My Three (Tree?) Landing Lessons

[thomas.n.thomas 0]

A bit after the fact, but I have been busy with not-jumping related activities and finally wanted to share what I call my "no s*** there I was" story of ineptitude. Not quite the craziness that many of the seasoned jumpers have experience, but enough to rattle me a bit.

The short version for those not inclined to reading:
AFF D1 (5th jump), I flew into a tree and sprained my ankle (awaiting MRI results, but 2 sets of Xrays say no fracture, woohoo!)

Long story:
I made some critical errors and wound up extremely lucky.

First: We drew up the landing pattern with final approach starting just beyond a treeline (first mistake, I didn't really appreciate the variable nature of flightplans and was rigidly adherent to what I perceived as the plan for that landing) - I didn't think about flying over trees on final as a bad idea in general, and even more of a bad idea for me because of my very very limited experience. I think for the most part, I misinterpreted and thought that my turn onto final had to be exactly that far behind the treeline, rather than "somewhere about right on top of it it." Lesson 1: Don't fly final over anything you aren't ok with hitting (given adequate room, which I had and then some on the other side of the treeline).

Second: I started my downwind at the spot we had designated on the aerial, and when I got to the corner to turn onto base leg, I saw I was still at 800ft. All I thought at this point was, "darn, too high, swing out base leg to lengthen it and lose more altitude." I didn't think "more wind than light and variable here, I should plan on a shorter final." Lesson 2: If you're too high in the pattern, think about why...what the wind is doing and how it will affect your next moves.

And finally, third: I get to the corner to start on the base leg at just above 300 and I think "perfect..." I turn into the wind and look for my landing spot and quickly notice it start to come back towards me as I lose momentum because of the greater wind that I hadn't thought about. Uh oh, I'm going to pass closer over this line of trees, and there's a fence that's along them as well. The only thing running through my head at this point is, "get over the fence and those trees" as I see my landing point continue to slide closer to the barricade of stuff I don't want to hit. I think to myself "no hook turns near the ground," which quickly translates into "no turns whatsoever on final" in my inexperienced mind. So with limited options, I end up trying to clear a fence and pass between two trees. I hit some turbulence, drop a bit, and get pushed right into a big fat tree trunk, but luckly have dropped enough that I hit less than a foot before the fence. I kind of went into a fetal position and kept my feet out in front of me, and my right foot took most of the impact on the tree trunk. Then my butt fell to the ground and I realized "I'm not dead, but that happened way too quickly, and much too close for comfort." Only later did I realize how insanely stupid I was to try and weave through two trees and over a fence instead of doing a braked 90* turn and landing crosswind in the plowed field I was over. Lesson 3: braked turns close to ground are definitely preferable to hitting large unyielding objects.

After a thorough debriefing and some more tips/tricks from instructors on what to do in different situations and how better to plan my landings, I ended up limping away with my one jump done for the day and a sense that the next few weeks were going to be painfully boring. But, everyone at the DZ was great, not only in making sure I was ok, but also getting the chute out of the tree, making sure I learned what I needed to learn, and overall I think I am much better for the experience. I was pretty ashamed at my mistakes but I received nothing but encouragement and instruction. I think maybe everyone realized I would be beating myself up about this one for many jumps to come. Hardly something I'll forget.

To the new AFF students like me, don't f around with trees. They'll win.

And the version of the story I tell people who ask me why I'm on crutches:

"Parachute....cool...turn...turn....Tree!...Thump!"

[Divalent 89]

Thanks for the account, and glad you survived with no obvious major damage. (How's the tree? ) I do find it useful reading of other's experiences, as hopefully I can absorb the lesson without doing it myself.

My boneheaded rookie mistake (one of them, that is) only led to me landing in a farmer's field (who doesn't like skydivers out there, and insisted that I owed him $50 for landing on his property!). Was at ~4000 feet right in my playground, but had to face into the wind just to hold my position (I think I was even drifing back a bit). Had this idea that I'd try to get down lower and out of this wind up at this level. So I yank a hard right to spiral down (like them swoopers!) and in one turn I am now on the other side of the DZ. OOO I think, I *REALLY* better get lower faster, and so I do it again! (the lesson: if you are barely holding your spot facing windward, you will run with the wind when you turn. DUh!)

Now I'm well downwind of the DZ (over a forest), and as I suspected, the winds *were* lower at 3K, and I am creeping forward, but not enough to where I could be sure I could make it back. I gave myself to 2K to be sure, but at that level it was clear I wouldn't make it, so I turned and ran towards the many open fields to the north west (and had a nice landing, although it was tighter than the space at the DZ).

Fortunately there are lots of out options where I jump, but even so, I shouldn't have had to use one on that jump. (And unlike your decision, I can't claim the defense that I was force to quickly decide in an unfamiliar situation: I did this when I had plenty of time to consider the consequences).

[DocPop 1]

Glad you're (relatively) OK.

You are right about flat turns being one option in this situation, and in order to be confident and competent to use them near the ground you need to practice them up high, and keep doing it on all jumps where you have the time.

Personally I fly my pattern by making the turns as flat as possible. This gives me practice on every jump and also slows my pattern down which helps me with accuracy.

The other point to highlight is that the point you realized that you weren't going to make it was on final. This is really too late. You should avoid flying over obstacles while in your pattern (ideally) and certainly on final.

Overall, as with a lot of incidents, it was a string of things that led to your painful landing rather than one single cause. Good job on recognizing them and learning from them. Also, thanks for posting here for others to learn.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[kuai43 7]

Good account.
I found myself in a similar situation at ~50 jumps. After suffering a brake-fire at deployment, I was in a quick spiral and it took me a moment to release the other toggle. (In reference to another current thread - you WILL lose a lot of altitude fast in brake-fire).
That left me a little under 2k and a fair distance out from the DZ. I headed straight back, but it quickly became apparent I was landing out. I picked out a field just across a tree/fence line. The closer I got, the more it looked like I was just barely going to make it. That's when I decided to make a 90 braked turn to the field I was over. As tempting as getting one field closer home, that decision made all the difference.
I walked off the field and met one of my instructors sitting on his truck who'd actually beaten me to the off-landing. Alert guy who'd seen my spiral under canopy and wasted no time getting to me. Thanks Mike French.

Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess