Man survives 1 000m fall-(3280ft)-prayed on the way down)

news24 ^ | 21/08/2006 | Danel Blaauw, Die Volksblad

[Flavius]

Danel Blaauw, Die Volksblad

Bloemfontein - A man from Bloemfontein survived a 1 000m fall by landing in a ploughed field after his parachute failed to open properly while he was executing his first jump.

Shocked family and friends stood watching at Tempe airport in Bloemfontein as Benno Jacobs, 35, struggled to disentangle the ropes of his parachute while hurtling through the air at a dizzying speed.

"As it was my first jump, I thought it was only a bad jump, and not a fall," said the father of two.

Jacobs didn't even break a bone or tear a ligament.

He suffered a few bruises, a bruised lung, a swollen lip and an aching body.

'A miracle'

"It's a miracle. I wasn't really injured." Jacobs was admitted to the neurological unit of Bloemfontein Medi-Clinic for observation.

The only things on his mind as he was falling about 1 066m on Saturday afternoon, were his children and a prayer.

"It must have been a very short prayer," he smiled.

His mother-in-law, Rika van der Spuy, who watched him fall, described the incident as an absolute miracle on Sunday.

"It was terrible," she said. "Everybody was in a shocked state. Nobody could believe that he had survived."

Usually a jump took about six minutes, said Jacobs. Although it felt like ages, Jacobs hit the ploughed land within 60 seconds of leaving the aircraft.

Jacobs, Daniel van der Spuy, his brother-in-law, and Theunis Lambrechts, a colleague, did a parachute course at the Bloemfontein parachute club on Friday evening.

The three men executed their first jump on Saturday afternoon.

Jacobs said he immediately realised the ropes were tangled.

"They call it a line twist," he explained.

After what felt like ages, he managed to disentangle the ropes.

"But I couldn't pull the brake."

Because it took him so long to disentangle the ropes, he could not estimate how close he was to the ground in order to open the emergency parachute.

Jacobs, a sales manager at Peri Wiehahn, said he was amazed when his parachute started spinning. "It was 75% open, but there was a rope over the top."

After the fall he simply got up and, with a bleeding nose and somewhat disorientated, walked to a farm gate about 100m away, where an ambulance was already waiting.

"It hurt a bit, but the adrenalin rush must have been so much that I didn't realise how much it actually hurt."

He said although he was the third person to jump from the aircraft, he was the first to land.

According to his calculations, he hit the earth at about 60km/h.

"I beat them (his brother-in-law and colleague)," he laughed.

The only other adventure sport he does is quad-biking, although he has done the Argus cycle race seven times.

He always wanted to do parachuting, but after his narrow escape, he has said he wouldn't be trying that again.

[Flavius]

terminal velocity is what 120mph?

[Flavius]

It was 75% open

never mind i should read these articles fully before commenting

[Paloma_55]

My first solo jump the chute did not open. It flapped around above me and was pretty exciting.

I pulled the handles down, bringing the brake to full position, and when released, the chute opened.

Whew!

With a flapping chute, the terminal velocity can be a lot lower than a human alone.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

His chute was tangled and slowing is decent from what would be a pure free fall.

[SampleMan]

There was an American aviator that bailed out at 5,000 ft (Guadalcanal), didn't get any chute at all, and survived. I forget the extent of his injuries, but he got by in the water long enough to be rescued and then recovered.

[Bob]

He said although he was the third person to jump from the aircraft, he was the first to land.

That's definitely not a good sign. It's called a parachute jump, not a parachute race.

[HarryH]

Has anyone thought about giving "God" the glory? :-)

[San Jacinto]

The news article is incomplete. It doesn't say how his second jump went.

[Red Badger]

Zero............

[Lazamataz]

G-d held him in His hands.

[Lazamataz]

Has anyone thought about giving "God" the glory? :-)

Very first thing I thought about.

G-d is truly great.

[BigCinBigD]

"He always wanted to do parachuting, but after his narrow escape, he has said he wouldn't be trying that again."

