Investigators release video of skydiver cutting parachute free after becoming caught on plane wing

[Airframes]

The mountain "jump" was really a parapente, with canopy already deployed, on the ground behind you. Then push off, ski like crazy towards the decent edge, and then you're airborne. From memory, I was under canopy for around 8 or 9 minutes, curving round the valleys between the peaks, until landing only a few yards from my hotel at the bottom of the ski lifts.
Craziest thing I saw involving cows and parachutes was back in the early 1970's, on a night jump. Can't remember where, but the guy behind me in the stick landed dead centre on the back of a cow. Of course, he was unable t see the beast until the very last moment. The cow took off at Mach 0.75, the guy's canopy re-inflated, and he crashed onto his shoulders and back, sustaining a collar bone injury. Hilarious !!

 

[rob23]

The mountain "jump" was really a parapente, with canopy already deployed, on the ground behind you. Then push off, ski like crazy towards the decent edge, and then you're airborne. From memory, I was under canopy for around 8 or 9 minutes, curving round the valleys between the peaks, until landing only a few yards from my hotel at the bottom of the ski lifts.
Craziest thing I saw involving cows and parachutes was back in the early 1970's, on a night jump. Can't remember where, but the guy behind me in the stick landed dead centre on the back of a cow. Of course, he was unable t see the beast until the very last moment. The cow took off at Mach 0.75, the guy's canopy re-inflated, and he crashed onto his shoulders and back, sustaining a collar bone injury. Hilarious !!

I had thoughts of that James Bond movie where Bond (was it actually BJ Worth?) went off a mountain and opened a PC. Did you jump a PC? I found it to be a fun canopy, spun like mofo, faster than my Pegasus.

There was a guy who had a Pterodactyl, a Rogallo wing similar to the parachute that was considered to recover the Gemini spacecraft with. He would not let anyone jump the thing, and the few times he did he'd pace around in deep though eating Rolaids and chain smoking. Then he'd do solo jump from 8000, open high and fly straight to the DZ. If I remember right, when he had to turn he'd do a flat turn. He maneuvered as little as possible, and he had to run out his landings.

We too had numerous cow encounters. I was told of a first jump student under a T-10 landed on a cow, the cow jumped and squirted a large mass from its rear end and the guy fell in it. He did not return. Cows would get behind jumpers who landed in the pasture next to the DZ and use their nose to lift them up and push them toward the fence. Cows and parachutes do not mix well.

 

[Airframes]

Ah, The Para Commander !
Fond memories of those. Did my initial free fall jumps on the T10 ("TU" and "TL" variants), then progressed to the military version of the PC. I really liked that rig, it was very manouverable if used well, more so if you could get really good with a T10 beforehand.
Many years later I was jumping an old T10 in an unofficial accuracy competition, with £10 up for the nearest to O. Everyone else were on "squares" (there were 8 of us in total), and somehow, with a lot of luck, and a smidgin of skill, I landed dead centre in the pit, with a "stand up" landing, and won the "tenner".
Didn't last long though, as the first round was on me !!