One of the most horrible feelings

[BlindBrick 0]

After a totally weathered weekend, we were fortunate enough to have one of our dz pilots offer to fly loads today. So, I took an early lunch and hopped on a load. Jump was fun and all four of us opened without any trouble.

As I am turning on to final, one of the other jumpers catches my attention. When I had turned on to my base leg she was well above me and apperantly in the pattern. I look now and she's low, flying crosswind and possibly on a collision course, coming at me from the left. This definitely gets my attention as I am too low for a 180 away from her and anything less will turn me into a hangar. Luckily, it becomes obvious that she will touch down a little ways to my left. I turn my eyes back forward and miss her landing.

A couple of seconds later, I am again scanning my airspace when I notice her laying on the ground not moving. She's got 60 some jumps and at this point I am thinking she must have hooked it at the last second trying to get back into the wind. I begin hollering at her to give me a thumbs up. I holler it repeatedly but get no answer. I finally look back ahead in time to realize that I am very deep into my final. Fortunately, I was able to dig out into a stand up landing and have nothing worse than grass stains where my knees hit first.

Even before my canopy has finished flying I am literally tearing at my cheststrap. I finally have to take a breath and tell myself to calm down or I can't help her. That does the job and I am able to get the chest strap, and then my rig off. As I run to her, I am feeling this total sense of helplessness as I realize I have no med training and that the best I can do is immobilize her and maybe apply direct pressure if need be.

I am oh so relieved when I get to her, because she is awake and telling me that it's just her bum knee that gave out on landing.

For some reason this is still bothering me. I find that odd becuase I watched a friend hook it in before and it was bad enough that was sure I was running towards a corpse. So, I've seen worse.

I thought maybe it was because I found myself in a possible collision with few options, but I was ready to flare hard and try to ride out the turbulence of her going in front of/under me. So, I did have a plan even if it wasn't great.

Then again it could be that I let myself get fixated on her when I should have been focused soley on my safe landing. Honestly, if it wasn't for the awesome flare power of my canopy, I likely would have ended up injured worse than her.

Or maybe it was the fact that she was the lowest time jumper, and I was the most experienced(I know that's not saying much w/ my numbers). But then again, we dirt dived the jump(which was within our ability range) and everyone had a good break off and track at the proper altitude.

Or maybe it's the fact that once I was running to her, I realized I couldn't do much for her.

I am oh so very glad that the injury was nothing more than a knee that will just need a few days to recuperate. I just wished I could figure out why this is bugging me so much.

-Blind

"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[ACMESkydiver 0]

Probably all of the above.

Sorry, wish I could give you some great insight, but I can't.

That would have sucked for many reasons, I'm sure that's part of why it bugged you so much.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[Hipwrddude 0]

In regards to canopy collisions (where possible) shout.
The woman's landing accident probably tugged on some survivor's guilt you have from your friends tragic accident. It's not uncommon. You don't want anything bad to happen to people around you, you want to save them. It's a form of post-traumatic disorder. An EMT friend of mind responded to a helicopter crash on a damp, moonlit night. Whenever one comes along, it evokes terrible memories. Sounds like you never really talked out how you felt about the tragedy. It takes a lot of that, or, even longer, the passage of time.

You're always the starter in your own life!

[happythoughts 0]

Quote

Or maybe it was the fact that she was the lowest time jumper, and I was the most experienced

It is like seeing a kid on a bicycle get hit by a car. After that, you want to tell all the kids, "No...wait, you are too close to the road". All the kids yell back, "I'm fine, quit bothering me."

At 1200 jumps, when 1/3 of your friends have a permanent limp or metal, somebody with 70 jumps will be calling you a safety nazi because you care enough to talk to them. That's not the worst thing I've been called, so that is ok.
This sport has intensity. The intensity magnifies friendships.

[jtval 0]

it sounds like your awareness was in good order.
I can't understand how she got below you unless she spiraled down and realized she was too low. but you did what you had to do to survive. if she was cross winding it that low than she mis interpreted her landing.

obviously I wasn't there but for m your text i would say that you did not CAUSE her bad landing. the most probable culprit is inexperience on her part.
that said the guilt may be with you for a while but I would like to say AT LEAST SHE IS ALIVE.
buy her a beer and talk to her about it. maybe she can shed some light on it?

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[sfzombie13 313]

i would reccomend to all involved in this sport to take a basic first aid course. you don't even really need to do anything much, maybe get a dzo to get a trainer to come to the dz with a cpr dummy and spend a morning or weekend. cpr is the hard part, the rest you can get from a book, but it's better to actually practice on someone, checking for injuries while not moving them, tying bandages, when to use a torniquet, how to treat shock, etc. i was in the military, and was a combat lifesaver, so it was pretty intense, but it doesn't take much to save a life. most important thing you can remember is don't move the injured unless his life is in immediate danger and how to treat shock. always do the abc check, airway, bleeding, and i forgot what the third one is. also, the skills are perishable, as my own example shows. but if you get your guts laid out on the ground in front of you, i can still save your life.

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Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

[ladyskydiver 0]

C is circulation - i.e. pulse.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[WILDBILLAQR 0]

A,B,C= Airway, Breathing, Circulation (Pulse)

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