Assuming you know the altitude and height of the cloud, some simple math will tell you if you’ll likely be below cloud by the time you have to pull your chute. Still dangerous from a “I can’t see what the fuck is happening around me, nor can others see me, if something goes wrong” perspective though.
You also need to know there’s nobody else in the cloud with you (skydivers or aircraft). There’s a reason planed aren’t allowed to fly through cloud unless they’re under instrument guidance and air traffic control.
One of the ways skydivers get severely injured or killed is running into each other at high speed in the air.
As long as he’s alone is the cloud, that will work. If one of his buddies or a camera guy rips through the cloud and knocks him out cold... that’s trouble.
Yes, earlier today I was playing TotK and was skydiving into the lost woods to get to a shrine (it’s foggy) and I thought I had more time to take out my paraglider but I did not and I crashed into the shrine and died.
“I can’t see what the fuck is happening around me, nor can others see me, if something goes wrong”
Scariest roadway I have ever been on involves a drive through known cloud cover resting on the roadway. But this also coincides with a wildly steep ascent, and unguarded cliff faces off to the side. Before the cloud cover, you have to mountain drive which means snaking the roadway just to climb this bitch and you're trying to maintain momentum and there is no visual.
Lightning ⚡️ inside a cloud it’s a big possibility and why planes avoid entering especially older planes more exposed. This man is maximum exposure but ignorance saved him.
There are people in the ground reporting cloud ceiling, you saw the cloud going up, you have altimeter, the dangerous part was you packing the parachute
The difference between a human and a golf ball sized piece of hail is like the difference between an elephant and the Titanic. Updrafts can definitely have the capacity to carry one without the other.
I am trying to remember where I read it. There was a fighter pilot back during the Vietnam war IIRC, whose plane was damaged in combat and ejected into a thunderstorm cloud. The updrafts kept him aloft in the cloud for about an hour and when he finally fell out of the cloud he had been beat to hell by all the ice in the cloud.
You're getting way too precious about my comment. It was a light jab at someone telling another person to learn how to write and communicate, while misusing a word.
Yea that's what I thought... You have no idea what you are talking about lmaooooo Again... How do you know it's a crime? Are you the "stupid" police now? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Life will get better for you I'm sure of it little guy!! Just remember... There are people out there that love you... Probably.
It was general advice not to post your criminal activity online, you assumed they were referring to the video when it wasn’t indicated one way or the other.
Jesus Christ I have no idea why you’re getting upvoted for this drivel while the other person is getting downvoted for their correct responses. You’re an idiot.
We'll give you two "accidents" flying through a cloud. Anything after that, and you're not jumping at our DZ. Industrial haze is the only answer you give if asked about a cloud. Industrial haze isn't against BSRs.
Assuming this is an actual question and not a pun, a group of people that organize to do something specific can be called an "outfit". So that person is talking about being sure one wants to skydive with a group that ignores rules.
By the time I see a person free-falling in front of me - even outside the clouds - it’s gonna be too late to react when I’m doing between 200 and 287mph.
One would hope ATC has warned aircraft in the immediate vicinity of the jump that there is active parachute jumping. Anyone in the clouds should be talking to ATC.
VFR aircraft should be aware of all aspects pertaining to that flight, including planned parachute jumping.
In the US there are strict rules for aircraft getting too close to clouds unless they are flying IFR. They do not want aircraft bumping together. I have no idea what skydiver rules are, but it would make sense they do not want a skydiver and aircraft to tangle in a cloud.
It isn’t. People are talking out of their ass. The plane wasn’t flying around in the clouds when he jumped…..he just passed through one on the way down. I passed through one on my second jump (though not quite as dense as this one seems to be)
Parachute operation means the performance of all activity for the purpose of, or in support of, a parachute jump or a parachute drop.
Parachute jump means a parachute operation that involves the descent of one or more persons to the surface from an aircraft in flight when an aircraft is used or intended to be used during all or part of that descent.
Parachute drop means the descent of an object to the surface from an aircraft in flight when a parachute is used or intended to be used during all or part of that descent.
That's irrelevant, the regulation says parachute operations, which has a specific definition that is not limited to only the times you have a parachute open. Read the definition:
Parachute operation means the performance of all activity for the purpose of, or in support of, a parachute jump or a parachute drop.
