Friday Freakout: Skydiver's Sketchy Low Cutaway, Reserve Parachute Open By 500 Feet!

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** What happened **
After deploying his main canopy, this skydiver released his brakes and the right brake line locked up. He realized that the only way for his canopy to fly level was to pull the left toggle down to three-quarter brakes and decided that he would attempt to land that way. At 1,000 ft. (approx. 300 meters) above the ground, he realized that he didn’t have the strength to continue flying in brakes and decided to cutaway (yes, we’re also cringing). Thankfully, without an RSL or Skyhook, his reserve opened quickly at about 500 ft. (approx. 150 meters) and he landed safely.
** Why did it happen **
Forgetting AFF
This jumper should not have put himself in a situation where muscle failure was forcing him to cutaway at 1,000 feet. He knew this canopy was not flyable thousands of feet earlier and disregarded basic safety precautions.
Packing Error
There are a lot of reasons why that right brake line could have locked up, but without a different view or more information, we’re making some educated guesses. Two different riggers viewed this video and believe that there was a step through and/or a tension knot. Both are typically due to packing error.
** How could it be prevented **
Better decision making
This jumper should have chopped thousands of feet earlier. Had he relied on the basics taught in AFF he would have gotten rid of his main at a safe altitude and not risked potentially catastrophic results from cutting away at such a low altitude.
Diligent packing
As is the case with a large portion of malfunctions, this incident could have likely been prevented through the avoidance of complacency. When packing it is important to take your time, not rush, and go through every step slowly and diligently.
** Additional Notes **
We want to reiterate that this jumper put himself into a precarious situation by not cutting away earlier. This reserve opened quickly and perfectly - the rigger who packed it is certainly owed a thank you gift - but had it not, a myriad of situations could have occurred:
A snivel in his reserve could have resulted in it not inflating before he reached the ground.
Any minor issue, e.g., line twists, could have resulted in him not having immediate heading control and flying towards the hanger, the helicopter that was taking off, or the plane that was taxiing on the ground.
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[@neilmckeeney6478]

30 years ago I was taught that a low speed malfunction is more dangerous than a high speed one. With a high speed malfunction you have no choice but to decide and act immediately. However with a slow speed malfunction you can hesitate until you are too low to cut away.

[@cowebb2327]

Very true. The ground looks very close under canopy

[@ohasis8331]

1500 she gone.

[@CurtisVenn]

Also, holy busy dropzone. Felt like a proper airport with all that traffic.

[@brianpaton6687]

Thats the first thing I noticed as he go closer to the ground.

[@BananenStrasse]

Its a normal swiss dropzone

[@iansutherland8155]

I was surprised to see a chopper flying around.

[@brianpaton6687]

@@iansutherland8155 Yeah I saw that. One coming into land and another with it's rotors turning on the ground.

[@278Trev]

A airplane helicopter and what six parachutes... wow

[@ZfoXSilklasH]

This happend to me during AFF, I didnt understand why i had to be 50% on one side to flight straight, but seemed okay with one arm half down, so I landed like that. I remember the guy on the ground saying on the radio "arms up arms up" when i was near the ground, I showed breifly that if I raised both my arms I would spin and landed with my armes asymetricaly. Before everyong jump to my throat : it was my 4th jump, and the rule was, if you can't fly your canopy you cut it. I could fly it so it didnt cut away. Looking back on that I still dont know If I should have cut or not, but i'm alive today so It probably wasnt the worst choice ever.

[@lookat2006]

it should say, if you can't land it, you cut it.. he could "fly" it (for a while), but the landing approach and flare would have become a problem..

[@valderja]

If you could control it and feel like you could land it safely (big student canopy) you did the right thing.

[@johnreed8872]

From what I saw in the video it appears as if he was in half brakes and held that through out , seems as if he never let the conopy fully inflate... really hard to tell because you don't have a clear view of the conopy. Regardless... when in doubt , Whip it out!! He either wasn't trained or ' forgot ' to immediately check conopy and lines , brakes and steering . He simply dicked around too long before making a decision to cut. Vertical speed and/or rate of decent apparently wasn't high enough to trigger the AAD .

