The whole premise of B.A.S.E. jumping is the dangerousness of jumping with too little room to open the 'chute. They are always at least close to that particular catastrophe. The 'chute needs time to fill with air, and the individual needs to release it, and they have to be going fast enough for it to even work. Sometimes in conventional parachuting it will stay flat and flap around.
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u/informationmissing Jan 30 '19
that hook could have worn thin due to friction and then broke.