A morbid thought

[Michele 1]

Fight.
and fight hard. Til the end. All the way down.
"What of the dreams that never die? Turn to your left at the end of the sky".
~e e cummings~

[lazerq3 0]

I try a couple triple gainers followed by a half twist into a forward pike!!!!!!Get the cameras out cause were talking style points baby!!!!!.
Actually I'd probably shit a brick then die! Everyone that says fight all the way down....what are you going to fight. You have NOTHING to work with . unless you snag a pair of boxers and hole them over your head
jason
jason

[DickMcMahon 0]

It's simple!
Just do the best PLF you ever did!
http://www.dickmcmahon.com

[PhreeZone 20]

Gee... since its me doing both the main and the reserve, I'd say that I'd track right away from everything and try to land where noone but trained personal would have to look at it.
We had a fatility earlier this year at the DZ (heart attack, good main canopy, died under it) and he landed about half a mile away. We all desided that thats probally the best way to go..... No scaring the entire dropzone and minimizing the theropy bills all around....
I'm not sure what to put here right now.....

[Zennie 0]

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I'd try like crazy to get something over my head and aim for a forest or a stand of trees to have the limbs breaking slowing my fall.

Now this is totally rumor, but someone once told me a story of somebody who had a double total and managed somehow to land in a pile of cut-down trees. They acted like big 'ol air/branch cushion and she came out unscathed.
Prolly an urban legend, but I suppose if the pile were high enough it probably could dampen the impact enough to save you.
So I'm brining my trusty chainsaw to the DZ next outing!
"Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

[skymedic 0]

I have a video taken from the ranch on my puter of this very thing....double mall I think one (main?) had a line over and the other was a big ol ball of shit...the person tried to cut away but had problems with it....then bam...right into the trees and got hung up....saved her ass or his ass..not sure male or female...
Marc
Res Firma Mitescere Nescite

[jtval 0]

i'd aim for the peas...its a little known fact that most dz's have a fifty foot hole filled with pea incase this very thing happens actually, i would enjoy whatever time i had left.if i couldnt track for a hill i would try my hardest to relax(is that an oxymoron?) you know, the whole drunk driver theory. they rarely get hurt cause they're so limber. then i would get up and buy beer for everyone who was watching and insist they bought for meHave fun, LIVE FREE, Skydive
JT

[Brokeneagle 0]

If I didn't fixate on correcting the problem the whole way in (which I think is the likely scenario),I'd think of family and friends, the beauty of the earth from above, and how lucky I've been to see the world in this way, and know that it was all worth it...
Brokeneagle.
I'm really very gentle, no matter what my kung-fu teacher says...

[Jessica 0]

Well, in the "comical" scenario, where dirty laundry comes flying out of the rig, I'd probably roll on my back and hope I woke up before I bounced.
In real life, though, I'd fight it to impact.
Alex wants to see you bleed.

[dkearns 0]

Well the only good thing is you only have to wait a few seconds from when you know your fucked till impact. And none of us realy know what we would do or say on impact. How about none of of us burn in and we dont have to worry about this this. How about blue skys and no black death. PIPE DREAM end

[gemini 0]

It was a guy that fell into the trees at the ranch. Tree limbs broke his fall and the only injury he had was a sprained ankle. The video is some scary sh#$.
Gemini
... Fear? Fear is riding the plane down ...

[GeckoX 0]

Could you please post a link to that video? I'd like to check it out!

[mjkoziel 0]

I know two people who have had a total reserve mal, both fought hard and managed to get their reserve over their head. Well, one got lucky, but the other was fighting.
The one fighting said that he owed his life to going for his main high. - well, not high, just not low, and had enough time to try something. Think about it, if you go for your main at 2200, get a total, by the time you go for your reserve you are probably below 1500, buy the time you realize your reserve didnt open, your below 1000 leaving you with 2.5 seconds before its too late. Where if you had went for your main at 3000, you would have 6.5-7 seconds. That may be the difference between life and death.
If it were me, I'd probably say 'Oh shit!, this sucks!'
M

[algboy 0]

I'm not 100% on this one, but I think you might be talking about Mike McGowan's (Skydive Arizona's illustrious videographer) double recently. I think it was on "Real TV" or something. He was filming a ho-hum tandem when he had "no joy" on deployment, pulled reserve and--of course--main decided to inflate, too. He landed safely in the trees, then they gave way and he hit the ground from about 40 feet landing on his back! OUch!!
I have to say--I think I'd work the trees, too!
"That which does not kill me makes me stronger."--Nietzsche

[skymedic 0]

no this was a double out mal at the ranch...got it off of peir ltd web site...
Marc
Res Firma Mitescere Nescite

[skreamer 1]

Quote

In real life, though, I'd fight it to impact.

