AFF Student pulls the Jumpmaster cutaway handle - EPIC!

The student accidentally pulled the cutaway handle of his instructor, right after exit the plane.
This cutaway handle is used in the event you have a malfunction with your main canopy (if it rips, gets entangled, etc).
It caused the cutaway on the main at the moment the instructor deploys it, leaving him only with his reserve, don't give him not a chance to fly his the main canopy.
It all happened with no intention of the student. He told us after landing, he wants to grab something to keep his balance (it was his first jump) so, he was kinda nervous and act this way on the exit.
Ironically, he fucked up with his instructor... he was so sad when he realized what was done, that he doesn't come back to his second jump ever.
I happened in 2014, and NO, it was not fake... absolutely.
Jeff Costa Skydive
#jeffcostaskydive

[@ThanosStamatopoulos]

Hahahaha! Your expression when you were trying to understand "WTF is going on here?" is just priceless!

[@aviohebshalom3392]

I love how even after this epic flub when the student deploys his chute the jump master still looks up to check if the student has got a good chute. What a rock star!!!

[@voodoo1449]

Lost my friend Harry Parrish at West Point Skydiving in VA in 2009 when a student pulled Harry's reserve handle on climb out. His reserve pulled him into the plane's tail, causing head and neck trauma . Rescue found him the next day hanging from a tree about 3 miles from the DZ. Blue skies my friend 😢

[@montyheat4829]

Voo Doo1 God rest his soul

[@voodoo1449]

Carroll Heatley....Thanks man, miss him all the time. It's an inherently dangerous sport, and we do what we can to minimize the risks, that said, everytime the aircraft leaves the ground I wonder "are my friends going to make it down safely on this jump, am I ?" And we keep going up!! 🤔

[@montyheat4829]

Voo Doo1 yeah I plan on doing my first tandom dive next month, I'm very excited, I know the risk but what's the use in living if you don't have fun while your living

[@saltytsp]

Voo Doo1 RIP Harry Parrish. Sorry you lost your buddy. Remember the good times.......

[@sudhanvamahamuni3191]

Voo Doo1 RIP to your friend

[@HotNitrogen]

I like how calm the instructor is and how professionally they all reacted!

[@bnewman21]

the look on his face is priceless. i dont sky dive but i would imagine youd need to have a certain sense of humor and calmness like this guy does in order to do it as an instructor. after watching a few of these videos it seems like the most dangerous variable of all is just jumping with a beginner lol

[@mrblack61]

quality choice of music!!... Wheres my main?. Wheres my main?. Wheeeerrrrrres wheres my main!!!!???? :D

[@256ttucker]

fred bear sounds like he's saying mind to me.

[@Megamain6]

Thomas Tucker it's called a joke

[@tomkirkland9437]

Omg that Tom tucker is such a idiot

[@warrantdivision6575]

Simon Murphy straight over his head. LOL

[@duufun8461]

Whooooosh Is appropriate guys don't need to be jerkoffs

[@trolololinger2870]

lifetime beer supply

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

I love the look on his face, 'where did my chute go? I know that I just opened it.'

[@henryk8675309]

For those of you confused at what happened--the student accidentally pulls the cutaway handle at 0:18 This cutaway device is used in the event you have a malfunction with your primary shoot (rips, gets entangled, etc.). It causes the primary to "cutaway" leaving you only with your reserve.

[@flybeep1661]

So essentially you're explaining the exact same thing the description does? Why??

[@henryk8675309]

Just to show people the time stamp for when the incident occurs. Happens really quickly and is easily missed. I missed it the first time through. I saw comments asking what happened and just figured I'd respond.

[@chdmorrison]

Appreciate it. Was confused

[@themikeroberts]

Oh, thanks! The time stamp helped me figure out what was going on. I figured the guy in street clothes was the student cause usually in sports, the pros are dressed better than the amatures so I had no clue what was going on until I saw your time stamp. At 1:46, the instructor releases something from his hand and it flies away. What is that?

[@henryk8675309]

The pilot chute (~12-18in). This drags open the main canopy--which in this case meant dragging it right off his body. Ironically enough, he actually reaches for his cutaway handle around 1:56-2:12 because he knows something went wrong with his main. That's when he realizes that it's already been deployed. He then checks to make sure the main canopy was properly ejected and then pulls his reserve. At 2:22 he is looking up and praying that the line isn't tangled--because there is f**k all he can do about it at this point. At 2:25 he is thinking "What the actual f**k". And at 2:40 it's all starting to make sense. Terrifying, fast, and hilarious in hindsight.