[@valderja]

@@johnreed8872 You don't want an AAD firing while you still have the main above your head. His right brake line was caught up or still stowed with half brake setting which meant with both arms up, he was diving to the right.

[@mrtrapper93]

Did the correct thing! IMHO as a former instructor!

[@77gravity]

After he stops trying to clear the toggle, he flies around for almost a minute, in a slow but controlled manner. It looked landable. Even if he does not realise it, he has already decided to land it (because he didn't chop when he stopped trying to clear it). And then he makes a NEW decision, a lot lower. If your main is broken, then you MUST decide, at that moment, what you will do. And the best decision is (almost always) to chop it. Why wear a reserve if you don't use it when you need it? And you should only ever over-ride that decision with a new decision if circumstances change.

[@AstralGalaxian]

I've had the exact same malfunction on like jump 24, I was always timid when releasing the breaks, and one got stuck in the eyelet and wouldn't release, then I started spinning out of control, so I chopped. I had people telling me "bro, you should of just brought the other toggle down". But in that situation, with little skill, I freaked out and performed my emergency procedures and was able to walk away. I'm very firm now when releasing the toggles.

[@maseratifittipaldi]

You should leave the breaks tied up and locked away. No safety equipment needs such stuff.

[@tad22560]

You made a decision to cut away, and you lived. There should be nobody second guessing that, especially with the low number of jumps you had at the time. Good decision.

[@thomasgonzales.5304]

Explain the malfunction a little bit

[@JOlsson01]

You made the right decision.

[@spudeleven5124]

@@thomasgonzales.5304 Right toggle stuck in the steering line stow loop. I've had the opposite happen where a steering line breaks. That's easy, just fly and land with rear risers.

[@SoupWithIce]

Glad he made it safely to the ground. I love watching these guys jump out of the plane from high up in the mountain with my binoculars. I'm always in awe. I prefer such heights with rock under my feet. Their view over ticino must just hit different though.

[@jimfarrell8662]

When in doubt whip it out. You cannot reclaim altitude after it is lost.

[@278Trev]

When in doubt throttle out at that altitude over an airport full of traffic go somewhere else

[@278Trev]

When in doubt throttle out is a dirt bike thing keep it in your pants bro

[@drgoog2577]

@@278Trev forgot to switch accounts?

[@adamwilkinson6721]

@@drgoog2577 why would someone waste their time having a conversation with themselves? I understand they haven't switched accounts but why would they waste their time doing that?

[@farahabdulkhadirsaid5218]

@@adamwilkinson6721 to start a chain comment

[@ES-iv6wb]

I’ve just got done watching all 326 vids of FF😂. Took me 3 weeks. Thank you for all the info!

[@ryeann2567]

Whats your favorite one?

[@jimday666]

Your life or your main canopy. Choose wisely.

[@DiabloOutdoors]

Thank you for all the information in the description. It is very informative and educational. You may even have prevent a loss of life with this!

[@ryanlynch01]

at least he'll probably find his handles lol...

[@driver46]

Beautiful drop zone , amazing view . He was alright to land that but little bit of extra excitement is always fun. He got base jump and regular jump for price of one , lol.

[@giuseppezilioli777]

@Alex Bonardi Yes is Dz Locarno I jump in the 1985

[@tad22560]

That's the reason for a "decision altitude." If you reach that altitude and still don't have a good canopy, cut away. I've seen people die from waiting too long to decide. Glad that this one turned out OK.

[@ManosTheOne]

You've "seen" "people" (plural) die?? Maybe you should change dropzone?

[@znfl9564]

I can't believe he tried to ride that out. Let alone how long he waited to cut. Someone needs a ground school refresher!

[@ZeroSpawn]

I think he was hoping it was going to fix it's self the lower he got. LOL xD

[@xhector]

I think he was scared to cut away at that low... which is normal but yeah... need to take decisions quicker.