At least the fall knocked his brain back in alignment.

[brazzaville]

Good morning

Blood on the Risers, European style.

Michael Frazier

[Mr. Brightside]

< img src="Wile E. Coyote falling off cliff and praying after being tricked by the road runner .jpg" >

[LouAvul]

he has said he wouldn't be trying that again.

If at first you don't succeed......

.....skydiving is not for you.

[bk1000]

Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane?

[Guenevere]

His prayers were answered.

[Married with Children]

Is there somthing wrong with spelling out the whole name GOD? Spell it all and spell it proud GOD

[citizenmike]

If God is so great, then why did he let the guy's parachute fail?


By the way, do you find it at all spooky that "Allahu akbar" means "God is great"?

[cyclotic]

wrong god.

[Marysecretary]

I wonder who packed the parachute? Remind me never to let them do mine. Remind me never to try this stunt.

[vetvetdoug]

I would worry that in the future this man would have an arterial aneurysm. It has happened before in those that survive parachute failure and lived to tell about it.

[Marysecretary]

It's a Jewish tradition never to spell God's full name, out of respect. It's always G-D to them.

[Always Right]

If God is so great, then why did he let the guy's parachute fail?

Don't blame God for stupid choices man makes.

[ansel12]

"Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"



To avoid having to serve in a leg unit.

[AmericaUnited]

prayed on the way down

I bet he did :)

[MineralMan]

"Is there somthing wrong with spelling out the whole name GOD? Spell it all and spell it proud GOD"

Give it a break. Some people do not spell out that word. You do. It doesn't matter. It's their belief that matters, not how they spell the name of their deity.

[One_who_hopes_to_know]

Is there somthing wrong with spelling out the whole name GOD? Spell it all and spell it proud GOD

We write G-d and L-rd without vowels as a sign of respect.

In the original Hebrew there were no vowels, and no difference between upper and lower case (capital and small letters). Hellenistic Christians choose to mark the respect by inserting the vowel, and capitalizing the first letter, neither of which are in the original. Jewish people mark the respect by capitalizing the first letter (which is not in the original), and indicating the vowel is not there in the original. One extra thing about this method is that if G-d is never written in full, no-one can deface the word!

G-d's personal name is spelt Yod Heh Vav Heh in the Hebrew. This approximates to Y H V H. The vowels were not written until about the thirteenth century C.E. G-d's personal name was only spoken in the temple on Yom Kippur after the High Priest had entered the Holy of Holies, and resulted in those hearing falling prone and reciting the second phrase of the Shema, "Blessed be His name (HaShem) whose glorious kingdom shall be for ever and ever." During the Babylonian captivity His personal Name was never spoken of at all, there was no access to the temple. Upon return to Jerusalem 70 years later, no-one was sure how to pronounce His name, so the word Adonai was substituted, which means 'L-rd'. Alternatively haShem was used which means 'the Name', especially when the word Adonai immediately preceded G-d's personal name.

When the vowel points were added, over a thousand years later, the vowels were not actually known. The vowels for Adonai were used instead. In England at about that time, and for some time later, there was a great persecution of the Jews, and they were driven out of the country, killed, or forced to abandon Judaism. When the English versions of the Bible were becoming popular (Wycliffe, Tyndale et al.) there was no significant Jewish presence to speak of in England. So the gentiles, in ignorance, assumed that G-d's personal Name had the vowels of Adonai in it. It would be like taking the consonants of your first name and using the vowels of your last name.

Some people still believe these were the correct consonants. However it is likely that they are not the right consonants, and no-one can be sure. To avoid being disrespectful by using a nonsense word to refer to G-d, most Jewish people will not refer to Him as Jehovah or Yahweh, the English equivalents of this nonsense word. Some regard the idea of referring to the Almighty One by a nonsense word as blasphemous, and there is a good case for viewing things this way.

[LexBaird]

Is there somthing wrong with spelling out the whole name GOD?

