Banzai skydiving

Banzai skydiving is a form of skydiving in which the diver throws their parachute out the airplane door, waits and then jumps after it. To be successful, the skydiver must secure the parachute and glide to the projected landing zone.

The banzai skydiver wears a special harness that attaches to a cord extending from the parachute.[1] The cord can be clearly seen in Andreas Dachtler's jump video taken in Southeast Europe. This ensures the skydiver can safely recover the parachute. Otherwise, the normal harness would require a thread through. This would be impossible while in free fall.

This type of parachuting was first recorded being done by US Special Forces, both Army and Navy in the mid 1970s and early 1980s. This was an "Unauthorized" activity which when reported would often result in the participating military personnel being disciplined, by a reduction in pay, possible removal from the unit and in the case of one officer, a discharge of less than "Honorable". [2] state that only approximately a dozen of these events took place and though there were a relatively small number of injuries ( twisted / broken ankles, back and neck ), there were however 4 deaths believed to have occurred. It was the practice of the military authorities to list these as "training accidents", to not draw the scrutiny of Senate oversight committees, or public outrage. At no time were the highly trained Special Forces operatives ever given "official" sanction to carry out this kind of reckless behavior, and all jump training strenuously reinforces the fact that to take such risks will not be tolerated.

The banzai skydive is the most dangerous category in the Guinness Book of World Records, according to Editor Craig Glenday.[3] Yasuhiro Kubo took the challenge on September 2, 2000. Kubo waited 50 seconds after jumping before regaining and deploying his parachute. This won him a place in the Guinness World Records.

The Banzai skydiving category is still accepted in the Guinness Book of World Records. Guinness cannot accept a record claim that is likely to put people at risk other than the person attempting the world record. As long as the Banzai skydive guidelines are followed, nobody is at risk. The guidelines state that the jump must be done away from public places.

Sources

Notes

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB4uLm2wKNg/
  2. ↑ The Pentagon Papers, Vol. 17-016,1986
  3. ↑ http://freakonomics.com/2008/05/30/the-guinness-book-of-world-records-editor-answers-your-questions/
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