Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/02/watch-incredible-video-of-sky.html
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In these times we need to practice social distancing, even when falling from the sky.
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When things are going right, skydiving looks like a gracefully ballet. When it goes wrong, it is people falling at terminal velocity.
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Jesus Christ! So the dude that hit him hit him with his leg at 200mph? I assume his leg is broke very badly? Did he pass out?
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many years ago (this is my saying, maybe not currently the case). I did a bit of skydiving, just a bit. We had a widget that would fire off if we were too low (too fast?). It would auto deploy the shute. Maybe it was just for beginners, or maybe it was something that they gave us to make us feel better, but didn’t actually work that well… but I always wonder when I see this sorta thing.
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Wait, wait, wait…Digg is still a thing??
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Ok, I shit my pants for that guy, just in case he didn’t.
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Never been skydiving…
but my guess is the widget works fine most of the time, but why wait to find out?
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Came here to say the same thing. Very impressed with this rescue. More impressed that Digg still exists.
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I used to live near a skydiving ranch. One day I was out having a smoke and heard a sound like cloth tearing and distant screaming. I looked up to see people’s chutes deploying and then noticed that there were still people jumping from the plane. There is very little more eerie than seeing a human that is in a guaranteed state of death unless circumstances change very soon. I never got tired of watching it.
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That “widget” is required gear, actually. But as noted above, it’s still best not to rely on it.
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DITTO! We also need more '“pull your buddy’s chute” heroes!!!
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Many years ago, I did a bit of skydiving, on the Army’s plan. We had a little widget that opened our chutes as we got out of the airplane.
Still, in my grand total of five jumps, I ended up watching another trainee deploy their reserve chute. It literally saved their life.
@cannibalpeas
I can promise you that every pair of eyes on the ground was glued to that drama as it unfolded in mid-air, and everyone within earshot of me cheered.
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If memory serves (I haven’t jumped in many years) and I’m not mistaken, the widget your referring to works off of barometric pressure. Back when I was leaping out of planes, we were told that if you ever had to rely on it, or caused someone else to rely on theirs, your days of jumping would be over. I gather they accomplished banishment by way of agreement among the various dropzones/pilots - you basically went on a “list”, such as they were back before the web was everywhere.
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I expect they were both traveling(falling) at about the same speed.
Ach. I’m jealous. I was Air Assault, which means I had a pathway into jump school, but when they got wind that I wasn’t going to re-up, I lost my chance. Honestly, the Army version of jumping is pretty terrifying, but I would have done it in a second.
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You and sixty of your closest friends getting out of a perfectly good airplane (while it’s flying) in about two minutes.
Good times.
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It’s not the falling that gets you, it’s the stopping.
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I expect they were both traveling(falling) at about the same speed.
Nope! They jumped out at the same time, but watch the video: one of them alters his profile to slow down, then goes all aerodynamic and crashes into the other at a very alarming relative speed, so much so that it looks as if the guy getting hit is standing still (which he is, relative to the guy filming).
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Second guy seems to have pulled the injured guy’s reserve, which makes sense because a reserve will do a better job of controlling itself during descent, without a conscious pilot.
Its only the last half inch of the fall which hurts.
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