[@oneeyehooly9537]

Bro I had a malfunction before and ALMOST had to cut Shit gets very very very fucking real when you realize you're chopping away something that is potentially preventing you from dying in hopes something else will save you. Weird mentality but it's literally acceptance of whatever happens

[@znfl9564]

@@oneeyehooly9537 believe me brother, I know. I had 2 cuts before I finished my licensing and both were from using old gear and then nearly a 3rd because of a broken line but I was able to ride it home with no issues. A buddy of mine I trained with has had 4 cuts, never gets any less terrifying but you can't tetter back and forth on a hill like that if you know what I mean. Keep in mind folks, this is an extreme sport for a reason. If you're gonna take the plunge at roughly 120 mph, you gotta make your decisions in seconds, not minutes. This is what ground school is for! 👍

[@SkydogVIT]

this is panic. - no need to pull the brakes without looking. - even after that, the situation could be corrected. sorry for my english - it's google :)

[@azadeh1504]

Awesome explanation in the description. Thank you guys !

[@skydiverclassc2031]

You can just barely see it, but at 2:50, there goes his freebag, landing right behind the twin turbine. At least he didn't have to walk far.

[@fleafrier1]

Wow well spotted. I had to scroll through a few times before I picked it up. One of the benefits of a low cutaway I guess. At least all of your stuff lands nearby.

[@skydiverclassc2031]

@@fleafrier1 I saw it on the first view, and then it took me 5-6 in a row before I saw it again.

[@fleafrier1]

SkydiverClassC I think someone else mentioned his main landing on the taxiway but that free bag must be what they were talking about. I doubt the fully inflated main landed before he did. Free bags always seem to descend quickly once the weight of the spring in the pilot chute takes over.

[@xistsixt]

Ahh figg di mann... 😂 🇨🇭-swearing

[@emanuelgietl842]

Servus hast du eine ahnung wo der sprungplatz ist?

[@xistsixt]

@@emanuelgietl842 Locarno Tessin

[@keeponwishin]

I had a toggle lock on a tandem a few years ago. Yes, it does seem silly and it sucks having to cut it away, but the fact is you cannot control your parachute for a safe landing. Good on you for making the right decision, just don’t wait so long next time.

[@cowebb2327]

In my experience, the ground looks a hell of a lot closer when you're under canopy than in free fall. Had a similar experience and decided I had one good canopy out and decided to manage it. It was the right decision for me, looks like he made the right decision for him.

[@yuraretz2379]

First the ground seems to be standing still but as you keep falling it starts approaching faster and faster. You open the chute at around 1km, where the zoom in effect is significant enough to notice.

[@tanky1734]

if the ground is looking close under free fall you've got yourself a problem

[@stewartstewartstewart]

Such aggressive control inputs. Such a strange way to deal with a problem

[@josef_braun]

Welcome to base! 👍

[@davidflores6853]

Yes this la mailfuntion principal parachute, precedimenter its. Liberation principal and rcl pull reserve and cut the principal, and reserve maneras pull ( this Action time 2 seconds

[@josef_braun]

@@davidflores6853 wtf is your comment?

[@jonathanjuanola8054]

Panic for... nothing 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@lawfreefly]

Nice scenery for a chop. Too much thought went into that decision.

[@a.raimondo4183]

So, between AFF and my A license I created a problem where I released brakes and essentially tied a knot around the left rear riser. It put me into a not terrible turn. I think it happened because I ran my hand through the loose, excess line before unstowing the brake (I did not pack for myself at the time). I was pulling high at that time 4-4.5k and decided to pull in the riser, release tension and untie the knot. It worked, but you must realize what it looked like to my coach below. It was cleared before 3k. On the ground I was told that I should not do "in flight rigging" and to chop that $h1T! I agree at that experience level, but if faced with the same problem now, with enough altitude, I would try to resolve the knot again, or explore what rear riser input did to the canopy. At decision altitude if not resolved it is a chop period. Also, thanks for sharing so we can learn. Glad you are okay.

[@fabieng6864]

Good job man...god bless you

[@stanmancam]

He saved his life he is a winner

[@holgiholgi2829]

Paracentro Locarno, Switzerland ... One of the most beautiful views of Europe's DZ's. Strange situation, since Switzerland has pretty tough currency regulations concerning their skydivers permits. Anyhow - been there, jumped there, loved it! Great operation, run by Paracentro Locarno. 👍👍👍

[@spudeleven5124]

Jumped at Reichenbach once. Beautiful DZ but with all the restrictions, fees, etc it wasn't worth it and I won't jump in Switzerland again, even though I'm right next door in Germany.

