0
Parafoil27

What was your lowest intended hop & pop?

Recommended Posts

We used to do 850 foot ones on Bridge Day when we didn't go to WVa

My lowest (with IAD from pilot) off of the tire of a 182, got the bag out at least;) Aborted takeoff due to storm clouds and lightning off the end of the runway.
brew

waving off is to tell people to get out of my landing area

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

1800' w/ 25+ knot winds.;) We we traveled 4 hrs for some beach jumps and got hit with some weather, so we decided to jump. the spot was over a thick neighborhood of beach cabins and powerlines. There were no other options but to land on the beach. I barely mad it back to the beach. My buddy jumped a Xaos 108 on the same jump with a 4 sec delay. Needless to say he had a very short canopy ride.:S But all went well and I'm glad i did it.:D

If you're not living on the edge; you're taking up too much room!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

Does a static line count?
I did an intentional jump from 100M (325ft) at a Russian DZ, South of Moscow circa 1990. When the jump master strapped the belly mount reserve to the harness I confessed (all through an interpreter) that I didn't know how to use one. He laughed heartily at the same time I realized the foolishness of my question as there is no chance to use a reserve when the exit is at 100m, they put it on as a formality and a counter-weight.
The jump plane was the familiar AN-2 bi-plane and it was a novel experience to have the plane DECEND to jump altitude after climbing out of the field and circling back on jump run.
The canopy made about 3 or 4 oscillations before I did a stand up landing. The whole jump took not more than 15 seconds from exit to touch down...an odd experience to be sure.
I dispelled the myth of the "soft American" that day to more than a few Russians and they demonstrated their new found respect for me with much back slapping and Vodka that I bought that evening.



Cool story, and fuck yea it counts.


LOL ... totally agree - Ace story B|

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

1800' (Low clouds). 6 of us were in C-207. 3 skydivers didn't want to jump and 3 (us) did. My friend who wanted to jump said "What is a problem? Not enough altitude? What alti do you want ? 3000' ?" And started to adjust altimeters to 3000' to 3 scared jumpers but they still didn't want to jump :S ?!
So, us 3 jumped from 1800' (lots of pumping to open quickly) and we did 2 way canopy stack, and landed downwind (hard) with parafoils onto tuffet. B| Whole jump seamed like it lasted for 20 seconds,...
I don't want to do it again ! :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It was supposed to be 900 feet the weekend after BD, into a party, but we forgot we were over a hill 400' higher than the dropzone, so it ended up being 500 feet agl. And I missed my handle the first time....

Using my maverick. Pretty normal pack job....
If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Demo out of a C-210. Weather in the area. By the time we got to the LZ the cieling had dropped to around 1450' and it was pouring down raining. Two of us on the jump and as we were contemplating aborting the jump the first jumper left. I was not going to be outdone so of course I followed in disbelief. Unfortunately the 210 had retractable gear and I inadvertingly dove on my back on exit. I remember thinking man this is a little low for this today. Got belly to earth and dumped. Luckily the trusty Sabre 135 opens in 300-400' and I was in the saddle by 800' and landed before the first guy. The first jumper said that the only reason he didn't call it off was because he knew I had made some BASE jumps and would probably be ok. Worst part was the rain.



"Admit nothing, deny everything, and demand proof"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It seems that a LOT of these low hop & pops are made during some demo jumps. Don`t know when to say no?
I mean, been there - done that. One season we jumped demos all the time, but I quit when doing the jump was more important than basic safety. And right about when sh*t started to happen.
dudeist skydiver #42

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wait a second, we were just supposed to vote for intended hop & pop altitudes? I read the first guy's response about an emergency and voted based on the lowest I've ever been out. Wasn't planned before I got on the plane, but I definitely got out below 2k at way less than 500 jumps.

Pre-planned jumps? Right around 3k. Unless someone farted, then closer to 2.5 :|
;)

I will be kissing hands and shaking babies all afternoon. Thanks for all your support! *bows*

SCS #8251

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We were just at the base of the clouds at 1900' and I was the second for jumping out of a Cessna 182. The door was open, the first jumper went, I followed and the rest of the load too. Since I hate slow opening I waited 6 seconds and pulled. After deployment my altimeter was reading 1000 ft (I had no AAD). Unfortunately I had packed my Sabre for a slow opening by rolling and creasing the 4 nose intake folds on each side. I saw a guy passing me in free fall and opening at 800'. We all landed uneventfully and mentioned the people on the ground who wanted to jump they were all grounded. NEVER again.
Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We were doing 900 to 1000 feet at a midwest DZ. The old one. Everything was cool till the DZO's son had a bag lock. We were all grounded till the clouds lifted. They went up a bit. A load went up and got 1200 feet. We were going to the plane and someone said "you guys don't have a hair on your ass if you don't launch a 4 way". Little Paul said " we've got two points planned.

We went up got about 1400 and got both points. We were all saddled out in the 400 to 450 foot range. Thank God for on heading openings as there wasn't much tracking .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I've exited a couple of times at 1100 feet. Once from a little helicopter that just couldn't seem to get any more altitude and the pilot wanted us (my girlfriend too) to leave, and once from a 182 at a demo into my house when the ceiling wouldn't allow any more altiude and the pilot didn't know any better four of us (girlfriend again) unloaded. This was in the late 70s when we were figuring out that BASE was do-able at these altitudes...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Back in the mid 1990s it was almost standard practice at "my dz" to do h&ps from 1000', though I never did it. One old skydivers reasoning was "it's 10 seconds to the ground from 1000', 12 seconds from 2000' at terminal, so about the same thing as deploying at 2k." Again, back in the F111 days (at least still at that DZ), when mains opened in 200' from terminal.
Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
New Year's Day, 2000. Cloudy all day, everybody wanted to make that "first jump of the new millennium;" we whined and whined until the pilot finally agreed (with a knowing grin) to "take us up for a look."

In the end, we didn't QUITE get 2000'. Not TOO low, I think we had about 1700' or so.

The best part was when we called for the "cut" the pilot actually INCREASED throttle to give us more relative airspeed for the deployment.

Elvisio "DZ unnamed to protect the innocent" Rodriguez

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Less than 100 jumps, jump run started at 2,300 feet, I was 5th out of the 182. The DZO got out at 300 feet once, when asked what the lowest he's jumped from he says, "You have to remember, we were landing in the ocean."
"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.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was sitting alone at Stellenbosch parachute club waiting for the plane to return from a show jump in Hout Bay. I was friends with the pilot and he offered to let me go with when he flew a "circuit". When we went over the DZ we were climbing through 1500 ft. Went out got stable and dumped. Very short canopy ride. Chucked my rig in the car and left before the skygods returned from the show jump! :o

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0