[@rlam4648]

Wow. That’s so spooky. Glad you made it down safe. I’m considering getting my AFF certification. If I do I’ll be sure to keep my hands out where I can see them and not flail. I would feel awful if I accidentally cause this kind of danger to someone.

[@michaelburr9806]

This song just works with every epic movie ending and intense videos. A true classic

[@lookat2006]

he must be a trained pickpocket.. perfect timing and illusion of unintentional movement

[@billalexander8011]

I am not a parachutist. I had to watch that video about 5 times until I understood what happened. Thanks for the explanation.

[@SEILLC]

Dude didn't even notice the flailing cutaway handle and gives the other instructor a thumbs-up.

[@davidb4192]

At about 1 minute exactly, the airstream completely takes away the cut away pad and attached cable from the instructors kit. At 40 seconds, the other camera angle shows best when the student actually pulled it. So the other instructor probably never saw the pad flapping around because his camera was likely mounted on his helmet which is higher than his line of sight from his own eyes, so we can see it on the video but he couldn't. After one minute no one could have seen anything as it was completely gone.

[@foodstamp6952]

Thats why he is master jumper.. He knows what happened and what to do.. I LOVE THIS.

[@buzz25]

The final shot is hilarious... LOL!

[@justingould2020]

The "Where the hell is my cutaway handle?" moment would be the worst.

[@jakesmith3411]

LOL he's like WTF ???

[@sammyk3152]

Hi, It seems legit and maybe he felt embarrassed.. You guys (at the school) might wanna call him and ask him to come back and tell him no hard feelings...it happens to the best of us. Thats why its called school..(To learn) if we all know everything, then there will be No Need for schools... Hopefully he will come back. Great video Bruh.

[@alienxyt]

Yeah, and nothing to be ashamed of. Good exit, good stable freefall.

[@paulywarly6977]

Happened to someone I was with on a load once whose cutaway pad got dislodged on exit. It’s a really confusing ‘malfunction’ as obviously the main leaves the pack as soon as the pilot chute is thrown with the confusion being going for the cut away pad (if that’s your choice of Emergency Procedure) and it isn’t there so no red silver option. A high speed malfunction requires immediate attention especially for those who pull at 2500 or even lower 😬 Nothing to do but pull silver. Had he had an RSL on his system the reserve would have deployed with the main canopy being the pilot chute in a situation like that. Wonder how many beers it cost the guy .😊

[@jefe_costa]

That's it!

[@frazzledazzlem1921]

@@jefe_costa go on... tell us! how many beers!?

[@jordanhanson-flores2433]

Not quite. If it was a MARD the main would act as a PC. A standard RSL only uses the main to pull the pin

[@paulywarly6977]

@@jordanhanson-flores2433 fair point

[@isakhammer6558]

Did the instructor jump without RSL?

[@louisdisbury9759]

Coolest man on the Planet saw the Jump with the student through.

[@markcolebrook6096]

crazy film - i love it - and my fave band - and i may start skydiving - i feel good!!!!!!

[@konseq1537]

The face expression at 2:13 says it all when he is pulling his reserve

[@valdasdr8432]

the song selection is just so good :D

[@alienxyt]

Terminal reserve deployment...fun!! I thought the other instructor would have pointed it out in case you took it down to 2000' but maybe he couldn't see the handle flopping around from his side of the student.

[@DrRawBalls_TheDummy]

I’m guessing he didn’t see it bc we only seen it bc we were looking for it and it was in slow motion

[@warrantdivision6575]

I have no idea what I'm looking at, because I've never been skydiving. I just watched the whole video because I love that song. LOL

[@szavvy2717]

Watch the arm of the guy in black and yellow just after 0:20 and grabs the red guys cord and pulls it at 0:23 under the cameraman's (red guy) arm Then when he pulls his chute, the main wont be connected since the chute cord that was pulled was a breakaway in case it tangles or fails. He only had his reserve chute left.

[@paolol7160]

What happened? The main one dropped him! The first parachute gone! He has only one left!

[@RevengeAvenger]

The shot of his main is priceless.

