Comments on: Friday Freakout: Wingsuit Flat Spin + Double Malfunction

By: Greg Hales

Greg Hales — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:15:00 +0000

No, I would have worked with the line twist a tad bit longer, just my opinion.

By: Sebastian Lauber

Sebastian Lauber — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

I really hate the “this looks pretty flyable. I would have landed it”-comments from all the tough-guys out there! If it looks for the skydiver not acceptable, then cut it away! Next time he might not cut-away with a canopy that ain’t flyable… and what’s the next comment then??? Probably “Such an idiot! He should have cut it away!” and probably postet by the same “tough-guys”

By: Sebastian Lauber

Sebastian Lauber — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

By: Martin Standing

Martin Standing — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:12:00 +0000

That conopy looked fine with the twists..Ive had major twists sending me and my canopy into a flat spin with twists..I kicked them out started flying and realised i was in a spin coming through 1200ft..cypres was set at 700ft only seconds left before reserve deployment and serious issues..
After a long investigation and lots more jumps it turns out one leg strap was slightly tighter than the other..this happened on a new crossfire ..straps measured and marked ..problem solved..looking at this video id probs attempt kicking them out..but who knows what you would do in that situation until it happens to you….

By: Robert Mandic

Robert Mandic — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:42:00 +0000

These videos need to have more information as a standard practice…they should have 2 things as standard (1) size of main & reserve (2)container make & model (3) number of jumps for the jumper (this one people aren’t going to want to give because so many people are doing things they shouldn’t too early)(4) if the video is only going to show the end of the jump then tell us what the jumps was…i say the 4th one because this video was a wing suit jump but was it solo or a flock if a flock then how many in the flock…i understand that all of the information is not always there then just say no further information available…After all of that I agree with alot of the comments except the guy who said that a person with 2000 ft doesn’t have time to deal with line twists granted this was spinning line twists but on the video you don’t see any effort by the jumper to pull the canopy over his head or to control the spin…before it really got spinning there were only 3 twists but because he failed to control the canopy he had about 6 or 7 before he chopped…Just going by the video I would say that this jumper is not a very experienced skydiver and definitely inexperienced wingsuiter…repeating other comments take a wingsuit course and upsize for your wingsuit jumps and raise your opening altitude..also mr. low barrel roll think about this for future jumps what would you have done if you saw something above you

By: Danny Dorfel

Danny Dorfel — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:39:00 +0000

Presuming he opened low, don’t know to what altitude that last dytter sound is set.. I but I make sure I get the creeps from that sound at 2000ft. Still, at 2000ft I don’t think anyone has time to deal with linetwists. Opening higher with a wingsuit is always a good idea, you need the extra time. So why go low, do barrel rolls right before opening? And risk this situation where more altitude would have given time to cut the arm wings and deal with the line twists. You already got an extended amount of airtime by the wingsuit, don’t ask for seconds!

Oh.. and why use small canopies while wingsuiting… I mean… spinning mal under a large docile canopy? Again: it’s the wingsuit jump that counts, not the high performance landing.

As always in skydiving: plan ahead. Or as they say: plan the dive, dive the plan. Glad he’s ok, but don’t just think about the moment and what the errors where. Think about what you can do to give room for errors. We all make simple mistakes that can have great consequences.

By: Tom Brown

Tom Brown — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:40:00 +0000

I’m not a wingsuiter, so will make no comment about the flat spin. I have had some twisted up openings though and agree that it would have been worth some effort to clear the twists, as long as the canopy didn’t start to spin or the condition went below his hard deck. My question is what kind of rig is this, what is the size of the reserve canopy and what is the reserve container sized for ? ”Grabby” reserve containers have become a safety issue lately. That reserve should have deployed like a shot ! If this had been an AAD fire, he’d have bounced – simply NOT acceptable !

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:21:00 +0000

Insofar as these ‘close calls’ have real instructional value, I agree with William G, with one very minor difference. I don’t see the main chop as having any possible “erring on the side of caution” potential. A good canopy is a good canopy. Give an honest effort to clear it. Blue skies to the hero of the video and thanks for posting!

By: William DiGiacomo

William DiGiacomo — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:07:00 +0000

I wasn’t there so please take my ‘Arm chair Quarterback’ commentary for what it’s worth … Why would you cut away a good canopy? You were not being violently spun by the canopy and the canopy looked like it was not damaged. The video showed end cell closures and several line twists … all of which would have cleared given a little time and effort on your part. It also looked like you had plenty of altitude to deal with these main canopy issues. IMHO it looked to me like you rushed your decision to cutaway. Perhaps you were just frazzled by your flat spins or maybe you were just erring on the side of caution because your main has taken you through a few spin cycles on opening before. For everybody else reading this it’s all just food for thought. !!! No doubt I’m glad you made it !!!

By: Odin Graham

Odin Graham — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:47:00 +0000

It depends on how low the main deployment was initiated & whether, or not, the canopy was in a dive as a result of the twists? He looked a bit low when he deployed, but his canopy looked stable enough.

As a wingsuit flyer myself I prefer to initiate main deployment a little higher than normal to give myself ample opportunity to deal with potential malfunctions. Glad he’s ok & got to live to fly another day :-)