neoocm 0 #1 October 27, 2009 Hi all. I am a newbie. I have 6 jumps now and I am fascinated with my new sport! However, I´m still worried about safety. In my introductory course I was told that it may take 4 seconds for an advanced skydiver to detect a problem, break away and pull reserve, open the reserve. While thinking about it, I imagined myself having a malfunction and I couldn´t see what was wrong and was running out of altitude quickly. So given this scenario where the time to detect the malfunction is the longest of all the process, I thought that it could help to have a convex mirror on the right hand, to actually SEE what´s wrong and save the head turning time. I also thought that it could help advanced skydivers to differentiate more quickly and precisely a snivel from a streamer for example. I´d like to hear your thoughts about it. 1) Is this sound or I´m FREAKING NUTS? 2) What are the reasons nobody uses one? 3) Is it hazardous to have a mirror on the deploying hand? 4) Would it help as I think it might? Thanks guys for keeping up this wonderful forum! It´s just great! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #2 October 27, 2009 If something is going wrong during deployment it's usually above you not behind you, just look up...and don't be worried about the 'time' it takes, you have the rest of your life to fix it! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will_Evo 0 #3 October 27, 2009 1) Is this sound or I´m FREAKING NUTS? Although creative, if your having a high speed mal that you are not entangled in, who cares what it is, or whats causing it. your losing altitude quickly and need to act NOW. Maybe this changes for people with more experience, but for you and me, our first and only response to a high speed-non tangle scenario needs to be EP's EDIT:aka, bag lock, tangle mess ball above, horse shoe(I know that is in a debate), etc... Remember I am only talking high speed mals, if its slow, try two times or two seconds, and if its not resolved, go to Ep's 2) What are the reasons nobody uses one? As I said above, most people who have a high speed mal that they can't see, dont really care what it is, as long as they are not tangled up in some mess, its right to Ep's. 3) Is it hazardous to have a mirror on the deploying hand? Not sure, I suppose its wouldn't be the best of things, perhaps this is why we wear alti's on the opposite of the pull hand? That is something for someone with more experience to handle. 4) Would it help as I think it might? Dont think so :) Hope that makes sense, and I am sure the more experienced diver will have some better more in depth responses, so take what I said in moderation. Blue Skies :) -EvoZoo Crew Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickDG 23 #4 October 27, 2009 While I wouldn't call it a fad (because it didn't catch on) there were some jumpers wearing them on the back of their gloves in the 1980s. The were those small mirrors you could get at the auto parts store. But they weren't used to watch or check deployment, they were for clearing the sky above you before deploying. Didn't really work that well though. Another fad around that time was an annoying one. Everyone carrying whistles. And under canopy they'd blow and blow those damn whistles for collision avoidance. Spend the day on the DZ and you had a headache by sunset. I'm glad that one went away . . . NickD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beachbum 0 #5 October 28, 2009 Quote3) Is it hazardous to have a mirror on the deploying hand? Not sure, I suppose its wouldn't be the best of things, perhaps this is why we wear alti's on the opposite of the pull hand? That is something for someone with more experience to handle. Doesn't necessarily require a lot of experience - I think you're on the right track there as to alti's worn on the other hand. Adding an unnecessary bridle entanglement risk on your deployment hand is probably not viewed as a good thing to do.As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 14 #6 October 28, 2009 It's been done before, but it wasn't much help and not really needed. You'll be able to see what's going on when you look. The image is those mirrors is not really all that big anyway. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gearless_chris 1 #7 October 28, 2009 On all 6 of my cutaways I knew before I looked that I was going to be using my reserve. After you get some more jumps you'll be used to what a normal opening feels like. I still look to double check though. There was one time that I change my mind while I was grabbing the cutaway handle. If you've got a canopy over your head you've probably got a few seconds to look. I like the mirror idea. I may get one so I can video myself in freefall, I hardly ever get video of myself."If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