[@garydaslug3025]

that guys swiss and i’m just enjoying the way he swears

[@billsanders5067]

As a student I was instructed do not ever try to fly a spinning malfunction no matter if you think you can control and land it because it can go to shit at 300 feet.

[@WilliamKing-hf8lc]

Damn.. so much going on that it's confusing yet things pop, (helicopters, the chute bag ect... I dunno.. sure was a lot of shit going down) Glad dude made it!

[@sletzer]

Waiting waaaay too long to make that decision. Hard decks my man.

[@manin10]

The most useless thing to a skydiver is the altitude above you!

[@user-fj7hg7vx4v]

I had the same thing happen to me (line twist). When I made it to the ground and said “did you see that?” No one had any idea what I was talking about. The moral of the story for para-sailers and / or skydivers is: When you are up there [in the sky] you may be so alone that no one will hear you scream. IJS

[@samanderson9722]

you are gnarly bro!!

[@rapii87]

those rare times you find something that isnt a clickbait!

[@278Trev]

My first thought exactly

[@278Trev]

Looks almost to sketchy sounds breathy

[@leonrickli7443]

I was there for 2 weeks piloting small planes every day and jumping at the weekends😁

[@Chance-ry1hq]

Looks like fun!!!

[@keithhendrickson8522]

Wow, what's the go with all the traffic? Helos, planes, everywhere. I was afraid his chute would find it's way into a prop somewhere.

[@leefithian3704]

Let go of the right toggle , bring eye of left control line below the guide ring enough to grasp line with right hand , Restow left toggle ( make sure eye is on the hard , sewn part of the toggle , as to not repeat right side problem ) canopy now back in half brakes , even , now bring right side toggle down low enough to grasp line above the eye with palm of left hand , use fingers of left hand to slip eye off right toggle , (this motion must be fairly quick as canopy begins to turn ) release left toggle , final control check , altitude , traffic , land -then resize the eye of the control line to fit toggle properly (with rigger ) do not stow toggle eye in soft part between the toggle grommet and hard sewn part of toggle , then it won’t get stuck , cost you dough , time , embarrassment, blue skies

[@Stealth_Rider91]

This happened to me on my official first deployment jump at night. We had already jumped super low and it deployed tangled. I can't tell you the amount of information that I processed in 2 seconds. It felt like 5 minutes and second #2 went from contemplating to cutting away and praying to god the reserve chute worked.

[@arctic_ita]

It's the brake line stuck in the buttonhole, a very common issue... you put your other command in your mouth (so you won't spin) and then use both the hands to get it free in seconds. If you decide for a ride reserve because of this, I can't imagine what you gonna do in the case of a real emergency.

[@usafwilkerson]

I was thinking the same thing. I had this happen a few months ago jumping a new chute I bought. Didn’t seem like a big deal to me.

[@spudeleven5124]

That's a good suggestion. If I'm above DA I will definitely try it. Thanks for sharing.

[@eman331]

Canopy control check, bro! Damn, that was cringe worthy! The moment he realized he did not have full control, he should have cutaway.

[@MarkGaleC3H5N3O9]

Disagree... It appears he understood what the problem was and should've used his hook knife to solve it.

[@TommyPusztai]

@@MarkGaleC3H5N3O9 hook knife? What for?

[@johnlewis1113]

@@TommyPusztai I'm pretty sure Mark is suggesting that he cut the brake line off... which, of course would have both stopped the spiral and been a separate mal in its own right. Can be landed with proper experience and advance practice... but it's an interesting choice to go from one mal to another.

[@TommyPusztai]

@@johnlewis1113 A reserve ride versus a brake line replacement? One can easily jump after a repack, but the other... Not to mention, wielding a hook knife, as freaked out as he was... a thin riser is so easy to damage, and THEN you have a mal, for sure.

[@iansutherland8155]

I'm not a sky diver, but wasnt that loop hanging off his right brake handle the problem. It looks like its tangled and caught up on the handle. Surely that's an easy fix.

[@charlieodom9107]

I had a situation like this on one of my jumps, but I'm not an experienced diver, and I was at the mercy of my tandem, so we rode it down with him not even able to reach the left side. He was able to control the spin by toggling the right, so he made the decision to not cut, and we landed near perfectly, and within feet of the bullseye target, so I never though too much about it. He was a very good diver, and I don't even think his heart rate went up through the whole thing.

