foresttroypullman

After an uneventful exit.... The pilot dove the airplane 180 degrees right at me and my tandem passenger. how we got so lucky?!?! Not sure. I have never heard of this happening. After some research and talking to friends about it I now know of two other incidents like this. One is on you tube and he did not get as lucky as we did.... This was NOT a planned stunt. It is common for the pilot to dive the plane at a SAFE distance. On this jump the pilot messed up in a big big way. We all are very very lucky. If the wing did hit us it could have crippled us or killed us easily. The impact could have ripped the wing off possibly killing the pilots who also got very lucky. Yes i saw the plane as it was diving. This is normal. I often point it out to my passengers for the visual effect if they have the awareness. When i did realize he was going to hit us all i had time for was to ball up for impact. After the wing had ripped my drogue off i had no choice but to pull my reserve. With no drogue there is not enough drag to pull the main out of the container. I had to pull the reserve as soon as I realized this otherwise we would have accelerated past a safe opening speed... As for the lady... This is my good friends wife. Her reactions are very normal for a first time jumper. She had sensory overload. She did realize that it seemed like a short free fall (which it was), but did not realize how close we were to death until i explained to her what happened. THIS IS NORMAL.... First time students are often oblivious to what is happening on their first jump...She did an awesome job and stayed calm thru the whole experience...