Closest Ron Hill ever came to dying skydiving
Ever wonder why most national organizations want a degree of experience before allowing you to jump a camera?
Some people have heard the story of my closest call skydiving (and no, not the low cutaway), shown in the video above… I had a friend show up and he wanted someone to video his 300th jump. He was going to video a tandem, and he wanted me to video him. Seemed simple enough, hell I had over 200 jumps and was a ‘Master’. No, really my license said so – D license was called ‘Master’ back then… and you only needed 200 jumps to qualify!!
They cobbled together some video gear, the unit was a deck unit that I wore on my chest with a camera that went by cable to my head… It was old even at that time but was the best we could throw together. We got in the plane, and started to climb to altitude. It was the last load of the day, and it started to get dark. The Tandem Master decided to bail out around 7 instead of going to 10,000. That’s cool. I didn’t have an Audible since this was a 15 minute thrown-together helmet. The Tandem Master pulled. My friend flipped on his back… I thought COOL! – I will do that for him, and I flipped on my back to video him.
I rolled over and saw what I hope most people will never see: one spot on the ground that doesn't move… that was the place my head was going to hit
That’s when I saw it… horizon moving fast by my feet!! Oh this is gonna suck! The Tandem Master jumped from seven grand, but took it low. My buddy took it lower. I saw the ground rush past my feet and I rolled over and saw what I hope most people will never see. One spot on the ground, that does not move! The ground all around that spot however was moving away from that center spot at a very high speed. That non-moving spot was the place my head was going to hit.
I did a half roll to the left when I saw the horizon flying past. I was thinking “PULL THE RESERVE!!” As I was reaching for the silver handle when my main, a Raven II, snapped open. I am glad I didn’t have a Stiletto/Velocity back then, I would have been dead. I guess I instinctively threw the main as soon as I started to flip over.
I made one 90 degree turn and flared… I did video my friend’s landing and then the tandem. Looking at the video, you can see my altimeter on my hand as I reach for the toggles… it was hard to see the exact altitude, but the people on the ground said around 400-500 feet AGL.
Stories like this are why skydiving with a camera should only happen after basic life-saving skydiving skills are well drilled into a newer jumper.