[@mikeferguson4816]

One of the worst decisions I've seen on a Friday freakout. He should have cut away at least 30 seconds earlier.

[@Mark-et8vh]

It's been a while since my last jump, (jump 599 in 1988) but he should have dumped that canopy the second he realized he had a brake locked up and couldn't correct it. Going to reserve sucks, but burning in sucks more and as was mentioned, with no time to correct for line twist and heading errors, his idiocy could have harmed people on the ground.

[@bjb7587]

Sad to say, I've seen worse here.

[@mikeferguson4816]

@@bjb7587 cool, please post links.

[@Mark-et8vh]

@Man Like Barnzy Well, again, my last jump was a long time ago. My reserve was a 26' round and it most def rattled your cage.

[@tousledmonkey]

@Man Like Barnzy Sure a safe landing is more important than anything else, but after that it just sucks. The day is over. Maybe even the week or month, depending on how fast you can get that reserve repacked, find your main canopy (and with this guy apparently find your cutaway handles too), have it reinstalled, some airports require paperwork too when irregs occur. It costs anywhere between 80 (reserve repacking) and 4000 bucks (high performance main canopy lost/destroyed). That's why it sucks.

[@fishyc150]

He walked away. That's a good landing.

[@shockwave6416]

I can feel the adrenaline from here! Oh yeah!

[@ChristopherGrantham]

I’m gonna go ahead and give him mad props for dropping his main right on the taxiway, and at least giving controllability a shot while he had altitude. The panicked screaming...2 demerits. Handle yer junk-show, or panic and flail, not both.

[@ChrisSantacroce]

How about hook knife the right brake and steer on the rears if you are that stubborn.

[@ChristopherGrantham]

Ooooh yeah I like the hook knife solution even better!

[@firstnamelastname9615]

Never been skydiving but reading all the jargon in this chat makes me want to watch the movie Drop Zone.

[@cowebb2327]

It's fun to watch but totally unrealistic. Just keep that in mind.

[@haitvhalong]

Thank you 😘😘😘😘😘

[@skydive1424]

This guy is soo cool! He just wanted to collect his canopy and freebag on the way to the packing area.....

[@glydrfreak]

The description says it’s uncertain why it locked up. Look at the frame revealing the right toggle exactly at 1:00. The toggle is stuck in the set point in the brake line.

[@arctic_ita]

It happens with used brake lines, trying to pull it down or pull the line up won't free it, the pressure will make the hole even smaller around the command.. you have to move the ring with your other hand and to do so, without causing a spin, you just put the opposite command in your mouth. I dunno why he panicked, it happens so often!

[@Juiceboxdan72]

Thanks guys, I was trying to figure out what happened, I just assumed he hit rotor or something (I have zero experience), but I see what you pointed out in the video. This is a noob question, but does it damage your gear to cut away the main canopy? I am wondering if that influenced his decision? Or maybe there wasn't much decision-making at all?

[@Juiceboxdan72]

This is really interesting, btw

[@arctic_ita]

@@Juiceboxdan72 He had malfunction, there's several malfunctions you can experience during skydiving, some can easily be handled and solved, some others will force you to cut-away (using your reserve canopy), also depending upon your experience. The debate was about if making a cut-away in this case was necessary without trying to solve the issue, however the final decision is always in the hands of whoever is under the canopy, the final purpose is to land safely and being able to jump again, if you accomplish that you did it right! To answer your question, a cut-away (money wise) could cost to you as little as $150 or so (repack the emergency canopy) to some thousand dollars (lose your canopy, freebag, handles.. etc.), however it's never a money decision (despite the fact that some skydivers would argue with this), you're "playing" with your life, when you jump there's only two devices that are going so "save" you and they are your main canopy and your reserve canopy, doing a cut-away means that you are cutting your chances of surviving by 50% (simple math), a reserve canopy while being safe it still a canopy and it can malfunction as well and then you don't have a third one for more chances... so if you have the possibility (time, altitude, experience) to solve the problem with your main canopy, it's always preferable to try it rather than just give up and count on your reserve. On the other side, if you see that trying to land with your main canopy not in a good shape would put you at big risk, you'll go for a reserve, your life (well, mine) is worth much more than few thousands dollars.

