Need some tips on landing

[DropDgorgeous 0]

Hi there
The thing is - to have broken my leg on the landing - I must've done something wrong . So I must admit I'm a bit apprehensive of doing the whole landing thing again, I also feel a bit outdated since half of the theory I probably won't be able to remember.

So basically - I just want to ask for any tips on how to prevent future accidents during landing and how to improve that aspect of my jumps and do you think it would be worth re-doing the theory part of the course? Thanks

[wmw999 2,121]

1. Get the leg to where you really trust it and aren't favoring it. If you slacked off on PT, then get back and do it hard. Run, jump, etc.

2. Learn to PLF really, really well. Then you won't be worried about the landings nearly as much, because you'll always be able to deal with them. Make the standup landing the one you do when everything is right, rather than the one you will do anything to preserve. That means practicing it with someone from the past, who will make you do them forwards, backwards, and sideways. We used to make our students do them off a platform. With faster canopies, you can do it from running, or a good strong jump forwards.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[AllisonH 0]

I don't know what the rules are where you live, but at my DZ all students who've been away for jumping for that long would be required to sit through the ground class again. It's pretty common for them to have 4-6 months off over the winter here, then they have to go through the class again in the spring.

[DropDgorgeous 0]

Thanks for the advice

[meteor 0]

I too got busted up on a landing, the details are unimportant for this post but I was out of the sport for 53 weeks. The post on Physical Therapy is crucial. Make sure you are physically ready to get back in the air. Review ALL training, especially the PLF and don't be ashamed to PLF. Find others at your DZ who have been through this process and let them guide you. That helped me tremendously. Then when YOU are ready, JUMP!!! If anyone gives you a hard time about doing a PLF, Smile politely and don't listen to them again.

[wmw999 2,121]

A PLF is still what I plan on doing if the conditions aren't absolutely perfect (wind, etc). I might do a standup, but I'll prepare for a PLF, and just do a standup if as I'm landing it looks perfect.

Works for me, and no one comes to talk to me about my landings.

If you're worried about landing on an object, chances are that you will (look up object fixation). If you're worried that you'll hurt yourself on landing, you're probably more likely to. But if you arm yourself with the tools to confidently land (good physical conditioning, PLF skills, good spot), then the chances are you'll feel like you can handle whatever the landing throws at you. And you can.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Gali109 0]

A few things I would add are:
- Understand what went wrong (turned close to the ground, uneven flare, too high, too late...?)so you know what to do next time. I'm sure you went thru this with your instructors.
- The key to a PLF is to keep your knees/feet together and NOT keeping your legs stiff when your feet touch the ground (bend the knees to absorb part of the energy already). Then land on your butt and roll over. This is an obvious repeat of what you heard before, but I insist on knees and feet together because I still see occasionally people trying to "PLF" with feet and knees apart (not good!). Don't be afraid to do a lot of practice on the ground so it becomes a second nature and you become more and more confident you can do it right.
-You can visualize your landing until you see yourself landing nicely and feel confident. It could help to rebuild your confidence and control the natural fear you may have at first.

Like Wendy, I'm always ready for a PLF, especially when the conditions are not quite right (windy, bumpy, uneven terrain off airport...). With time, you won't need it often, but being ready to do one on every jump if necessary is definitely a must.

Good luck and have fun for your next jump!

Laurent - www.RhythmSkydiving.com

[chrismgtis 0]

The general rule I've been going by for a while now is not to fight the landing. Just allow your body to collapse when your feet touch the ground. When you're on final, start to relax your body, concentrate on breathing, keeping your canopy straight and don't look straight down. On every jump that I've ever botched without a good stand up or PLF, I realized later on that I fought the landing hard, resulting in no PLF at all. I smashed my knee twice doing this.

I never know whether or not I am going to land on my feet until I've hit the ground. At this point in the game, I don't fight it. A lot of people will tell you that you should be standing it up at x number of jumps or that you should be consistently landing on your feet after x jumps or that you're doing something wrong if your not at 50 jumps for example. I say that is bullhockey and that you PLF whenever the landing doesn't feel perfect.

