at least he landed safe and didn't either hook in attempting to clear the field, collect a building or take out one of the players as in the recent baseball demo.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Ah I missed the report somehow, just watched the youtube video. It's possible he could have cleared the buildings but didn't want to cross the runway at a low altitude. We have a "Don't cross the runway (or the swoop pond) below 1000 feet rule. Depending on the track and the spot, it is possible to get stuck on the other side of the runway from the usual landing area. Having to take a safe landing area out on that side of the runway sure beats having to have a nickname like "stumpy" for the rest of your skydiving career.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[hookitt 0]

Well, at least they didn't know it was going to happen. If it was planned, and people stood still, he'd have probably hit someone just like that short stop who got clobbered by the PLANNED demo.


I personally probably would have chose somewhere else but who knows why he landed in a populated field. At least he landed nicely and people loved it.

Depending on where you land here in the US, you'd get the shit beat out of you or arrested

Edit: or people would just cheer the same and give you free food.

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

[cpoxon 0]

From the Incident Reports of the minutes of the BPA Safety and Training Committee held on the 26th of September,

Quote

Sixteen reports had been received of ‘off landings’, including one jumper who landed into a football ground whilst a match was taking place. The jumper involved had since been grounded. The CCI concerned provided the meeting with further details of this incident and reported that further investigations were taking place.

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[chemist 0]

waaa? they must have determined it wasn't an emergency. With that big ol' camera on his head he is probably a pretty experienced jumper.