As a heli pilot and jumper all I can say is great job reeling it back in! A heli went down locally because the gas cap was not tightened and flew into the tail rotor. That canopy was about 2 seconds from causing a serious, probably fatal accident.
Great job camera man!! If not for his quick reaction and thinking, that would have been a disaster. It looks as if the container opened first. At 0:08 you can see his deployment bag(D-bag) is out before the pilot chute at 0:09.
1. Helmet shield open!! ''WRONG'' 2. Chest strap loose!! ''WRONG'' and maybe the pilot chute not inserted properly that's why...... You're very lucky guy
as long as they maintain some altitude, they can all just jump from the helicopter, in case the canopy breaks loose an hits the rear rotor... but should they try to land it, and that happens in, say 300ft. you're pretty much boned!
Are you a Skydiver? Its at 5k, a problem the pilot is not 100% sure of, he's had no request to land from the Skydivers. You can tell by the rotor noise he has started a slow descent. The pilot and the Skydivers did a great job.
Ya fair enough, I didn't consider people being tossed around back there without seatbelts on etc. I agree with KrisRamJ about slowing down but still keeping a bit of speed and some pedal. Question answered. Cheers!
This is scarier than 99% of the low opening videos I've ever seen. Well done for everyone on keeping their heads in a scary, totally unpredictable and certainly unexpected situation. Breathing again now.
To enter autorotation for zero airspeed the pilot has to push the nose of the helicopter down to gain airspeed... a very dicey proposition when you don't have back doors on and people back there without seatbelts on. You're right on when you say we're more comfortable with forward airspeed no matter the altitude.
Personally I'd have slowed down to help them reel it in, around 50kts or so. You wouldn't want to hover because if it went into the tail rotor you'd totally lose control. At least if you're flying forwards you have some weathervaning. I'd also get some right pedal in so if it detached it would move away from the tail rotor.