Venting about a mistake

[meloo09 0]

As you can tell by my profile I am very new to this sport and working hard towards my A license. Today the weather was beautiful so I decided to head out to the dz and do a few solos. First jump went off without a hitch and so did the second, so I thought. After I had landed a freefly coach approached me and asked if I ever used my F-ing eyes when I'm up there. Confused of course, and also stunned I told him that I was not aware of being too close to anyone. He proceeded to ream me about using my F-ing head and look where the "F" I'm going. Now though I did not see anyone, I can't help but feel that it is something that could have happened, I am a student and I'll make mistakes. But I just thought that there was a better way for him to call this to my attention besides cursing me out in the middle of the field making me feel like a total moron. Although I did plan on making another jump, I just felt so disheartened that I went home. All the coaches that I have met at the dz have been above and beyond what one would look for in an instructor which I think is why I was so upset about this guy, am I being too sensitive? One good thing that did come from this is that I will be even more aware of whats going on then before. OK feel better thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.

[AggieDave 6]

Dude, fuck that guy with the attitude. He may have had a valid reason, a valid learning experience for you, BUT if he's a coach he should know how to teach you what happened.

What exactly did happen? Did you cut him off under canopy or spiraling down through traffic? Or did you just happen to be the low man with a large canopy "ruining his swoop?"


You probably don't want to do this, BUT I recommend grabbing the guy after the beer light is on, giving him a beer and getting him to tell you exactly what happened in a tactful manner.


I understand being upset right after an incident and I've lost my cool before, but I know in the couple of instances I did, I went back to that jumper to apologize for my reaction and then discussed the situation in a calm manner so everyone involved had a chance to learn.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Zep 0]

Thier is no acceptable reason for an experienced skydiver to
ball out someone in public , especially not some one with low jumps
numbers.
the correct manner would be to have a quite word to make shure
that on your next jump you'd be more aware of whats above,
below and to the sides of you.
You dont say if it was in freefall or under canopy

Be carefull out there it can be a mine field

Gone fishing

[skygod7777 0]

the way this guy approached you was totally wrong, but what exactly happened??


i agree with dave, sit down with him, buy him a beer and ask what you did, and how you might be able to fix it next time.


later

[meloo09 0]

He said that I was doing a spiral at 1200 ft and almost clipped another guy's canopy, I don't know I honestly didn't see anyone near me. As I grabbed up my canopy he started walking with some other people and I could hear him ranting about me to them so I was feeling way too intimadated to approach him. Since I just felt like crap afterward I left although I don't know if I could have gone up to him later anyway. Like I said before I'm not denying that I had not done anything stupid but I am a student and I am learning.

What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.

[Brian425 0]

Meloo,
We all make mistakes. And as a fellow low jump number guy, I think Aggie Dave is right on the mark. When you are both a little calmer, walk over to him and ask what you did. Tell him "I have 2x jumps and I don't know what I did to make you upset." The goal is to learn and be safe. If he is cool and explains what you did, chalk it up to him being a little upset. If he is a dick, you still learned something. It's always nice to know who the asshole at the DZ is.

On a personal note, don't let another person rattle you. If you can learn to do this, it will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you someone rattles your cage, just relax. For me I take 2 deep breaths and think about what's going on. Funny how being calm will give you an advantage over other people.

When you get a chance, talk with one of your coaches or instructorrs. Tell them what happened and ask for their imput. Even if you have no idea what happened; they may be able to piece together what happened.

Be safe and have fun.

B

The only time you should look down on someone is when you are offering them your hand.

[popsjumper 2]

You picked a helluva good DZ to jump! (not joking, Z-hills is one of the best!)

Be aware that there are assholes in every line of work...I also agree with AggieDave....try to approach the asshole first...if that doesn't work, talk to TK - I'm sure that he will get it straightened out for you.

Tell TK I said hello.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[windcatcher 0]

wow, that freefly coach sounds real mature
that sucks he couldn't tell you what you did, blowing up like that and not helping you learn from your mistake isn't going to help keep other jumpers safe

Mother to the cutest little thing in the world...