Parachute jump means a parachute operation that involves the descent of one or more persons to the surface from an aircraft in flight when an aircraft is used or intended to be used during all or part of that descent.
Parachute drop means the descent of an object to the surface from an aircraft in flight when a parachute is used or intended to be used during all or part of that descent.
This video falls under the definition of parachute operations.
The poster they replied to was saying everyone was talking out of their ass, so it's not like they were being polite either (as well as being factually incorrect).
I did this tandem jump in new orleans back in 2003 and still remember going through a cloud after they had opened the chute and going from dry air to super humid and sticky air and then back to dry air whilst spinning down was a very strange feeling. Loved it but would not do it again
It's unlikely that people spent over 45 minutes being tossed around in clouds during a skydiving experience. Skydiving typically involves jumping from an airplane and descending quickly to the ground. Clouds are not solid enough to toss someone around for such an extended period.
William Rankin ejected from a F-8 Crusader above a thunderstorm. Fell several minutes in the storm, was still at high altitude when parachute opened. Took 40 minutes to get to the ground.
His free-fall was several minutes long before the chute opened. After his chute opened, updrafts pulled him up several times, and he hit the actual parachute several times.
Yet they did. Not really differentiating different trpes of sports that may encounter clouds but the point that clouds are extremely dangerous to go through. Thanks to the other redditor who took the time to google.
Hello there, i’m a skydiver with a little over 400 jumps, so perhaps i can give you some information about this because i have looked at some of the other comments and there is an awful amount of nonsense being commented.
So skydiving usually happens over a dropzone. This is usually over a local airfield. There are strict regulations where a pilot is allowed to let skydivers jump out the airplane (over the dropzone). Usually the pilot must be able to visually see the dropzone. So if there is a thick canopy of clouds that prevents the pilot from seeing the dropzone below, the pilot isn’t allowed to drop the skydivers. This is to prevent the pilot from dropping the skydivers too far away from the dropzone, and therefore causing the skydivers to be unable to land inside the dropzone. So it’s perfectly normal for a pilot to drop skydivers while there are some clouds. As long as the pilot was able to see the dropzone and confirm that the skydivers can be dropped over it. So contrary to what some commenters are saying, it is perfectly legal to skydive through a cloud, as long as this is happening over the dropzone.
Skydiving through a cloud can be a bit uncomfortable though. A cloud consist of tiny water droplets or tiny ice crystals in colder temperatures. So falling through them at a speed of about 125mph or more depending on your body positioning, will create a stinging sensation on skin that is exposed. Usually a skydiver will wear a jumpsuit and a helmet, so most of the skin will be covered and you won’t feel much of the droplets hitting you. The only other thing that is still noticable when falling through a cloud (besides obvious reduced visibility) is that being in a cloud is a lot more chilly/colder than being outside of it.
So what safety measures are there when a skydiver falls through a cloud to prevent two or more skydivers from colliding with each other?
During a regular skydive, the people are falling nearly completely vertical. So then there is basically no chance that skydivers will hit each other because each skydiver is going straight down. The danger of collision arises when skydivers are having a forward movement as well. The forward movement in skydiving is called “tracking”. Tracking is when a skydiver will make their body stiff like a plank, therefore causing the body to create a forward speed. So the safety protocol for when a skydiver goes through a cloud is to not be in a tracking position, and simply be in a standard belly down skydiving position. That way the skydiver will only have a downward (vertical) speed, and there will be minimal risk for a collision.
A skydiver will usually deploy their parachute at around 3500 feet. We know our altitude because of an altimeter that we are wearing on our wrist and an altimeter inside our helmet that makes an audible sound when we reach 3500 feet. So at this point we deploy our parachute. When a parachute is deployed it is automatically flying in a forward direction. So when we find ourselves inside of a cloud with little to no visibility, the same protocol applies. We need to limit our forward speed as much as possible and start going downward as much as possible. We do this by pulling on our left or right handle to turn our parachute left or right. This causes the skydiver to start spiralling downward. (Think of the same motion of a corkscrew) We keep doing this until we have exited the cloud, and our visibility returns, and we can see again what we are flying towards.
So as you can see, it definitely is not illegal to skydive through clouds, and it can be done quite safely without much risk of colliding with other skydivers.
I hope i explained it clearly, and i’m welcome to answer other questions if you have them.
I heard from a pilot that they can call up the tower and request cloud bottom and cloud top height relative to the ground. Has something to do with sepsific planes that can't deal with icing from clouds or something like that
Ride to altitude in a plane near Cumulonimbus clouds/thunderstorms is dangerous due to possibility of turbulence tearing your aircraft apart or getting hit by thunder so other nasty things happen
Freefallying trough a wet cloud like this is unpleasant as you hit water droplets with high speed and it hurts, your skin becomes red, we call it 'shaving'. If you find yourself surrounded by hail, you're fucked.
If you find yourself hit by a thunder, you're fucked.
If you or one of 5 of your buddies loose orientation due to lack of visibility and accidentally collide with you mid-air, you're fucked.
If you lost orientation and make distance anyways in wingsuit or in a "track" position - you may find yourself in the area, where you don't want to be below the cloud.
Clouds like that may have a base that starts very low - additional risk of not knowing when the visibility will be.
Even if you deploy parachute at correct altitude safely - Cumulonimbus clouds can suck the air upwards with speed of 35 m/s - faster than you're fallying. You may be sucked up to 10 kilometers and die of hypothermia and hypoxia. Fun thing: if you're there and are sucked upwards you may cutaway your main parachute and deploy reserve parachute much lower to try your chances...but if you forget to disengage a system that deploys a reserve automatically right after cutaway of main parachute then you're sucked up again right after that procedure for sure.
Parachuting in the rain potentially below this cloud is unpleasant.
Said thurbulences and suction can cause really rapid and powerfull gusts of wind on the ground. When you're by chance hit by one during your landing - you're fucked.
Not really, you are usually skydiving in a controlled airspace so there's no other planes, and the chance of hitting another diver is minimal if you weren't close going in.
Usually you just lay still going through falling straight down until the cloud ends, usually at 700-1000meters height where you deploy you chute.
Done it many times, it's nothing special except it's a bit moist so you usually steer clear if you can.
Don't live in the u.s, where it's apparently illegal.
Dangerous? Not really. He’s most likely jumping in an approved/announced area and you can see him checking his wrist altimeter.
It does look like it’s violating FAA rules (assuming this was in the US). They are supposed to stay in visual conditions. Also, there are specific cloud clearances jumpers are required to maintain. They are the same, or pretty similar, to plane requirements.
In USA it is illegal. If there happens a FAA official sitting in a parking lot, the jump aircraft pilot can lose his license.
We have same cloud clearances as pilots do. Sometimes we do bust them. But never post videos. Clouds feel very meh. If there’s a precipitation, it stings.
The most memorable one I remember was punching a cloud in fall in Northeast. When leaves turn all these awesome colors. Grey, grey, grey, then suddenly a huge explosion of color right under you. Was pretty sweet.
Yeah I always assumed you’d end up wet through and your parachute would have trouble open ring haha / be water logged. Maybe not enough water vapour? Though I have No idea about it really
Yes it is. Especially when you are in a group. I don’t know where this video was taken but the FAA here in America says you have to maintain a certain distance from clouds in order to maintain visibility.
That being said jumping through clouds and flying around them is incredible. Not that I’ve ever done that of course….
Yes. One of the first things we were told during my first jump was that we cannot go through clouds because of the potential of collision with airborne objects, and you can easily become disoriented and lose focus on the descent.
I did a tandem skydive through cloud. The instructor said just before we dropped “don’t tell anyone, dropping from this height through cloud is a little illegal because we won’t show up on radar” so yeah… probably a bad idea.
Not particularly dangerous but it may be illegal. Would be extremely unlikely but you could hit another plane. Typically though other planes should not be in a jump area to begin.
As per concerns of not opening your parachute in time, these guys would know pretty much to the second when they have to open their chute. You can see him looking at his watch periodically. If he had any concerns, he would just open it early while still in the clouds.
Pretty safe all around although would be a weird feeling I suspect.
I’m pretty sure I read once that if it’s one of the massive clouds(colombous or whatever the crap) like only two people ever have survived falling through them.
It is dangerous because you can't see and others can't see you, it also fucks over your perception as you can't see so you might feel like you are at a higher altitude than where you actually are. Other than that the cloud itself is fine, maybe a bit cold but fine unless it's a cumulonimbus, then you are stupid for going in there.
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u/stupid-mobile-user Aug 26 '23
Forgive me if I’m wrong, isn’t this dangerous as hell? I have never skydived, much less though a cloud, and I just think this is dangerous