I had been thinking about the few terrifying seconds poor Stephen would have known he was about to die. My heart sank when the narrator said he would have been aware for at least 10-20 seconds.
Not quite; the bridle is normally the last thing you tuck in after everything else is packed, and depending on the container, the reserve risers can be easily accessible without opening much. It definitely would take knowledge of equipment to think of that, but wouldn't take very long to do. I think they did leave out though that packers and riggers have that same knowledge, even if they're not jumpers
I recently watched a video about a young man's suicide. He had started doing more and more riskier things, including sky-diving. He eventually jumped off a bridge to his death. Most suicides are cheerful before they take their own life.
S. Hurd, that’s right, I know many cases where people haven’t shown they were depressed or suicidal then randomly taken their own life, I think I’ve committed suicide, I have severe depression but you learn how to act normal and cheerful, you just never know what’s going on inside a person’s head ( sorry, he should say “I think he committed suicide”
You’re right ! I’ve read that once someone has made up their mind to go through with it , it brings closure so to speak . So their last few days , they live like they haven’t a care in the world !!
I think it was suicide in this case. The fact that he randomly mentioned how he'd do it if he were going to commit suicide is the simplest but most telling answer. But nobody wants the mysterious death of someone they love and care about to be suicide, they'd rather think they were murdered than know they took their own life.
Surfed the best waves in the world for fourty years , motocross racing & sportscars addict , 51 jumps paragliding from cliffs , but never ask me to jump from a plane with a parachute prepared by someone else...
They should have. He led everyone’s hook knives for fibers that day….. why would skydivers use scissors to do this? He may have used them at SOME point on his gear but less likely scissors would have been used to sneakily sabotage someone (especially from HIS CAR). This is a mystery still to me bc I don’t feel like he did it
"The American parachutist, 36-year-old Cary Hopwood, hit the ground at an estimated 75 mph after he separated from his slashed parachute lines. He survived after plunging into a field in southern Illinois, but his would-be killer was never caught." New York Post
The Opening Narration about Skydiving and the Skydiving Community reminds me of a former Skydiver I knew who said he stopped doing it because he felt he'd done it so much, he'd risked the statistics of an accident.
My Ma became a skydiver, and my youngest brother (he had some type of fancy license, perhaps). My youngest sister also, she was not a total fan. I swear Ma became addicted, but thought it was my imagination; the first part of this story resonates. Thank you!
I have no idea about sky diving but I was thinking no way in hell would I let someone pack my parachute for me?! I would gladly do the task 6000 times no matter how boring or time consuming!
