@Payback If pic here is reliable doesn't look like it came from the chute. Also no one is even questioning where it came from. Seems they know.
http://www.universetoday.com/110963/norwegian-skydiver-almost-gets-hit-by-falling-meteor-and-captures-it-on-film/

Yup, I reckon he scooped it up from the last time he packed his chute...maybe on the ground near loose rocks?

Me? I think it was in his drogue chute.

Actually, that was some pretty deep powder on a 45 degree slope with no major oncoming obstacles. If you're going to hit something at Mach 6 and survive, it would be powder snow.

Several videos out there of people skydiving and surviving hitting the ground at terminal velocity with only a drag chute deployed. Granted, they are major puckered units, but that is a situation more akin to "almost died".

I guess what I mean is, I don't classify near misses as "almost dying". It's like saying she's "almost pregnant" after pulling away before coitus.

When they say "certain death" that's really just typical objective news sensationalism, right? I mean his emergency chute would have automatically deployed once his gear detected he was at a low enough altitude and not slowing down, right?

I don't know much about the mechanics of skydiving, but I thought all skydivers had a backup/automatic chute in case of emergency.

... good point. Sorta meant the guys who made sure he was in the right position and popped his chute, but your angle is valid.

The less-than-fully-deployed 'chute appeared to be slowing him down quite a bit. Still, that's one lucky tale of survival.

...Also, for effect, shouldn't they be measuring the drop as something like "the better part of 3 miles"? 15000/5280 = 2.84

Can someone explain what exactly happened? I get that the chute deployed and got tangled up, but how did it happen? Rather, how is a jump like this supposed to happen?

Side note, I didn't know my asshole could pucker up that tight. Jesus.

That could have easily killed them all if the chute got caught in either of the rotors. What an asshole.

Wing-suiters aren't messing around, it takes some fit musculature and control, and definite body-mind-type reflexes under free fall conditions already plugged-in through a lot of parachute work. These guys are fit and professional that do the wing suits, I dare say if the novice strapped one on and jumped-off a cliff they'd drop like a rock without the kind of above experience mentioned.

I suggest getting to know your local airport and start a new hobby-Jumping from planes every weekend for a year or two, maybe join a chute club-Research the craft and travel to an event once the love of free-fall is all up in yer brain. You may soon claim your new drug of choice adrenaline!

Looks like his chute opened backwards. I don't know anything about parachutes, but does that mean he packed it wrong?

Yowch. What's the backstory behind this? That second (and final) hit looks like it would fuck a brotha up.

Maybe he didn't have a choice, but he took quite a chance trying to recover after the first hit. His chute could have easily collapsed or tangled and just sent him plummeting.

"Areodynamics"? More like "Aero-Daaayyyuuummm-ics".

Calling BS on the title...the parachute didn't fail, he hit the wall. He didn't "fall" 1000 ft, the parachute worked fine until it twisted, and still slowed the fall after it was twisted. After pulling the chute, he was never in freefall.

I would be ok with them installing a button that, when pressed, dispensed a new intern out of a chute for him to play with, if that meant he could serve another term or two.

I did this throughout my whole childhood. Started in the late 70s, before we had the metal chutes, so the adults would have to rope them and wrestle them down like old-school cowboys. I had to watch this just to see if anythings changed. Looked like he had an electric iron, which is new to me (we still used fire last time I did it), and the one, most gruesome thing the video didn't cover was what you did when you got a male calf.
Interesting though. How antiquated of a practice is this anyhow? It was originally used to identify your cattle so no one stole them, but does that still happen??