Observant Jews believe that casual use of the Lord's name amounts to taking it in vain. Thus, they do not spell it out. This has been the practice since long before Christ was born.

[AmericaUnited]

he has said he wouldn't be trying that again.

Why? He got his 'once every 10,000 jumps' accident out of the way.

[skepsel]

I read about another one in WWII in the ETO, think it was on the Schweinfurt or Ploesti raids. His chute burned I think, he fell down a steep slope through pine branches covered in snow and landed in deep drifts. Badly bruised and torn up he survived the war in a German POW camp.

There was a female parachutist in the Golden Knights a year or two ago that survived a similar fall as well as another incident in which one skydiver flew himself to a second (after jumping) and performed a midair rescue.

Brrr, I don't even like bridges, can't imagine jumping out of a "perfectly good airplane"

As an aside, I know a guy who was in the "Rakkasans", the 187th RCT (an Airborne formation) in Korea (he claimed it was Japanese for s--- that falls from the sky!). Wounded twice and decorated he always makes jokes about his experiences.

[evets]

Bloemfontein?

[IamConservative]

Funny, no mention of what state his drawers were in. Soiled I would think..

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

According to his calculations, he hit the earth at about 60km/h.

If you think getting hit by a truck at 37mph would be bad, this guy just got hit by a planet at that speed.

[skepsel]

Republic of South Africa, tho I think the name may have been changed lately (the country, not the city).

[VictorFive]

AIRBORNE!!

[Calvin Locke]

I think they got paid an extra $50/month in WWII.

[semaj]

terminal velocity is what 120mph?

I thought it was somewhere near 160mph.

[Centurion2000]

If you think getting hit by a truck at 37mph would be bad, this guy just got hit by a planet at that speed.

That would make an awesome T shirt though. "I got hit by planet earth doing 37mph ..... who can I sue?"

[fso301]

In WWII, quite a few instances occurred where aircrew with failed parachute or, no parachute free fell from +20K feet and survived relatively unscathed.

[jiggyboy]

Whatever company makes the plow the farmer used could make a good commercial if they wanted to.

[Diggler]

I bet he's going to feel it tomorrow.

[Lazamataz]

Is there somthing wrong with spelling out the whole name G-D? Spell it all and spell it proud G-D

A brief primer on one of the mitzvahs of Judiasm:

It is forbidden to destroy the written name of G-d, whether it is written in Hebrew or any other language. Furthermore, it is forbidden to cause the written name of G-d to be destroyed or defaced by placing it in a place where it will be destroyed by others. This rule also applies to any words of Torah, such as a sefer (Torah book). Therefore, a sefer which is no longer usable, or any paper or pamphlet which contains word of Torah (commonly known as “Shaimos”), must be buried. Most cities have an organization, or burial society, which for a small fee will respectfully bury these holy objects. "

Rabbis have declared that this is to include computer printouts and terminal displays.

[strange1]

LMAO, sounds like a replay of Joe Lieberman's career. I bet he did alot of praying before the primarys

So, just how high do you think this guy bounced? Further tha Joe I'm sure.

[Lazamataz]

If G-d is so great, then why did he let the guy's parachute fail?

To increase this man's faith.

By the way, do you find it at all spooky that "Allahu akbar" means "G-d is great"?

They are talking about an entirely different 'god'.

[ncountylee]

I read about another one in WWII in the ETO, think it was on the Schweinfurt or Ploesti raids.

Reader's Digest ran this story over 40 years ago. Amazingly, I believe, he only broke an arm.

[rahbert]

Thank for the explanation. I have long wondered about this custom.

[Popman]

He said although he was the third person to jump from the aircraft, he was the first to land.

You think?

[BBT]

Haha! "S___ that falls..." CRACK ME UP!!!!

[freepertoo]

I used to date an Army paratrouper. He always said, "There's something wrong with someone who will jump out of a perfectly healthy airplane...and I just love it!"