Pauli Belik
Date: March 7, 1983 Nationality: Finnish
Object Type: Antenna
Location: Kaknäs tower, Stockholm, Sweden
COD: impact
Clothes / Suit: Normal Clothes

Description:

Pauli, along with several other jumpers, had been jumping the day prior and landing into very deep snow. The jumpers shook the dry snow out of the canopies prior to packing, but evidently Pauli didn't remove it all. What's left melts inside the packed rig while it sat in a warm room. The jumpers deposit the rigs into the trunk of an old Saab and drive to Stockholm. The temperatures are well below freezing. On deployment Pauli's canopy went to line stretch but is basically a solid block of ice that never inflates.

Update: Pauli did not have his own parachute gear at that time.
He had to borrow one. Unfortunately he borrowed a slow opening Unit system. Because the tower was only 170m a static line jump was planned. The jumpers had to use power scissors to get to the roof.

At that time parachute needed a distance of 150m to fully deploy (Static line much less).
Jari Mynttinen who later died on Troll Wall was the first to go over.

His jump went perfect. Because, it was a static line jump. They used a rope/thread (normal) to connect static line and and the parachute.
Pauli has used loose single knot to connect to the parachute. Others had made douple knots.

At the moment Pauli made the leap, the static line got loose from the parachute.

The connection rope was broken too soon. The static line did not pull/help the pilot chute out of the bag.
The jump became a normal freefall at that very moment.
Since he was using Unit, a slow opening system even on a regular jump, the parachute had no time to open. One second more and he most likely had survived.



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