[TheAnvil 0]

Fuck that guy. If he didn't explain to you why he was mad then he was just making a fool of himself.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[Dougiefresh 0]

Ditto. He's having the exact wrong response to the situation. If he doesn't want it to happen again, the best way to achieve that goal is to EXPLAIN to you what you did wrong, when, and why it's wrong.

Blowing up just pisses you off, doesn't help anyone learn, and doesn't prevent the situation from arising again.

Who knows, maybe he could have learned something from you.

Did you ask anyone else if they saw something that needed correcting? Approach his friends and see if they'll give you some insight.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

He said that I was doing a spiral at 1200 ft

Well, I know that spiralling at 1200ft kinda burns me, since at 1200ft I'm already on my downwind leg to setup my swoop, BUT yelling at you isn't the answer. Education is, especially about holding areas, landing patterns and altitudes of acceptable behavors.
We had a guy jumping at my DZ on occasion loading his old Sabre1 at about 1.4:1 or so, and on every single skydive he would open and then start spiralling wanting to be the first one down.

Well, I'm not the highest performance canopy on the DZ loading at 1.9:1 and if I did much of anything I'd be on level with him when he stopped spiralling and he was really screwing with the rest of the traffic trying to setup as well. So after a couple of really tactful comments were hinted at (this guy has around 1500 jumps or so) about setting up in the holding area and getting in "queue" with other jumpers, letting the faster canopies go first out of curtiousy, the S&TA finally just sat him down and discussed why, who, what and where so the guy could possibly learn.

He decided that the S&TA was full of shit...*shrug* some people don't want to learn.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[weegegirl 2]

not everyone reacts in a politically correct way when they are scared. spiraling over the lz at 1200 isn't such a hot idea. agreed that this guy could have handled it a bit more tactfully. but... i've seen the nicest people lose their shit when they are worried about the safety of a friend.

[hookitt 0]

Greetings

Remember this. Everyone began with zero experience. The only difference between you and someone with 5000 jumps is time. He's been around the sport longer than you, but that is all. Blow it off. I'm sure you're a lot more experienced than he is at something else

Spiraling over the top is a bad Idea and you're aware of it now. When you have a lot more jumps and the same thing happens to you, just remember you were in his shoes once.

It's up to you if you want to go talk to the coach but it will be easier if you just get it over with. Humility is a stupid game, but you could still learn from the guy if you'd like.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[JohnMitchell 14]

Holy S#!+, I would never talk to someone with 23 jumps like that, or hopefully, anyone else on the DZ. That approach is way counterproductive to safety. Hope you learned both lessons, #1 Don't spiral your fat canopy right down the middle of the DZ, and #2, Don't ever hire that a$$hat as a coach.

It's tough being a novice, but hang in there. It is sooo worth it.

[Kbone 0]

Newbies have to pay dues. Expect to be told a number of things repeatedly for the next 100-200 jumps.....

1)Track away from the jump run
2)Don't spiral down over the landing area
3)Don't land "here" (swoop grass)
4)Don't take so long to spot!

It gets easier with experience. When you are ready,
try jumping at some different dropzones and maybe you will find one with a better vibe!

[Tonto 1]

Spiralling in the pattern isn't good, but you know that now.

One day, when you're really good, learn to be nicer to the new people when they scare you and your freinds.

Good luck.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[btucker 0]

Offer to pack for him as way of an apology.

Ron gives advice on packing for skygods:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1134654;search_string=uncollapse%20my%20slider%21%21%21;#1134654

[Peej 0]

Meloo, don't worry about it dude. We live and learn, in fact i remember walking into our clubhouse after a jump one day and having another JM tell me that i'd just cut Tonto off.

I ran in, appologised profusely and we discussed what had happened and how to be more aware. End of story. Like the others have said, discuss the incident, learn from it and then move on.

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

[meloo09 0]

Thanks everyone for your input, I really appreciate AND learned from it. I was a little shaken from it yesterday but I'm heading back in a couple days and will discuss it with one of my usual instructors.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.