[@Juiceboxdan72]

@@arctic_ita Thank you, that makes sense! My life is worth at least 50 bucks lol. I spoke with a WWII vet many years ago at an airshow (I'm in the US, btw), onboard the parked Memphis Belle. He had a story about one of his buddies who's reserve failed to open, RIP. He had to throw his own reserve a few days later due to a malfunction - in his words: "Thank goodness it went 'pop.'" I'd imagine the technology has come a long way since then, thankfully. Still, my guess is that proper training keeps you alive at least as well as your gear can, even by modern standards. Thanks for sharing your knowledge

[@BrainlessVirus]

In airborne thats about the height our main chute finally opens lol

[@cowebb2327]

That's because you're minimizing time to get shot at :) otherwise there's no sane reason to jump out of a plane at 1,000 ft...or less.

[@yarpos]

apple meet orange

[@BrainlessVirus]

@@yarpos more like "crab apple meet granny Smith", but okay

[@EliminaSire]

No matter the malfunction, there is no time to think or trying to fix it. It is an immediate decision to cut and pull the reserves.

[@fluffybunyip3796]

He should pay TWO slabs of Beer for throwing away two perfectly good handles!!!

[@Chris173972]

I bet he was 2 stone lighter after this. Very lucky guy

[@skydive1424]

Chris Burrow there were traces of brown rocket propellant in the area reportedly

[@anthonymcgrath]

Is it big ? Yes Is it rectangular? Yes Is it controllable? NO! Get off it! I know its easier said than done esp in light of the fact your reserve isnt guaranteed and he was giving it a good old go so props.. but that level of brake toggle offset just to roughly fly straight.. plus he was around people who were going into their landing patterns and base legs.. he should have been off that 2000 feet earlier 👍🏽

[@JenniferSmith-yl6lr]

Haha funny rule.... I started on a Kohnke triangle and I did several hundreds on a Para Commander Competition before I switched to the "modern world" So, not always rectangle 😂

[@F8LDragon2]

Jennifer Smith is it there? Is it square? Will it flare? If not, don’t you dare...

[@bjb7587]

@@JenniferSmith-yl6lr After student jumps on T10s, my first canopy was a Paracommander, back in the mid 70s. Medium blue and black. After maybe 50 jumps, moved up to a Sabre, an early square. Good times.

[@kevinnathanson6876]

@@JenniferSmith-yl6lr Even with the malfunction, had he kept it, he would have landed MUCH better than a 'perfect' Paracommander landing! Let's hear it for us old people. This one brought back memories of my first cutaway, when I had a Mae West on a? Yep. Paracommander... had a 22' round reserve and missed landing on a running helicopter by a good 10 feet or so. FWIW, I DEFINITELY would have landed the one he cut away; just take a few wraps on the left brake line, figure out how far you can pull before it stalls, and land it. Super-late decision was really scary!

[@anthonymcgrath]

@@F8LDragon2 I like that one 😊

[@MrCatchmeifyoucan86]

I see so many smart comments here. It’s so much easier to know what to do when you‘re not in the position of the jumper in the video. I‘m sure he has learnt a lot out of it and it‘s a great contribution to safety awareness that he‘s sharing this video with the community so that everyone can learn out of it.

[@colink3728]

You must not be a skydiver. We're trained to cut that away immediately before we even make out first jump. This guy contributed absolutely nothing to the sport other than showing us how stupid some people can be

[@jaffacalling53]

Lmao I'm sorry but there was no reason for him to not cut away within the first 20 seconds after discovering the malfunction. It became immediately apparent that he could not easily fly and land the canopy, and he was over a wide open field so it's not like he would have had any trouble searching for the main anyway.

[@iloveaviation-burgerclub-a8145]

@@colink3728 100% agreed. So much time wasted to recover maybe a line twisted reserve.

[@JOlsson01]

Basic training is very clear. If you have a malfunction, you cut away and deploy your reserve. I bet the first question he got from from drop zone safety officer would've been, - why didn't you cut away earlier?

