Army officer survives 3,500ft fall after parachute fails to open

Telegraph ^ | 11/14/2004 | Sean Rayment

[BIGLOOK]

A long time ago, a sport jumper in Rhinebeck NY had a streamer, failed to clear it, deployed his backup which also fouled but survived, landing in a cow pasture. This was during the 60s.

Later I'd read an article about a Russian pilot who ejected pretty high up with a system failure, impacted on a steep slope in snow, slid to the bottom and survived.

This isn't an ad for jumping; there's nothing better than a good aircraft or an open canopy.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

MiG-29, Paris Airshow:

[airborne]

AIRBONE! Good to the last drop!

[rlmorel]

ROTFLMFAO!

I liked the "Eraser"

[Anvilhead]

LOL, that's the name they gave me in Military school. (Well that and Mushroomhead)

My extremities grew to adult proportion long before my torso. Massive head, hands, and feet, small body.

It all worked out in the end, but it was rough till I hit about 18.

On the positive side I have the complete opposite of a glass jaw. That's how I would win at martial arts. I could just let him beat me till he was worn out then just push him over.

Sumtimez I wunder if the bloes to the hed afekted my brane, but then mi hed hurtz and I stoped thinkin abut it.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Excellent ending to this tragic account. Thanks for posting this article.

[Snerdley]

Luck of the Irish?

[miele man]

I thought almost the same thing. It must have been for their "readers" who cannot read.

[Squantos]

I know of a PJ (USAF Pararescueman) or CCT (Combat Controller that this happened to "twice"......he couldn't cutaway and did a PLF into a Florida swamp..... took him months to heal up and recover. Then it happened again. He lived through the second accident which I believe was a water jump.

I'll have to search for the report but I think I have it here somewhere..

Spectr17 do you remember hearing about this in the late 80's I believe....???

[ChefKeith]

as glock would put it YARK!

[WhirlwindAttack]

(In my best Drill Instructor voice)

We had some new recruits packing chutes.
If your chute fails to open, use your reserve.
If your reserve fails to open.
Return it and we'll exchange it and send you up again.

(after an underwear change of course)

OR
Place the left toe of your boot
over the side of your right boot
and point your toes downward.
We'll cut a slot in your helmet
and unscrew you from the ground.

[gorush]

Maybe the earth does't suck as much as originally thought, if you catch the gravity of my implication.

[Yardstick]

He should be awarded the Wiley Coyote Acme Award.

Exactly. It only would have been better if he had rebounded off a trampoline, flown upwards (passing by his amazed jumping partner of course), then landed back in the plane.

A skydiving uncle of mine tells a story about a guy who survived a similar parachute failure by landing on the snow-covered wall of a deep ravine. It wasn't the snow that saved him so much as the nearly vertical pitch of the ravine's wall. Rather than coming to an instantaneous stop, he slid for something like 100 feet, with the snow accumulating and acting like a gradual brake. Lucky guy.

BTW, I agree with the other poster who wondered what the Kenyans thought of this. I wonder if it might have been kind of a The Gods Must Be Crazy moment.

[stripes1776]

The maximum speed he would have achieved during his descent, if his parachute had failed to deploy at all, would have been 120mph, although the actual speed of his impact is unknown.

An amazing story. There are 3 things which together saved this man's life.

1. The terminal speed (maximun speed) he can reach is around 120 mph due to air resistance.
2. He hit the roof with his body aligned horizontally rather than vertically so that the total force of impact was distributed across the length of his body rather than one area such as his head.
3. Hitting the tin roof acted something like an airbag in a car during a collision. It increased the time interval before he came to a complete stop, and therefore decreased the force exerted on his body.

This is one lucky guy.

[aodell]

The 25-year-old officer, who was making only his third parachute jump

I'd be my last, for sure.

[Doctor Stochastic]

It was probably Arnold's best movie. The only real problem was the McGuffin was unbelievable. Just a nice sniper rifle would have been sufficient.

[skeptoid]

Here's a vid of the same event from a different angle:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/topgun/images/paris.mov

[skeptoid]

Here's a vid of the same event from a different angle:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/topgun/images/paris.mov

[fastattacksailor]

You have to love the British habit of understatement



"Adventure training is meant to have an element of risk built into it so the activity is challenging an exciting, but this was a bit excessive."

[Denver Ditdat]

It wasn't his time to go. The Lord must have other plans for this gentleman.