at 4,500 feet, he pulls his reserve. it works. orlando is now able to drift safely to the ground. keeping his cool under pressure turns a very bad day into a great story. there s no actual training for hanging from a plane, but there wasn t mush i could do at that time, just cut away, reserve. orlando s relieved when he finally reaches earth again. the pilot also lands the plane safely. orlando considers why his canopy might have opened early. a chute s deployment depends a lot on the closing loop. a small piece of cord that holds the entire chute inside the container if the closing loop is too loose, wind can get inside and pull the chute open. a pin olds it all in place. something happened when the packer was closing the
parachutes for subsequent jumps. so event organizers provide packers. enthusiasts who pack chutes quickly for a small fee. on the third day of the festival, norman plans a group jump with three colleagues, including veteran skydiver, orlando amador. orlando was actually a tandem master by the time i met him. tandem master is those guys that when you go for the first time, they attach to you and they re the ones that actually take you for a ride. orlando s experience should be an asset for the group jump. but when it s time to board the plane, the packers haven t completed orlando s chute. he rushes the packer through the process, so he can take off with his buddies. it s a decision he s about to regret. as they climb to 15,000 feet, norman presses record on the camcorder strapped to his helmet. on that jump, orlando and myself were the only ones
just hitting the plane and the only thing that went through my mind was, cut away. that s the only thing you can think of. i don t know if he s conscious, i don t know if he knows what s going on at this point. orlando amador remains conscious, but he and the plane are still in grave danger. orlando s own camera is still recording. there was a lot of tension from the canopy pull. i didn t realize it was open. i just felt the tension. i was trying to hold on with my hands until the pull was so strong that i just couldn t hold. it wasn t until i looked up and saw the plane was still there that i realized, this ain t normal, this ain t good. we have to do something about this. all skydivers carry a second chute called a reserve and that reserve is orlando s only hope. he has to cut away his primary and pray the backup works. just as he releases, his tangle primary canopy shreds from the wind rushing over the tail. orlando still clenches the rip cords in his hand, free falling from 1
you can see the canopy pull of air on top and on bottom and the pressure is so great, that you can actually feel the plane bouncing up and down, like some type of earthquake. if he rips out the tail of the airplane, the airplane can go into a dead spin and nobody will be able to get out. there s nothing nobody can do to save him, there s no way you can climb to the tail to the back and try to release him. that s only in the movies. there s only one thing can skydivers left inside can do jump. the pilot increases airspeed to counter the turbulence, but that puts more pressure on orlando s chute. as norman descends, his thoughts and his video remain with his friend, who s still dangling from the back of the plane. i m flying down, i can see the plane just getting further and further and i see orlando,
wearing a camera. it s a good thing to have video, so you can tape your friends and they can tape you and you can see what you did wrong and fix any problem that you have, just to become better. a better skydiver. with norman s camera recording, no one is ready for what happens next. as orlando turns his back to the door, his pack opens, the chute flies out, opening prematurely, yanking him out and gets snagged on the plane s trail. he twists out of control, smacking on side of the plane. orlando s own helmet cam also records the event. now his lives and the lives at everyone on the plane are at risk. having a premature deployment or early deployment is very dangerous. a lot of things can happen. by the force orlando is drug out of the plane, he can hit the door, be unconscious.