Man jumps from plane without a chute

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20 years 11 months

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An American man has died after jumping from a skydiving plane without a parachute.

Police said it was no accident and that Sloan Carafello, 29, committed suicide, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Carafello was an observer on the plane when he leapt out behind three skydivers at an altitude of 3000m in New York state on Saturday.

He landed on a house in a rural town west of Albany, severely damaging it, police said.

Mr Carafello had unnerved some of his supermarket co-workers by frequently asking them: "If you had to die, would you rather jump off a building or jump out of a plane without a parachute?'' Dave Bilili, an assistant manager at the store, told the Times Union of Albany.

Police said Mr Carafello committed suicide.

"It could have been one of two things, accident or suicide, and we ruled out accident,'' police spokesman Mario DiCristofaro said.

A post-mortem examination on Sunday found Mr Carafello died of massive trauma.

Pilot Bob Rawlins, who also owns the skydiving company, said Mr Carafello had asked to go up so he could take pictures for a school project.

A videographer on board captured images of Carafello leaving the plane, which he gave to police.

"It's not the easiest thing to see,Mr '' DiCristofaro said.

"He comes out of the plane and starts falling.''

Original post

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18 years 11 months

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"It could have been one of two things, accident or suicide, and we ruled out accident,'' police spokesman Mario DiCristofaro said.

Full credit to those cops for seizing the obvious choice!

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18 years 1 month

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A post-mortem examination on Sunday found Mr Carafello died of massive trauma.

No kidding?

JB.

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19 years 5 months

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A few years ago a similar event happened.
It seems a photographer/skydiver was really into the sport and would photograph friends with a helmet cam on the way down.
He did many jumps in one day until he jumped out of the plane and reached for his ripcord and found that in his haste to get on the next plane, he forgotten to put on his chute.
In the confusion and rush to get out to the plane, no one else noticed.

That was ruled an accident.

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19 years 5 months

Posts: 329

Sans Chute

The regs require the pilot of a jumpship to wear a parachute. It's obviously his/her decision whether to abandon ship during an emergency or to fly the airplane in.
How the hell was a passenger allowed in a jump aircraft, albeit belted in, to fly without a parachute?
Wouldn't it have been one hell of a mess in the event of an inflight emergency during which the pilot and jumpers abandoned the airplane in midair, leaving one hapless, helpless whofo belted in on the floor? SAT ...
As for the photographer who left the airplane without his rig on, it's inconceivable, in my opinion, that it was an accident. One of the last things most jumpers do before getting ready to exit the aircraft is to instinctively check the fasteners on their harnesses to ensure that they're secure. Believe me, you run a check before leaving the airplane, whether it's a small Cessna, Piper Cub, C-130 or C-17.
Yes, there have been two instances where a jumper exited an aircraft in flight without a parachute, but both, Rod Pack being the first circa 1960, planned the jump with a buddy successfully passing a parachute in the air while in freefall.
Also, in response to one of the above posts - an old US Navy medical report documenting parachuting injuries and fatalities stated that X-number of fatalities in which the parachutes malfunctioned were caused by "abrupt deceleration". No ****!

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19 years 5 months

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Re wearing parachutes in jump planes....I can state that USAF tranport crews don't wear parachutes as normal practice. (I can't speak to combat operations).
I've been in a C-141 while dropping allied airborne forces and I did not wear a parachute...mind you the loadmaster let me NO WHERE near the door and I was strapped in.

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Parachutes

JBoyle:
Yes, you are correct. Military pilots in large transports don't usually wear parachutes during peacetime paradrops. Neither do helicopter pilots. But all the guys working in the back do. As you noted, neither the jumpmaster nor loadmaster would let you anywhere near the door without a parachute or restraining harness. There are different circumstances - talk to the AC-130 guys about parachutes.

My above post regarding jumpship pilots wearing parachutes was in relation to pilots in civilian skydiving clubs. The mention of large transports in the post was linked to the checking of harness leg and chest straps prior to leaving the aircraft, so it might not have been clear. SAT. With the exception of large military transports, and perhaps military Beavers, I've personally never been on a load where the pilot did not wear a parachute - nor the guys in the back of large military transports. (My experience includes both military and civilian jumps. Static line and freefall.)

A friend of mine whose front-mounted reserve accidentally deployed out the door in a Cessna was torn right through the side of the aircraft. Fortunately, the canopy did not foul with the tailplane and he was most fortunate to survive with no more than some bruises. The pilot too was fortunate in that he was able to bring the aircraft in without further incident. Ask that pilot whether he ever goes up without a parachute strapped on.

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What a way to go...uff, just think of the impact, and the sound it'd make.
:(

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"He comes out of the plane and starts falling.''

...and money was spent on educating this reporter.

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17 years 10 months

Posts: 168

JBoyle:
Yes, you are correct. Military pilots in large transports don't usually wear parachutes during peacetime paradrops. Neither do helicopter pilots.

Would you want to be the one jumping out a heli going down?

Quick Mince :D

That said when i went gliding of flying in the Air Cadets we had to wear chutes and we were only in small 2 seaters, e.g. RAF Tutor.

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Goin' Down

Would you want to be the one jumping out a heli going down?

Quick Mince :D

That said when i went gliding of flying in the Air Cadets we had to wear chutes and we were only in small 2 seaters, e.g. RAF Tutor.

Yep. You betcha! You don't know how often I've sweated a heavy load clawing into the air on a hot day - I've always maintained that as long as we had four hundred feet, I'd be out of there. Hey, I've jumped choppers, free-fall and static line. The first was an H-34 in Bragg, and if I was in one going in, I'd be out of it, rotor blades and all. Just give me 400 feet. What's the difference between a chopper and and aircraft out of control, perhaps spinning, or perhaps in pieces after a mid-air? I'd get my ass out of there!

Gliders? Isn't it regulation that glider pilots wear 'chutes? And aerobatic pilots?