[@iloveaviation-burgerclub-a8145]

1 a thousand 2 a thousand 3 a thousand canopy check. Canopy open >> yes >> toggles release >>> brake check / steering check >>> Can I land it safe? If yes >>> have fun. If no >>> cutoff/reserve over 500m / no cutoff add reserve if lower than 500m and hope for no downplane. Anything else is just a waste of time and safety. The lower you cutoff the less time you have to pull reserve stable the more likely the reserve will also twist lines. And THEN you're pretty fuxked.

[@abdulahadahmad5859]

He had the rest of his life to figure out how to survive the fall...good job

[@monologi2000]

He looked surprised😅

[@pauljanssens4449]

Unusual to hear a swiss curse like that 😂

[@skyd8726]

This malfunction was caused by setting your toggles TOO DEEP into the loop on the brake line. Some toggles have a gap between the grommet and the heavily sewn "nose" of the toggle. When you set the toggle too deeply, the opening shock can cause the line to lock onto the toggle at this location = what we see in this video. Always set the brakeline loop over the nose part of the toggle. Unfrtunately I see this problem happening on reserve canopies by some riggers. This is an old problem with an easy solution. Stay safe out there.

[@k1ng401]

Watching at quarter speed you can see he tries to do a few of the things commenters are saying he should have tried. But he seems to to be unable to keep that left hand locked at the necessary length to keep himself from spinning while he works on the right brake line.

[@JayDee-xj9lu]

Maybe he could have hooked the left brake between his knees to fly straight and untie the right brake. But not go to low. We had a student cut away at 1000 feet. When asked why, he said" the slider wouldn't go up" After a while it dawned on him what he'd done.

[@phutton88]

Hey riggers: the cat eyes don't need to be super tight on the toggles! Thanks

[@truther6616]

Right Toggle is caught tight in its loop...maybe a good pull on it would have freed it to fly normal. Glad your alive bud.

[@SupernovaSpence]

I'm a paraglider so I can tell this joke as I also take some of the same risks as sky divers: What's the difference between a golfer's mistake and a skydivers mistake? . . . . . . . . One goes, "WHACK! Damn," while the other goes, "Damn. WHACK!" LMAO

[@Michael-xo8lw]

That was anxiety-provoking just b/c of HIS anxiety, which is understandable. It was worthwhile for me to watch it and just breathe through it.

[@halfonsojimenez]

Big balls to do that at that altitude!!

[@shaqblack2]

Welp, cross this off the list of things I never have to worry about. LMAOOO

[@cowebb2327]

:) If you watch car crash videos you wouldn't drive either. Focus on the millions and millions of jumps that go off without incident.

[@mgattini]

that has to be one of the coolest airports in the world! Only thing missing is a seaplane base on the lake

[@justsomeone899]

For all those who don‘t speak swiss german, when he says „figg di“ it means fuck you xD

[@randyporter3491]

When you see the shadow of you cutting the main, you're a little low.

[@cowebb2327]

:)

[@fishhisy]

Remember you have seconds to make a judgment and others will have forever to make a judgment

[@kdm313]

Sky diving it’s gotta be for the rush. Because the odds of something malfunction seams high. These people are Brave.

[@Dubtee]

Any time there's a cut away, you can always tell by the distant, "aw fuck! God dammit!" coming from above.

[@zsoltsz2323]

Lago Maggiore if I'm correct. Beautiful.

[@foundwheels1939]

Lol chucks handles

[@Dark___Venom]

At least he doesn`t have to search for his main

[@justingould2020]

And I think his freebag landed a quick stroll from where he landed.

[@RobertLeclercq]

This highlights the necessity for braked landings with a PLF to be included in training. No need to panic like this jumper did. The parachute was flying great despite the fact his right brake would not release from the cats eye. Braked approach, PLF, ??? PROFIT.

[@BrainlessVirus]

thats what i was thinking. In airborne I've come in way hotter than that

[@rjjablo]

Looked to me like he was creating his own problems. Round chutes on a static line only with a PLF mandatory

[@Nataliusupra]

Finally someone 👍

[@RyanM-ke2gu]

Good thing he paid extra for embroidery on the handles just to throw them away.