[@floridagliderpilot7525]

Thought he was going to grab his main canopy on the way down lol

[@drewcarter3100]

Yeahh not a good idea 🤣

[@ShivSilverhawk]

Was he close friends with your wife? :P

[@SkyHigh8800]

Wow I haven't seen that one before. Awesome footage!

[@miobatch]

the dude with the white shirt has the best slow mo face ever.

[@el90skid32]

TRUMP 2020 the shadow makes it look like that

[@Jake_Hynds]

Flappy face

[@cmnieman1]

That's why one is none, two is one!

[@halojumper5105]

Waooww! Well done for the recovery!

[@kahlesjf]

In the mid to late 1970's, I saw an instructor cause a student to have to pull his emergency chute. This student was the first one out. In position under the wing, the instructor signaled him to go. As the instructor reached to haul in the static line, now detached from the jumper's rig, there was nothing there. The instructor said loudly, "Oh my god, I forgot to hook him up". Then after a few tense seconds he said, "He's Ok". After struggling to get three dummy pulls in a row in order to move on to doing "hop-n-pops", where he opens his chute on his own, the skydiving club allowed this to count as his third, Ha!. I was next out, and was laser-focused on my static line as I moved to sit in the door prior to my jump. Another time, the plane did not have a peg coming out of the fuselage for the left foot. Instead, your pivoted out with your left foot on the right wheel. The pilot forgot to put on the brakes. As I grabbed the strut and pulled myself out of the plane, my left foot immediately caused the wheel to spin and I was hanging on the strut like a rag doll. My jumpmaster signaled for me to go and I went into my arch. Later a friend of mine asked how my arm was. I didn't know what he was talking about. He was incredulous. "Didn't you feel that?" He said he could hear my left arm hit the wheel. I had not gotten as far out from the plane as normal since my foot rolled off of the wheel. But I felt nothing and had no bruising later. The miracle of adrenalin.

[@RsKD34]

Really made me laugh! :)) I'm so happy he made it safe!

[@ashaw1387]

Lol. This is a cool video I come back to every few years

[@clayb1832]

I bet everybody was scrutinizing that video when they got down 😂 I would be. The dudes face was priceless when he looked up after pulling the main 👍🏻

[@davidb4192]

At 2:48 you can see his main, still in the deployment bag, floating down under its pilot chute.

[@ocrim16]

right into the swamp below... xD

[@adamsvacek8506]

i dont think thats main in deployment bag, looks more like reserve freebag with pilot chute

[@rhlimmen0907]

This is where an RSL is a nice thing to add to your rig, would have deployed the reserve right after the main is pulled.

[@lefevrealban]

Does the RSL trigger the reserve immediately when the cut away handle is pulled or only at the moment the main gets cut away? Because if it triggers it immediately, this could have been even more dangerous should the student have pulled on the handle while exiting.

[@yrenyanar6754]

@@lefevrealban the rsl is connected to one of the risers, when the 3 ring is completely unlocked and the risers 'leave' you, it would pull the reserve pin... so it would just continue the pull for the jumper in this case, from main to reserve, like a delayed deployment and he would just think, what? - wrong rig or why did the canopy change...

[@windy6455]

I was wondering about rsl but wouldn’t it be sketchy to have it deploy at that time while holding student without anyone prepared for it ?

[@belgo3423]

legend

[@marcobradoarezzomarcoburzi]

Siete veramente dei temerari..mi viene i brividi solamente a guardarvi.. complimenti raga . 👍👍👋😉

[@ocrim16]

But, there are two more professionals.. xD they really didn't recognized? Haha poor dude.. seeing the canopy flying away xD

[@sky5jump]

Oops! That was classic! Had no idea and the look on the dudes face is like what the f....k!

[@DanPhillippi]

its so funny to see the other instructor give him a thumbs up

[@alexandrechatty5439]

The legend says he still wonder where is his main.

[@jefe_costa]

HAHAH! The main was found... the free bag was lost forever.

[@greg5478]

So sad the student didn't come back... Glad you made it safely to the ground. Watching this I wonder if instructors shouldn't hold student's arms for the few firqt seconds out of the airplane. Anyone could react that way and grab a random thing for his first jump.

[@igot99problemsbutmyaltaint81]

STOP!!! WITH MY FEET IN THE AIR AND MY HEAD ON THE GROUND.

