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SkyHigh04

Anyone Ever Saved By Another Skydiver In FF?

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I was just wondering if anyone knows of a time where a skydiver was saved by another skydiver in freefall, ie..skydiver 1 cant open main or reserve, skydiver 2 tracks to them, holds on for dear life and pulls main, both land rough but alive.

Or anything close like that? Just wondering.
"...And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return..." - Leonardo da Vinci

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Hmmm...I guess I'm referring to situations before there was such a thing as AADs, or situations where after a reserve fired, it malfunctioned and another skydiver tracks to them and saves them. I guess I should of used a better example...lol
"...And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return..." - Leonardo da Vinci

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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=skydiver%2C+Gregory+Robertson&btnG=Google+Search

Gregory Robertson and he wasn't a big skygod after it all happened. He flew out in Eloy for a bit, moved back to Colorado, and has now retired from the sport.
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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I haven't heard of any freefall saves, but there have been a few CRW saves. Chris Gay saved an unconscious crwdog from floating out to sea after a collision on deployment. He got an award from FAI for his efforts.
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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>skydiver 1 cant open main or reserve, skydiver 2 tracks to them, holds on for dear life . . .

I didn't do that, but I did have to chase down a woman, dock on her and deploy her reserve during the WFFC one year. Turns out she had been in a motorcycle accident (with head injuries) and was just getting back into the sport. Wish I had known . . .

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Saw one a little while ago, full skyvan tracking dive along flight path. All extremely experienced jumpers. Leader exited first, others followed, some from the rear of the plane tracked back toward the dive, then pulled a gainer to follow the dive. Well with that speed they closed in way to fast and one person hit really hard and basically knocked himself out. A Yuma MFFI instructor noticed this, dived towards him and flipped him towards the air since he was on his back. This woke him up, pulled and landed himself safely. Its freaky watching this from the knocked out persons' perspective.

Moral, always track at an angle to jump run, or have the leader exit last out of a skyvan. Or make sure no one starts tracking back...
HYPOXIC

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I don't know if this counts as a save, but I will toss this out:

Good friend goes on a hybrid with others and is the hanger, as he goes into his stand the chest strap on one of the flat jumpers pulls through the keeper (mis-routed). He tried to gesture to the other jumper of the issue, but did not want to point an index finger at them as he was concerned they might pull. He then grabbed the flapping chest strap and showed it to them, needless to say the jumpers eyes eyes damn near hit their goggles (obviously an OH SHIT moment). He flipped the individual onto their back and tried to re-route the strap to no avail. Realizing this wasn't going to work and mother earth was rapidly approching he then just mis-routed it again throught the keeper, wrapped the tail several times around the chest strap webbing, placed the jumpers left hand left hand on the half assed knot, squeezed hard, backed away and then pointed his index finger and mouthed pull. Long story short the jumper walked away although was severely shaken up for obvious reason.

So in a nutshell, CHECK YOUR SHIT!!


Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

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I think Chris Lynch (of Freejive) got some kind of award for helping another skydiver in freefall. At least I am sure I read that on a team profile somewhere. Maybe some one out there knows more?
A

------------------------------------------------

"All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

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There was an incident in the uk on a tandem jump where the drogue got caught around the TI's neck making them unconscious. The camguy - Ronnie O'Brian - rescued them in mid air. The TI woke up under canopy....the passenger thought it was all part of the jump :)

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I left last or near last (because I wouldn't put my back to a few in the group!) out of a Caravan on a RW "Zoo Dive" in 2001. At about 12,000' I watched a guy get over the building formation and drop on it from 15 or so feet above. He fell away on his back, and I decided to chase him. As he kept falling on his back turning, fall rate varying, and moving around in a circle (all axis). It was obvious that he was in trouble, but it was also obvious that I'd have to impact him to catch him, and I wasn't wearing a helmet, nor carrying an AAD. I also didn't know the injured guy well enough to know if he had an AAD. I gave up the chase after 8,000', deployed, and waited to see what I'd see. Thankfully it was a white canopy.

Turns out that before he hit the formation, he'd brought both arms in, and on impact dislocated both shoulders, loosing both of his "pullers." He had minor injuries from the no flair landing (praises for lightly loaded reserves!!!), spend a day or so in the hospital, and basically gave up the sport.

It's a damn bad feeling to have to make a decision like that! I don't tend to be openly emotional, but cried durring a TV news interview that evening.

I always cringe when seeing a 10 to 20 RW group dirt diving, when I know that the skill isn't there. I've also often lent a bit of sage advice to said groups, but to no avail. Some folks seem to forget that this sport is inherently dangerous, and doesn't need any additional "stupid" added.

Be safe, don't do anything stupid, and always be smart enough to know when to say no! One little word that could save your life.

Martin
Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

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I had that happen to me, dislocated my right shoulder in freefall. Only problem was no one else was around. I tried to pop it back in still belly to earth but couldn't, flipped over on my back, popped it in and deployed. Made for a rough landing but at least I lived :)

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I'm forever grateful to Matt for being headsup enough to chase me down and stay with me until I regained consciousness at 6,000. I talked to him the next day and he down played the whole incident. I know Matt was ready to pull for me if I had not come to. This beat the hell out of taking a cypress fire spinning on your back unconscious. Trunk, if you run into him, please let him know I will never forget him.

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