erdnarob 1 #8 October 28, 2009 A mirror in freefall !!!???? to check a malfunction ?? I have some doubt about its efficiency. And it seems to me to be a good way to lose awareness of time and altitude. Have a practice of cut away and reserve activation procedures from a suspended harness including an actual fall on a mattress for instance. While being suspended, have an instructor or an experienced jumper telling you what kind of malfunction you have (even better if showing you malfunction pictures) and you decide what to do and repeat again and again : reserve pull or cut away and reserve pull or just wait and help the canopy to untwist if this is the case.Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buff 0 #9 October 28, 2009 Why do people constantly try to complicate a simple decision tree. Stay with what you got, chop what you got & pull silver, or if you got nada - pull silver. Mirrors, whistles, dirt alerts, M8B's....It's called the Hillbilly Hop N Pop dude. If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough. That's fucked up. Watermelons do not grow on trees! ~Skymama Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 0 #10 October 28, 2009 I agree with the other posts above - but having said that: I applaud your creative thinking. Today's creative thinker is tomorrow's innovative gear inventor. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 563 #11 October 28, 2009 A few years ago it was fashionable for tandem instructors to wear small, convex mirrors on their left wrists to inspect drogues. I have not seen anyone wearing a mirror for a while. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
erdnarob 1 #12 October 28, 2009 To make it simple in freefall when the IQ is lowered the best is to have a realistic practice like suggested in my post (cut away pratice in a suspended harness). In your basement on a suspended harness, you do whatever mistakes you want and ...you learn from them and get better. Why sport people trained themselves, why airforce pilots fly as often as possible ? To get better and have the things more simple when the real thing occurrs. Human factors !!! Train your brain. The hardware is already designed to work, not the brain without training.Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuai43 7 #13 October 29, 2009 QuoteThanks guys for keeping up this wonderful forum! It´s just great! Ha. Just wait, you haven't seen nuthin yet. You're only going to receive sensitive & cogent answers, opinions, and suggestions in these forums. Welcome to skydiving and now to the current matter... Yea, buddy! I'd say you're certainly on the right track there. Don't stop with just the mirror to streamline your evaluations and EP decison-making processes, though. I'd also recommend programming a handheld/tablet computer (nothing big, no reason to be ridiculous about this sort of thing) and strapping it to your left forearm (after all, things are starting to get a bit crowded on your upper-body appendages). Instead of having to go through all those complicated AND time-consuming EP decisions, you'd simply glance in your mirror, ascertain the situation, tap in the pertinent 'yes' or 'no' responses, and within mere moments, you'll get an accurate and consistent outline of the correct responses. I guarantee you'll never suffer from brain-lock in the air again. Or... I suppose you could always phone a friend. Now before everyone jumps on the congratulatory bandwagon and wants to be the first to talk to me about it, I have to admit that I originally considered a total-telemetry system, with multiple GPS-sensors placed in key areas of the canopy, bridle, PC, etc, which would communicate directly with the computer, inputting respective orientations, and further aid in the efficiency of the process. But then I thought... that would be absurd. *for those of you who've actually read this far, of course this is a joke. After all, you couldn't really operate such a system with gloves on, now could you?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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gearless_chris 1 #14 October 29, 2009 You'd have to make the buttons pretty big, like the calculators for old people kind of big. Are you planning on a qwerty pad or the old style number pad?"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
birdshit 0 #15 October 29, 2009 I fall at 124mph or 181.86 feet per second. If you have a high speed mal at 2000 feet you have 11 seconds to hit the ground. At 3000 feet you have 16 seconds. By the time you got the mirror in position to see what was wrong you have burned a thousand feet. I was taught that I was supposed to do a five count and check my canopy. If I don't like what I see (not square, not stable, not steerable) go to EPs. Take my advice with a grain of salt. I am a two hump chump! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoocm 0 #16 November 6, 2009 Hahaha! Thanks for your responses guys, now it makes more sense to me... Get ready, the next question will be on how do I attach the handheld computer and telemetry system with accurate windspeed information for each part of the canopy Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #17 November 6, 2009 the next question will be on how do I attach the handheld computer and telemetry system with accurate windspeed information for each part of the canopy Thanks! TIG weld 'em! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyjumpenfool 2 #18 November 23, 2009 You heard about the "slow" skydiver that went into the store to buy condoms... The clerk totaled up his order and said "that'll be $3.95 plus tax sir". The skydiver cringed and replied, No tax thanks, I'll use tape.Birdshit & Fools Productions "Son, only two things fall from the sky." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