I'm no expert, but I'm not telling you "how" to land. I'm telling you how to allow yourself to do it the way you were taught.

I think the major thing is that it's not so much how perfect your body position is on landing, how far apart your feet are and all of the things that you are taught. These things are important and keep them in mind. The most important thing, in my opinion, is relaxing.

Not to say you should be at the mercy of your canopy, but by the time you have flared and your feet have touched the ground, you ARE at the mercy of your canopy and there isn't much you can do about it. Though there is plenty you can do to make it worse. Stay relaxed, let your feet touch the ground and allow your body to collapse.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[in2jumping 0]

There is some pretty good information on landings in the landing articles.

http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Landing/index.shtml

Go watch some videos on landings. Course not the swooping ones or people flying high performance canopies.

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php

[bclark 0]

Two very important pieces of advice that will help you achieve uneventful landings:

1. FLARE.

2. Be prepared for a PLF.

I know it seems simple. Sometimes that's what ya need though.

[DropDgorgeous 0]

Thanks for all the great advice . I ended up landing in the area where the more advanced people land - there's buildings, so I assume that the airpressure was less, and I flared too late because on the previous jumps I had flared too early and was trying to correct this. One of the guys who saw me landing also said my feet got stuck because the ground was very uneven.

I'm feeling sure that after I've done the ground training again I'll feel much more confident about jumping again.

Once again thanks for all the great advice!

[chuckbrown 0]

PLF, PLF, PLF.
I broke my tib/fib (with the same plate/screw combo as you) because I didn't PLF when trying to land a damaged canopy. I haven't made that mistake again.

As for rehab, my personal philosophy was that I was ready to jump when I was able to run full speed across rough ground at night. It's been 700+ jumps since my injury & I don't even think about it anymore.

[Docfriar 0]

Hello

I broke my Tibia and Hip on my 86 jump. Up to that point I had consistent stand up landing. But at this landing i flared uneven and turned myself into the ground. 6 weeks in a wheelchair because of my injuries i was not allowed to put any weight on leg or hip. 4 months rehab. I was able to walk again but favored my leg. Worked really hard not to favor it. did not even think about trying to jump again until i was able to run. Able to to do other sports like play Basketball etc. I started working again after 5 months that was also a rough time at the beginning I work as a Paramedic a lot of heavy lifting walking over uneven ground etc. When I was able to all that I started jumping jumping again.

My Accident was 19 July 2006 and my first Jump was 3 March 2007.

Talk to instructors or people that saw the landing. Take a beginner canopy course.

[squarecanopy 0]

Talk to instructors or people that saw the landing. Take a beginner canopy course.

[gofastrlbrown 0]

How heavy are you loading the chute. I would go back to .7 or so.

It is strange, the more I practice, the better I get!

[awindrider 0]

I hope you have jumped several times by now and are nailing the landings. But I haven't seen you post about it so thought I'd add my 2 cents worth.
I am recovering from a broken fibula and looking forward to returning to flight. I have really thought about what I did wrong and though I don't remember the moment of impact, except for the pain, I can remember what my feet and legs were doing just before impact.
What I have realized is if I had had my toes together as well as my heals the force of the clod of dried mud I hit would have been spread over both feet and not caused the twist and upward bend that caused the break.
The other and perhaps larger error was stretching my legs to reach the ground, there by taking the bend out of my knees. Since they were not bent the force of impact locked my knees. or knee. They (it) stayed straight rather than bending to absorb the shock.
If either of these errors hadn't been made I probably would have avoided the break. If I had gotten both things right I am confident I would not have suffered any serious injury.
Like you I believe it is counter productive to obsess about all that can go wrong. But it is important to have a realistic assessment of risk and do all I can to minimize it. Sorry I broke my ankle but glad I broke the bad habits I was developing.
Fly Free

If God meant for us to fly
He'd have given us imagination!

[mnealtx 0]

Glad you're healing up.... practice those PLF's once you're 100%!!!

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706