[Newsbot]

Title: Teammate saves fellow U.K. serviceman after parachute fails
Category: Military
Posted By: andyt
Date: 2015-06-20 08:26:18
Canadian

[andyt]

Good job.

But there's also:

$1:

Alan Eugene Magee (13 January 1919 – 20 December 2003) was an American airman during World War II who survived a 22,000-foot (6,700 m) fall from his damaged B-17 Flying Fortress. He was featured in Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 10 most amazing survival stories of World War II.

Magee was wounded in the attack but managed to escape from the ball turret. His parachute had been damaged and rendered useless by the attack, so having no choice, he leapt from the plane without a parachute, rapidly losing consciousness due to the altitude.
By some accounts,[which?] Magee fell over four miles before crashing through the glass roof of the St. Nazaire railroad station. Somehow the glass roof mitigated Magee's impact and rescuers found him still alive on the floor of the station.
Magee was taken as a prisoner of war and given medical treatment by his captors. He had 28 shrapnel wounds in addition to the damage from the fall. He had several broken bones, severe damage to his nose and eye, and lung and kidney damage, and his right arm was nearly severed.

[2Cdo]

Seen chutes get tangled on static line jumps a couple of times. Both times no injuries to either soldier, other than aging a couple of years in a matter of a minute or so.

[andyt]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Seen chutes get tangled on static line jumps a couple of times. Both times no injuries to either soldier, other than aging a couple of years in a matter of a minute or so.

And some extra laundry to do likely.

Were these jumps at altitude? How did those guys survive when many don't?

[2Cdo]

andyt andyt:

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Seen chutes get tangled on static line jumps a couple of times. Both times no injuries to either soldier, other than aging a couple of years in a matter of a minute or so.

And some extra laundry to do likely.

Were these jumps at altitude? How did those guys survive when many don't?

The two I witnessed were static line jumps from 1000 feet. As for survival versus death, who knows. I read of a parachutist who had both main and reserve fail and fell 10,000 feet into a plowed field and lived. Albeit with some very serious injuries.

[andyt]

I watched the video of the rescue. Both guys were very nonchalant, but that took guts to risk getting tangled up in the failed chute. Lucky there was water nearby.