Gee, Jessica, is that what our first date is going to be like?

[pack40 0]

SkyDekker the positive examples I could found:
What is the Highest Jump WITHOUT a Parachute?
from http://www.173dairborne.com/amazingpara.htm
1. "Lieutenant I. M. Chisov of the former Soviet Union was flying his Ilyushin 4 on a bitter cold day in January 1942, when it was attacked by 12 German Messerschmitts. Convinced that he had no chance of surviving if he staged with his badly battered plane, Chisov bailed out at 21,980 feet. With the fighters still buzzing around, Chisov cleverly decided to fall freely out of the arena. It was his plan not to open his chute until he was down to only 1000 ft above the ground. Unfortunately, he lost consciousness en route. As luck would have it, he crashed at the edge of a steep ravine covered with 3 ft of snow. Hitting at about 120 mi/h, he plowed along its slope until he came to rest at the bottom. Chisov awoke 20 min later, bruised and sore, but miraclously he had suffered only a concussion of the spine and a fractured pelvis. Three and one-half months later he was back at work as a flight instructor." Hecht, Eugene. Physics: Calculus. 2nd ed. United States: Brooks/Cole, 2000. p 85
2. Flight Sergeant Nicholas Steven Alkemade was on a bombing mission over Germany on 23 March 1944 when his Lancaster bomber flying at 18,000 feet was blazed apart and in flames when he was forced to jump, without a parachute or be burn to death. He dove out of his destroyed aircraft hoping on a quick death. His speed accelerated to over 120 miles per hour and he impacted on a snow covered sloping forest. He was completely uninjured and later captured by the Germans who refused to believe his story. (www.urbanlegends.com/death)
3. The longest survivable fall, 26 January 1972, was Vesna Vulovic a stewardess in a DC-9 which blew up at 33,330 feet. She was in the tail section of the aircraft and though injured survived the fall. The plane crashed after the detonation of a bomb in the forward cargo hold. A flight attendant, 22 year old Vesna Vulovic, fell 33,330 feet in the tail section and although she broke both legs and was paralyzed from the waist down, she survived. She was in a coma for 27 days and it took 16 months for her to recover. The bomb was believed to be placed on the plane by a Croatian extremist group. http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm

[FallnAngel 0]

Hiya geckox!
There's a write-up of the double-mal here:
http://www.pierltd.com/new/product_descriptions/miracle_mike.htm
...and video from the ground here:
http://www.pierltd.com/new/product_descriptions/cinepak_double.mpeg
damn, he's coming down fast! very scary!! Also, I could be wrong on this, but I remember reading this post I almost bounced! awhile back relating an experience much like this one, but I'm not sure if it's the same person or not. Either way, sure glad he's still with us!
Squares,
Karen

[jfields 0]

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In real life, though, I'd fight it to impact.
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Gee, Jessica, is that what our first date is going to be like?

No, Skreamer. You would probably "impact" much faster than a double mal, so she wouldn't even have time to fight. Justin
My Homepage

[abraxas 0]

I used to say this to my jump partner Chanda before my jumps: "If I crash and burn, try to get a copy of the autopsy report. Laugh while you read the coroners reaction about digging dirt from my eyes".
I'd try to aim for the non parachute packing POS individual that did this to me. Straight through the hanger roof to the packing area. LOL.
I hope this happens to no one....ever.

[Aviatrr 0]

If there's anybody that jumps at Aerohio up near Akron, OH, ask Wink about his double mal......ask him to show you the video..
Mike

[Keith 0]

There was a guy a year or so ago who had a double mal. He went through a grove of trees and lived. The branches slowed his fall. He broke some bones but recovered rather quickly iirc.
Keith