04/19/24
August 16, 2009
Skydiver Survives 10,000-Foot Fall with Failed Parachute: Paul Lewis, a 40-year-old freelance cameraman from Britain, survived a 10,000-foot skydive Friday after his main chute didn't open and his reserve failed to work properly during a jump in Whitchurch, England. "The roof of the hangar broke his fall and flexed sufficiently to reduce the impact," said Colin Fitzmorris of the Parachute Centre. "He has no fractures but some neck injury, and we are sure that he will make a full recovery. He is very lucky."
My daughter turns 18 next week. Her birthday request? To go skydiving.
posted by owlhouse at 06:27 PM on August 16, 2009
Check out http://www.deadmike.com/index.html this is a miracle this guy survived, & he jumped again
posted by m8nsman at 08:15 PM on August 16, 2009
very lucky? try fucking miraculous.
posted by irunfromclones at 04:09 AM on August 17, 2009
My daughter turns 18 next week. Her birthday request? To go skydiving.
Make sure she reads this story. Anything to get her to understand the magnitude of doing something this extreme is a must. Saying that, I went skydiving last year while visiting my girlfriends family in Colorado and it was the most awesome thing I've done so far. Good thing my 'chute worked properly.
posted by BornIcon at 08:21 AM on August 17, 2009
Heh. Bad timing for this story to appear, owlhouse. Are you going to take her? You should go with. I went about ten years ago, and while I wouldn't say it was life-changing, it was a lot of fun. I went tandem, though (with a very experienced jumper that was probably a good 6 inches or so shorter than me), so it was a bit safer. If I do it again I'd like to go solo, but who knows if I'll ever get around to it.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:02 AM on August 17, 2009
"The man is reported to have fallen approximately 1,000 feet (3,000 metres), spiralling to the ground following a 10,000-foot skydive."
I don't really understand this from the story.
posted by bperk at 11:37 AM on August 17, 2009
When I was in college, skydiving was a new sport. (For you wise guys out there, the airplane had been invented long before I was born.) Some of my friends were going to try it out, and I had agreed to go along. The morning we were supposed to go, I woke up with fever, sore throat, and general malaise from a case of the flu. I begged off. The next morning I read in the papers that a young man on his first jump at the airport where I was to have jumped suffered failure of his main and reserve 'chutes, and was killed. It was not one of my friends, but it could have been, and worse, it could have been the 'chute I picked out. In the nearly 50 years since then, I have never been tempted to deliberately jump out of anything high enough to cause damage when I hit bottom.
posted by Howard_T at 02:52 PM on August 17, 2009
""The man is reported to have fallen approximately 1,000 feet (3,000 metres), spiralling to the ground following a 10,000-foot skydive."
I don't really understand this from the story. "
1000 feet is ~300 metres - I think they have a stray zero.
I think he jumped at 10,000 feet, pulled his main chute at 3,000 feet. When that didn't deploy he cut away and pulled his reserve chute and that only partially opened.
He then fell the 1,000 feet the story mentions with a partially deployed reserve until he hit the hanger roof. If I heard correctly, the reserve snagged on the roof, stopping him from hitting the ground.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 04:42 PM on August 17, 2009
Thank you, Mr. Bismarck. That makes sense, but it seems to me that he actually fell 10,000 feet. It should only count as jumping if your chute actually works.
posted by bperk at 05:33 PM on August 17, 2009
I think if you jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet and neither chute opens properly then you should credit for the full 10k. And double air miles.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 08:54 PM on August 17, 2009
Wow, that's terrifying. He is very lucky indeed.