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micduran

skydiver stuck in a tree

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Another DZ using pilot spotting only?:S Always look first...



Pepperell is pretty much surrounded by trees, though the landing area is a pretty decent size. One article I read described the jumper as "relatively inexperienced" - that could have been a major contributing factor to his ending up where he didn't want to be.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20101011skydiver_stuck_in_tree_in_dunstable_unhurt/srvc=home&position=also

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Skydive+Pepperell,+165+Nashua+Rd,+Pepperell,+MA+01463-1457&sll=37.81095,-122.252284&sspn=0.008256,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=Skydive+Pepperell,&hnear=165+Nashua+Rd,+Pepperell,+Middlesex,+Massachusetts+01463&t=h&z=16
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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So I google mapped the DZ. Looks like River Road is to the ESE of the DZ, across the river. I can certainly imagine a novice screwing up, even from a good spot, and landing in the trees 1000' away. I've seen worse.:D

Seeing all those power lines on poles in the video would make me very cautious to land in the middle of the street. Those wires are tough to see under canopy. Although the novice screwed up his canopy control, he may have made the right choice to go for the trees. I'm not joking when I teach the FJC and say "If you have too, land in the trees to avoid powerlines.":)

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So I google mapped the DZ. Looks like River Road is to the ESE of the DZ, across the river. I can certainly imagine a novice screwing up, even from a good spot, and landing in the trees 1000' away. I've seen worse.:D

Seeing all those power lines on poles in the video would make me very cautious to land in the middle of the street. Those wires are tough to see under canopy. Although the novice screwed up his canopy control, he may have made the right choice to go for the trees. I'm not joking when I teach the FJC and say "If you have too, land in the trees to avoid powerlines.":)



I've seen students land in the tree and the powerlines at Perris....and we are talking "several thousand feeet off" to land that far out!

If it is out there, someone will manage to hit it under canopy!:S:ph34r:

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Since all DZ.com threads get into speculation mode, I figured I'd share the following info that I got from a friend of mine.


"only thing I know from what [AFF instructor at Pepperell] told me was a newly a-licensed visiting [Nearby DZ] jumper. using student 240 gear, low pull, vigil fire, 2 out, in trees near horsefarm.

one of the news stories said they just got him down and he went to hospital... "

For what it's worth, I've jumped on and off at Pepperell for years now, and I think it has more safe outs than any other DZ in New England (which, as you'll see, doesn't really say much).
Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

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Ya know, Skwrl, so long as nobody gets hurt I kinda dig it, hearing about delightfully hilarious misadventures such as these. Winding up in a tree is just a perfect example of the kinds of stuff that can happen to you when you're new, overwhelmed and don't really know what you're doing yet.

It helps me remember and recapture that wonderfully exhilarating, breathtaking state of mind you get when its all still new to you, you get this sense of being waaay out of control and not quite sure what to do about it, coupled with an overwhelming awareness that you're way the hell up here, totally on your own, on your way to somewhere else real fast knowing you're not where you're supposed to be but only having the vaguest idea how to get there, and that you almost certainly won't if you don't figure this out in the next few seconds, everything you try only seems to make it worse, the wind is carrying you to somewhere you don't want to be and you wish it would stop, but one way or another you're going to wind up somewhere really interesting real soon whether you do anything successfully about it or not, and when all is said and done you and all your friends are probably going to think the whole thing was awesome, anyway.

God, I love this sport.
-B
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

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If it is out there, someone will manage to hit it under canopy!



So why did you blame "pilot only spotting" so quickly?



Why? Rhetorical question, right? Because it seems to be common practice for skydivers of shit on DZ's that aren't theirs. I am guilty of having done this myself a few times … when I was a new jumper and took the lead of those more experienced – and that is what I observed everyone do. For a self-professed group of very tolerant, welcoming and accepting individuals, skydivers can be very judgmental at times.

This was a low experience visiting jumper … first jump at Pepperell … low pull, Vigil fire. How is that the fault of the pilot or anyone at the drop zone??? (Yeah, another rhetorical question.)

This is not a “pilot spotting only” DZ. I’ve done almost 100 jumps there this summer and can tell you it is common practice to look out the door before climbing out.

O

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