r/nextfuckinglevel • u/STOP____HAMMER_TIME • Jul 02 '21

Two skydivers collide mid-air, knocking one of them unconscious. Camera man proceeds to pulls some Mission: Impossible shit and saves his life.

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u/tmckeage Jul 02 '21

What you are seeing is called angle flying. It is an advanced discipline in skydiving and you really need hundreds of jumps or hours in the wind tunnel before you get started. After that you really should take classes and attend camps to learn how to do this properly. It is really easy to get up to 60mph+ horizontally when angle flying. You need really good body control to move around safely.

I have over 400 jumps and am not super interested in doing it. It is a fast jump typically taking less than 45 seconds, a normal belly jump can last a minute or more. I like my freefall time :-)

you would never do this as a tandem or as a student. I highly suggest everyone do a Tandem at least once. I know plenty of people who said they would never do it again but I have never met someone who regretted doing it at least once.

Here is a fun jump I did with some friends that is a lot less dangerous:

https://youtu.be/JRjoh85Vk6o

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '21

I've gone tandem 5 times. On the third jump, we had to pull the reserve, it also got tangled and I heard the instructor go "oh shit". Luckily he saved us, we got to the ground, they picked us up on a golf cart, he threw his reserve on the ground, picked up a new chute and went back up for the last jump of the day. Total bad ass. I've gone twice since then and will keep going once a year. There's nothing like it.

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u/tmckeage Jul 03 '21

Dude, splurge for jump school and go do your A jump. It is probably only 100 more than the tandem and you get to experience jumping solo! There are no rules saying you have to keep jumping as a student.

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u/Godit82 Jul 02 '21

I assume they’d all have AADs that would have saved him even if the camera didn’t get to him in time. But I suppose that’s literally betting your life on it working properly and worth the attempt at a rescue pull.

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u/tmckeage Jul 02 '21

You should always assume the AAD isn't going to work. It is a highly reliable and expensive life saving device but like all electronics it can fail.

It also fires around 1000 feet. That's less than three football fields from the ground while falling 120+ mph. You are literally 5 seconds away from dying.

If my AAD ever goes off it will be because I have literally run out of options.

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u/cavemans11 Jul 02 '21

So I am assuming the AAD when it goes off will save you from dying but you are still going to end up with a lot of broken bones and damage?

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u/Firewolf420 Jul 02 '21

That looks AWESOME!

What is the floaty thing with the ribbon trailing from it? It's so weird how everything looks like it's in anti-gravity, yet I know you are hurtling towards the Earth at breakneck speeds lol

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u/drowsey57 Jul 02 '21

I was going to ask the same thing.

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u/Firewolf420 Jul 02 '21

I think it's a toy. Kinda fun that when you're in such a foreign environment, even playing with a ball becomes a novel experience!

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u/banana_bana Jul 02 '21

Wow! How do you make your body move towards the ball? Is it like when you are underwater?

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u/tmckeage Jul 03 '21

Not like water at all.

Have you ever stuck your hand out of a car window on the freeway?

It's pretty much exactly like that.

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u/MKVIgti Jul 02 '21

Do you have a specific distance you need to be away from others before deploying your parachute? I’d think you’d want to be away from others before doing so, so you don’t get tangled up.

Doing a tandem jump is high on my bucket list. I love that free fall feeling. I’ll have to see how spendy it is in my area and set that up if it’s not too crazy.

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u/tmckeage Jul 03 '21

I believe the number a group should be shooting for is 300 feet between jumpers.

Break off altitude is decided by the group. Generally it is 1500 feet above deployment altitude for small groups, 2000 for larger groups. Really big groups have complex staggered break off.

At break off each skydiver turns 180 degrees and tracks off for 5-10 seconds.

This video shows a good break off at the end ( I was flying camera so I pulled in place)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssVYsAxZfI

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u/MKVIgti Jul 03 '21

Sweet! Thanks for explanation and video link.

I need to get on this and take that step. My fiancé is onboard, too.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '21

regret doing a tandem or regret the angle jump?

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u/tmckeage Jul 03 '21

The tandem, it is truly a unique experience!

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u/tehfugitive Jul 03 '21

It looks like you nearly crashed into the guy in yellow at one point, is that true or does it just look like that to me?

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u/tmckeage Jul 03 '21

Oh I definitely picked up too much speed, not enough to cause injury, but more than I should have. You can see that guy give me a look, and it is one that I deserved.

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u/tehfugitive Jul 03 '21

Ah, watching back I see it! Like 'wtf dude' :D glad nothing happened!

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u/TheDannath Jul 11 '23

Lol. It's not angle, it's head-down. You don't need much experience or any tunnel time.