[@MIck-M]

The first student on the next load after my third aff jump bounced but it made me decide to keep going rather than quit. He static lined (first jump) had a riser under his arm, panicked and pulled the duel cutaway while viciously still holding onto his slider - there were finger stretches all though it. Really sad stuff but life carries risks.

[@jamestalbot1647]

What does this mean for us non jumpers?

[@richardmillward8200]

@@jamestalbot1647 means he died bouncing off the earth like a basketball

[@blueeyedredness]

Duel cutaway? Reserves don’t have a cutaway for that reason.

[@jaffacalling53]

@@blueeyedredness Idk, static lines are weird I guess. There are many very good reasons to do AFF instead of static line to get your license.

[@blueeyedredness]

@@jaffacalling53 no there is one cutaway handle and one reserve handle. People talk about skydiving all the time and have never been involved in the sport. It’s honestly amazing how many people try tell me about it until I finally call them out and let em know I have more than a couple hundred jumps and they are incorrect on about everything. This original post is a bunch of bs and not based on any real incident.

[@MikeGill87]

So this is what happens if you cutaway before deploying? Good to know. :-D Just imagine the instructor swearing at the person packing the parachute before he found out what actually happened. :-)

[@mamaduckism]

Been there done that, except I instantly recognised what happened and started to swear, waved off and pulled my reserve. Almost lost my canopy in a thick swampy forest, took most of a week to get it back wasn't a happy camper at all.

[@EtherealStrife]

anonymous69 ...because he didn't know the cutaway was pulled. Hence the awkward looking around as he's waiting for his main to deploy, before he pulled reserve (no RSL, tsk tsk!). Even if he knew, SOP is to deploy reserve at your planned deployment altitude.

[@OslerWannabe]

Personally, I liked the Basset-hound-with-his-head-out-the-car-window effect. Do you have any more like that?

[@jumpmasterjm]

I've had 5 terminal reserve deployments. The only one that hurt was the front mount 24' flat. (Two were test jumps).

[@z9944x]

He only had 1 chance, he knew it and he handled it like a pro....Bravo !

[@robertparks6115]

To be fair he only started with two😂

[@z9944x]

@@robertparks6115 When Cutaway handle is pull (before Main deployement) the main is automatically Cutted away ( lost) when he pull.. 1:37 Look at him LET GO HIS MAIN (lost) and he deploy his reserve after looking up if he is secure...

[@z9944x]

@@robertparks6115 it look like 1 chance to me

[@rogervoss4877]

Looked like the jump went well - except for that annoying detail of getting the cut away handle pulled on exit!

[@mikymike7841]

Hahaha reaction is priceless at the end

[@mattbaker1683]

"where is my main..." 😂 Brilliant track choice 👍

[@NYCEmpire]

Good music choice

[@jesuschil3491]

Lol my little brother did that exact same thing. That's how he earned his nickname, "Handle"

[@jefe_costa]

Hahahah, awesome!

[@Dubtee]

The look of "oh no fuckin way..." definitely epic. Almost looked planned, like an aff instructor in training, and that's a stunt-noob.

[@MSWSB]

“Ironically”. I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

[@RobR386]

The main just went bye bye 😂😂😂

[@thisisangellorenzo]

Hi, someone answer my question please. At 2:50, why is the pilot chute not opening the main parachute?

[@sergeig685]

that's reserve pilot chute and freebag

[@sanjitbastian5816]

Question: I assume the Main just flies away after pulling the Pilot Chute out... In such a scenario (given that the RSL is working) would the reserve come right out after the main lis gone or would I still have to actively pull the reserve handle? (I'm an AFF student, dont freak out if the answer is obvious to you...)

[@jefe_costa]

Would come out if there's a RSL, but not! ;)

[@alexsmith6914]

It flies away at the 1:00 point. 🤣 Student: "Uh, I didn't do it..."

[@darrellparkhill]

That'll wake you up for sure!

[@petesmith9472]

Crikey…I held my breath for about two minutes

[@jadesmith6823]

Awesome 🙏🙌

[@ThatWTFGuy]

You may have heard this a thousand times, but I need a follow up story on this!

[@mattfuller3172]

DysFUNctional Combat Vet please!!!!

[@DrRawBalls_TheDummy]

Don’t be lazy and go read the description

[@ThatWTFGuy]

@@DrRawBalls_TheDummy my comment was made three years ago before they updated their description. Don’t be a Karen.

