Mine was quite the opposite....popped off the top of a 10,000 foot mountain in Alaska....got out over the flat about 9,500 feet too far below me....lowered the lever....got an almighty BANG! sound with attendent yaw swings for what seemed a few minutes.....finally decided the donk had indeed departed to where their spirits go to....and took hours to get down to the lovely lush forest below. That is entirely too high for such things to happen....would much prefer 300-500 feet.....pace of life much quicker....and not much time to think or contemplate your future. Being in a 500D....one would think they fall like a set of streamlined car keys!