[@ryeann2567]

Thought for sure this smooth brain was gonna try to fly the reserve over the hangars and land on top of them. Making that final 180 and flaring was about the only thing he did right. What awful management of this situation.

[@cup_and_cone]

Switzerland is so beautiful, almost looks fake, like something from a SimCity video game.

[@jaffacalling53]

On my first AFF jump one of my toggles became unstowed on deployment and put me in a spin. Thought I was gonna have to cut away on my very first solo lmao.

[@steventrojanowski3595]

My first jump and only jump… I was Tandem and the guy had the chute all tangled after he deployed the chute… anyways.. took what felt like 5 mins or so for him to untangle it… and the dude scored me low because I was nervous… haha… I think my nervousness was with good reason… anyways it was still a blast… but I’m done jumping, was too expensive to

[@edwardpage9996]

Are you able to reuse the canopy that's been cutaway if you are able to get it back?

[@Quhpi...]

this happend in a swiss-dropzone, in Locarno. I did some jumps there thirty years ago. I think he decided zu cut away too late, look......check....make a desicion.........just maximum 30 sec................so he can pull the reserve in about 1200 feet.

[@draganbanic5381]

Super camera!

[@davidrocks9611]

Paraglider here. Thinking about getting into aff. I cant identify what exactly the problem is here. The wing looks fine. I see that the breaks dont seem to be working as they should. Are they twisted leading up to the wing? With paragliders you can steer without the breaks with weight shift and pulling on the back c/d lines if need be. Obviously its not the same. Can someone explain? Thx

[@stevenliemberg]

Parachutes have their steering lines set to half brakes for opening. His right brake in not 'unlocking' - he can keep the wing from spinning around/steer by pulling his left steering line, but for some reason decides very late that he won't be able to land like this and cuts away very low. Good luck with aff :D

[@Larzemensch]

What could be the reason(s) for not ‘unlocking’?

[@KilpatrickOysters]

This bloke probably should either do ground school or trade his rig for some golf clubs

[@TheTibetyak]

Perhaps he saw some stomach turning YT videos of Super Sad Sunday Golf Cart Crashes and chose skydiving as his next safest sport?

[@4barhigh]

I'd wager the ability to drink while golfing (especially w/ carts) makes it a bit more dangerous actually.

[@ThatWTFGuy]

That’s a hell of a lot of spinning blades and turbulence

[@stephenstewart13]

Try that in a T10 where some rigger put the toggle in in wone of the pass throghs. Ended up in a death spiral. Had to climb the riser to fix it. Landed bad. Continued Mission despite the pain. Kept packing tag. That rigger is nolonger with us.

[@Mdwells2944]

Anyone know where this DZ is? Awesome looking location. I have a Skyhook and a Smart Reserve which should come out rather nicely when needed but the delay before the decision to cut away scares me! Makes me think extra carefully to make my decision altitude for a reserve deployment higher rather than lower!!

[@SimbolicProductions]

Singing up for my first parachuting tpday

[@barrellmeister]

2000ft is the lowest I have been told to cut away. Even if the parachute looked normal but didn't steer properly at 2000ft I'd cut away (obviously after identifying and correcting nuisance factors). (5 jumps so far). Did the issue occur below 2000ft?

[@billorights1596]

Looked like a good opening and full chute.. was there a toggle hang or something I don’t see?.. I had a reserve ride early on in my schooling.. works great but the hate I got from other club members was unwarranted so we all left the club.. not my kind of people there

[@dylanjamesweggz3573]

Literally had an eternity to chop.

[@rejects101]

Live heli's below, bollocks to that. Last time that happened in the UK was Thruxton.

[@StraightP1ff]

welp at least we know where his reserve's free bag is at 2:52

[@nathanbourquin6554]

1:13 „figg di“ - ah yes a swiss

[@alanwade2962]

Damn there was a lot of spinning rotors under him!!!!!

[@slartybarfastb3648]

This is nothing more than a toggle not releasing from the stow loop. The right side stays in half brakes. There is no canopy malfunction; it's inflated and flying straight until brakes are released. I had the same issue after getting new lines. Scary the first time, then the next time you just ride the spiral dive while using both hands to free the excess from the hung up toggle. It happened six jumps in a row before the loop finally stretched enough to allow the toggle to slide out.