[@peterwhitey4992]

@@ThatWTFGuy - People aren't Karens, just because they don't please you.

[@Xamerax]

And a person isng lazy cuz they wrote a comment years before they updated the description…

[@dickdick8170]

He was like where da fuck is my chute.... what the fuck is going on???

[@gordslater]

don't need no suit, don't need no chute

[@isaack6994]

Nice lil base jump there

[@Smashy360]

He looks like he was oblivious to what happened with his main.

[@zakiranderson722]

I'm sure it wasnt intentional, but it sure as hell looked like it could have been.

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

Did he ever recover his lost parachute?

[@brianbabernitch589]

Wonder what was more confusing having no main above you at all or trying to figure out where his cutaway handle was.

[@FranktheDachshund]

That had to be a huge adrenaline dump

[@allisonlai1351]

love the music

[@jmoz]

lmao this reminds me of padi but in the air. i have no desire to ever try this death trap sport

[@user-bh7xu9io8f]

I have a question as a new skydiver how the RSL didn’t eject his reserve canopy ??

[@jefe_costa]

Because that rig doesn't have RSL. It's not mandatory for sport rigs, only student and tandem.

[@pewpeat]

ok im like 8 seconds in and I gotta say: ive seen nothing yet but what a great fucking choice for a song

[@jasonmolley4607]

Cool under pressure

[@dr.carlosrojas-fernandez3951]

Same happened to me a long time ago when exiting plane with other skydiver.... :-/ Worked out OK, except for landing in field full of cow dung....

[@yankees29]

Must have been a fun walk out of that field! 🤣

[@weaversworldschooladventures]

He just watches the bag float away at the end.

[@PetrPss]

1:51 Pilot chute: - Freedom!

[@DrTrizio]

But why did the student have that thing in his hands? Crazy!

[@1337flite]

Instructor seemed less gratuitously smiley in the second half of the jump.

[@michaelflying]

Almost caught the free bay

[@larrycooper7261]

I'm making the assumption that, due to the few seconds lag between deploying the pilot shoot and pulling the reserve, the JM did not realize the student had pulled his cutaway handle until after the main detached.

[@williamshearon4309]

Good luck trying to find that main. I would be pissed if i had been you. Your going to be walking around in the woods for days and still may never find it.

[@peterwhitey4992]

That comes with the job.

[@nickbrunelle2472]

No RSL. Old school. I would have expected the main side instructor to have seen what happened and given him some sort of a heads up.

[@nathansumner5905]

I'm surprised no one is talking about the guy deploying a bad (yellow) canopy .

[@mythologicalmyth]

Any procedure supposed to be in place to prevent this?

[@theginganinjaofficial]

Guard your handles.

[@thexmen9435]

Plz tell me what happen to the instructor , do he survive 😢😢

[@jefe_costa]

For sure... he opened his reserve canopy!

[@tmichellemd111]

Anyone know have the Time stamp the as to where he pulled it?

[@chose540]

What happens to a cutaway canopy are they hard to find afterwards

[@billytrevathan6405]

chose540 -Yes, they are usually hard to find. Could be in some trees or in a body of water, on someone’s house or backyard, etc.. Sometimes they are never found. A few thousand dollars, so there will be searching.

[@420]

So, what exactly is going on here in layman's terms? He pulled a cable, but nothing deployed, so I'm a bit confused. Guy filming threw his main and it instantly blows off into the distance, which he then realizes to throw the reserve?

[@bdavem]

In like the first 15 seconds or so of the video you can see the student pull the red handle off the instructor. That handle is to release the main parachute from the pack in the event of a failed deployment to get the main chute out of the way for reserve deployment. When he tried to deploy the main it just left the pack and went away because it had already been disconnected.

[@420]

@@bdavem gotcha gotcha.

[@slick4340]

So new to skydiving, why didn't it deploy?

[@bswithgs]

was able to catch his main in mid air?

[@rock4ever055]

Couple of things here: damn that would be expensive if he doesn’t find his main... also why is the instructor allowing the students to have his hands close... it appears to be a level 1-3 aff, shouldn’t he be in position to have arms out to present to wind stream?

[@jefe_costa]

Level 1, the student was scary and grabbed the instructor do find "balance". Fortunately, the main was found hours later.

[@BlacktulipSF]

cool reaction.