Skydiver Jump from 25,000 ft with no Parachute

[boogielicious]

The question I have is why??

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/31/us/skydiver-no-parachute-successful-landing-trnd/index.html

 

[onthehunt526]

@boogielicious You've seen the original "Point Break" right? He's just a "goddamned adrenaline junkie" as Lori Petty said in the movie.

Skydiving I'd do WITH a parachute. It's on my bucket list. This guy is nuts. Bit at least he can tell his grandkids, he jumped from an airplane without a parachute and lived to tell about it.

[David in FL]

[woodzie264]

I've been skydiving several times, albeit WITH a chute, but I find that a chip in birdie is much more thrilling. I would've taken all the money spent on this stunt and put it towards a golf tour of Scotland

Edited July 31, 2016 by woodzie264

[newtogolf]

There goes the old wives tale that you'd die from a heart attack before you ever hit the ground.  

[Patch]

During my Uncle Sam days I jumped out of a pefectly good aircraft a few times. Scared the living daylights out of me everytime. Free fall was only a few seconds before the parachute would deploy, but those few seconds were sure something. 

This guy jumping without a chute I would like to meet I think. Have a beer and a nice chat just to ask him why. He would either be a person of great self confidence, or are total nut job. 

 

Edited July 31, 2016 by Patch

[Gator Hazard]

I always wanted to skydive (with a chute obviously) and I almost went one time but my friend couldn't. Now that I have kids: no way. I'm the guy you read about who gets eaten by a shark in a place sharks aren't seen. "Marge! Marge!  Come here!  You won't believe it, look it says in the obituaries that Gator Hazard got hit by a huge chunk of frozen blue toilet water that froze and fell off a plane." I don't need to voluntarily increase my odds of a freak accident. 

[Gunther]

3 hours ago, Gator Hazard said:

I always wanted to skydive (with a chute obviously) and I almost went one time but my friend couldn't. Now that I have kids: no way. I'm the guy you read about who gets eaten by a shark in a place sharks aren't seen. "Marge! Marge!  Come here!  You won't believe it, look it says in the obituaries that Gator Hazard got hit by a huge chunk of frozen blue toilet water that froze and fell off a plane." I don't need to voluntarily increase my odds of a freak accident. 

I told my son on his 5th bday that on his 18th, I'd take him skydiving.  He never forgot.  On his 18th, I chickened out, on his 19th, I chickened out.  On his 20th, we went for it.  Awesome experience.  13,000 feet, totally had a parachute too.

Kids shouldn't hold you back, they give you courage.

Edited July 31, 2016 by Gunther

[Golfingdad]

11 hours ago, boogielicious said:

The question I have is why??

Yup, me too.  I have a lot of anxiety just watching that.and that's even with "knowing" that its successful.  (If it wasn't, the title would be something different and/or it would be hosted on liveleak.)

The other thing that perplexes me is the live audience.  Why would sit there for that, considering the obvious risk???

 

[Gator Hazard]

3 hours ago, Gunther said:

I told my son on his 5th bday that on his 18th, I'd take him skydiving.  He never forgot.  On his 18th, I chickened out, on his 19th, I chickened out.  On his 20th, we went for it.  Awesome experience.  13,000 feet, totally had a parachute too.

Kids shouldn't hold you back, they give you courage.

Yeah, when they are able to be independent. When I have taught them and raised them bright now they are young and need a responsible father so I'm waiting for the right time. 

[Strandly]

Nature has a knack for weeding out people who get tired of stuff like, you know, being alive.

[disco111]

I was under the assumption that at altitude (25K), that you needed an oxygen supply because of the thin air. 

[Gunther]

31 minutes ago, disco111 said:

I was under the assumption that at altitude (25K), that you needed an oxygen supply because of the thin air. 

He had it; took it off around 18K feet, IIRC.

[Golfingdad]

19 minutes ago, Gunther said:

He had it; took it off around 18K feet, IIRC.

Yup ... at 0:55 of the video. :)

[rehmwa]

I've been jumping since 1987 (instructor, competed at a national level).  The stunt is very doable (I find it to be a 'stunt').  It's real, he did this and did a great job.  The community is fairly small and I know people that are friends with him (though I'm not).  They put a TON of thought and engineering into this.  The weather conditions of the day and the effort and skill needed itself is really simple.  So the risk is unknown variables or he has a bad cramp or something odd like that which would hinder his freefall manuverability.  body position and control of your position in the air is something that can be controlled very precisely - so hitting that net is very doable, and the guidance indicators were very clever and very nicely thought out.

That said, it was a big promo.  My wife (also a skydiver) and I recorded the event and pretty much just fast forwarded to the final jump run and jump itself (the attached clip above is about it) - we couldn't stand watching any of the 'scripted for TV and non-jumpers' buildup footage.  Then we said 'how about that?'  "neat net setup" and then deleted the video and went about the evening.

Good for Aikins - he did something no one else has done.  The nice thing about the people in our sport that do push the edge, is that they truly do have great support and work hard on minimizing risk.  The old-school 'adrenaline' seekers are pretty much laughed at and not popular - it's not the '60's and '70's anymore.

[Gunther]

4 minutes ago, rehmwa said:

I've been jumping since 1987 (instructor, competed at a national level).  The stunt is very doable (I find it to be a 'stunt').  It's real, he did this and did a great job.  The community is fairly small and I know people that are friends with him (though I'm not).  They put a TON of thought and engineering into this.  The weather conditions of the day and the effort and skill needed itself is really simple.  So the risk is unknown variables or he has a bad cramp or something odd like that which would hinder his freefall manuverability.  body position and control of your position in the air is something that can be controlled very precisely - so hitting that net is very doable, and the guidance indicators were very clever and very nicely thought out.

That said, it was a big promo.  My wife (also a skydiver) and I recorded the event and pretty much just fast forwarded to the final jump run and jump itself - we couldn't stand watching any of the 'scripted for TV and non-jumpers' buildup footage.  Then we said 'how about that?'  "neat net setup" and then deleted the video and went about the evening.

Good for Aikens - he did something no one else has done.  The nice thing about the people in our sport that do push the edge, is that they truly do have great support and work hard on minimizing risk.  The old-school 'adrenaline' seekers are pretty much laughed at and not popular - it's not the '60's and '70's anymore.

I jumped once from 13,000, connected to an instructor.  But, my thought was, how could he know where that net was?  I don't think I'd have been able to make it out from 13,000 and he was 25,000?  At what point in his fall do you think he spied the net and started maneuverin towards it?

[rehmwa]

3 minutes ago, Gunther said:

I jumped once from 13,000, connected to an instructor.  But, my thought was, how could he know where that net was?  I don't think I'd have been able to make it out from 13,000 and he was 25,000?  At what point in his fall do you think he spied the net and started maneuverin towards it?

I hope you enjoyed your tandem.  You likely had a lot of stuff going on your head just prior to launch (like adrenaline, and fun, etc) to actually scan for the landing area.

They'd just 'regular' jump the area a lot prior (if it's not their local dropzone normally).  They'd know all the landmarks and know exactly where the net is from the door of the airplane.  (and the exit point would be confirmed by the pilot and jumpers via GPS.)  That area had some very easily defined roads/buildings.  the net wouldn't be a big deal to see if you know where to look.  they would not exit the plane without a good visual of the net and the right "sight picture".  It's called 'spotting' (inserting the trivial term)

13K?  I can see my camper from altitude

25K?  I can easily see our very small campground and hanger from altitude.

[CarlSpackler]

This should be considered attempted suicide!