Canopy Collapse Vid

[danielcroft 2]

Not sure why you think the turbulence came from the trees to the side of the canopy, it was the right side that collapsed that was closest to the camera. Yeah, there was a discussion on the potential for splash turbulence or whatever you want to call it but I'm not sure why you'd think that was the case here.

As for the video being taken down, I think given that someone was really seriously hurt, it's a tough call. The person who put it up was probably asked to take it down by friends/family of the injured jumper in which case, while I'd prefer we could look at it to learn, I can completely understand them wanting it taken down.

[Skyper 0]

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seems the video has been removed and set to private :-(

& now a few more newer jumpers may make the same mistake... Pulling vids like that isn't giving back to the sport.

I learned a lesson... next time I'll download the video immediately and repost it... if removed.

Pilfy - check the Google Maps Satelite image of the Hawai DZ - it's interesting to see that the DZ is almost on the coast and the forest is much bigger than it appears on the video (at least if it is the same DZ). So it can be verywell the case that we are talking here about a "persistent forest" and not only "few trees"...

[PiLFy 0]

I feel very bad the gal got hurt, too. We can't change that. We can use the bad experience to help others not get hurt, though. If there were anguished screams/suffering of the injured? I could see your point more. Just my $0.02 on that.

The trees off to the right (where the wind was coming from) are pretty far away (looked considerably more than 10X their height). Other jumpers landing at about the same distance from those trees seemed unaffected by the wind. She was close to the treeline she had just cleared to turn onto final. On the vid, you can hear the gust & see the effects on her canopy. A clean gust of wind wouldn't do that to a canopy, right? So, I'm working on the idea that (dunno the correct term) eddies of turbulence came off that treeline, & went up the side of it.

Like I said. It would be nice for you more-experienced guys to be able to dissect that vid, & teach us just what the H*ll did happen.

[PiLFy 0]

It's Skydive Hawaii @Dillingham field, right? I can't tell which way she was headed. That runway is really long. It looks wide open. If we still had the video (ahem)? We could possibly judge where they were on the field.

[danielcroft 2]

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where the wind was coming from

That's not how I saw it. The person videoing's canopy was not facing away from the trees, the canopy was perpendicular to the trees meaning that the individual who had the collapse was flying into the wind (which was also perpendicular to the trees) when the collapse happened. Maybe i'm not remembering the video correctly but at no point did I feel like the wind was coming over the trees. If it were then this video (other than the unfortunate resulting injuries) is a non-event from which nothing except "holy crap turbulence is scary" can be learnt.

[PiLFy 0]

Maybe I didn't express myself clearly. That's what I said. The wind was coming from the video shooter's right. That wind, I'm surmising, caused eddies to come off of the treeline in front of the vid shooter. Those eddies then continued down that treeline, twirling out more as they went. I don't see how the trees far away to the right could have thrown any junk.

[ManagingPrime 0]

Based on how the incident was described to me that sounds right.

The jumper has done an amazing job at recovering (one of the toughest chicks I know) and she values her privacy.

That said, it gives me chills to see the video still. I recall some discussion on this and I want to say the comment was made that if the canopy was more highly loaded (like that of the camera persons) this incident would have been avoided. Is this correct or did I hear wrong?

[danielcroft 2]

I highly loaded canopy is not the solution to turbulence. A clear mind and a comfortable seat on the ground is.

[pchapman 261]

The video is available for download at
http://www.mediafire.com/?ilznjawn9c3h1g9
("at least for now") 3.0MB FLV

Edit: changed URL. Previous version of video was incomplete.

I don't trust in the cloud; the video did show up after all, sitting in a download folder. Its one of those videos you download not for fun but to help understand how things can go bad. Analysis of it can continue.

[Olmed 0]

Was it a low final turn into strong wind?

Hope she recovers fast!

[skyjumpenfool 2]

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The video is available for download at
http://www.mediafire.com/?ilznjawn9c3h1g9
("at least for now") 3.0MB FLV

Edit: changed URL. Previous version of video was incomplete.

I don't trust in the cloud; the video did show up after all, sitting in a download folder. Its one of those videos you download not for fun but to help understand how things can go bad. Analysis of it can continue.

Not any more, it seems it's now been deleted here as well...

Birdshit & Fools Productions

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

[pchapman 261]

Sorry, I messed up. There was a change in URL because the original video was an incomplete version (that started after the collapse began), and then somehow I screwed up my post Edit.

Try
http://www.mediafire.com/?a1z9zs7pjs2twrt

This should be correct, and should be "E's collapse v2.flv" (version 2)

[uberchris 0]

i did about 120 jumps at pacific skydiving and i would NEVER get that close to those trees, especially when doing any type of maneuvering (brake turns, etc)......... this isnt the first time theres been a canopy collapse/accident that close to the treeline

i dont know what happened exactly besides speculation, but it was clear that the right front portion of the canopy collapsed first. scary shit

gravity brings me down.........