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Did the parachute not simply open before he landed in the water? He can't remember that part, and he only woke up after the parachute was under water and yankin

Did the parachute not simply open before he landed in the water? He can't remember that part, and he only woke up after the parachute was under water and yanking on him. Either way, refreshing to see a well written piece.

margalabargala 4y ago
The closed parachute acted as a streamer, slowing him down enough to cause only severe injury on a water landing. Had the parachute opened, an unconscious water landing would not have caused such injuries. That would only happen at speed. Am a licensed skydiver.
- jbverschoor 4y ago
  Not even when it opened at the last moment? I don’t know how fast he was falling, but even in water it seems almost impossible
  - margalabargala 4y ago
    You'd be surprised how much having even a couple dozen square feet of canopy can slow you down (his full canopy was probably over 250sqft when fully open). Here's a video of someone whose reserve and main chutes get tangled, and despite them spiraling out of control into the ground, walks away without injury: https://jointheteem.com/videos/friday-freakout-skydiving/friday-freakout-skydiver-survives-nasty-double-parachute-malfunction-dual-rsl-jumpshack-racer/ https://jointheteem.com/videos/friday-freakout-skydiving/fri... You can search videos of "parachute double malfunction" to find other similar examples. The person in the video above certainly had a fair amount of canopy open, but there are others where the person has little more than some crumpled streamers. As far as opening at the last moment, if the person in the OP story had had it open above like 150 feet, it would have slowed him enough to have essentially no injuries. If they fell 15k feet, most of it unconscious, there's no reason it would have opened in the last 150 feet and not the 14850 feet beforehand.
LorenPechtel 4y ago
A streamed parachute is a lot better than no parachute. Kinetic energy goes at the square of velocity so even a fairly small slowing is worth a lot in reducing injury.

margalabargala 4y ago

The closed parachute acted as a streamer, slowing him down enough to cause only severe injury on a water landing. Had the parachute opened, an unconscious water landing would not have caused such injuries. That would only happen at speed. Am a licensed skydiver.

jbverschoor 4y ago
Not even when it opened at the last moment? I don’t know how fast he was falling, but even in water it seems almost impossible
- margalabargala 4y ago
  You'd be surprised how much having even a couple dozen square feet of canopy can slow you down (his full canopy was probably over 250sqft when fully open). Here's a video of someone whose reserve and main chutes get tangled, and despite them spiraling out of control into the ground, walks away without injury: https://jointheteem.com/videos/friday-freakout-skydiving/friday-freakout-skydiver-survives-nasty-double-parachute-malfunction-dual-rsl-jumpshack-racer/ https://jointheteem.com/videos/friday-freakout-skydiving/fri... You can search videos of "parachute double malfunction" to find other similar examples. The person in the video above certainly had a fair amount of canopy open, but there are others where the person has little more than some crumpled streamers. As far as opening at the last moment, if the person in the OP story had had it open above like 150 feet, it would have slowed him enough to have essentially no injuries. If they fell 15k feet, most of it unconscious, there's no reason it would have opened in the last 150 feet and not the 14850 feet beforehand.

LorenPechtel 4y ago

A streamed parachute is a lot better than no parachute. Kinetic energy goes at the square of velocity so even a fairly small slowing is worth a lot in reducing injury.