NEAR MISS COLLISION DURING CANOPY DEPLOYMENT

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

1. I screwed up.

2. I nearly killed myself and a team mate.

OK, with that out of the way, here is my ugly story.

It was a 4 way belly flying RW team training jump. Freefall was uneventfull until break off. When we broke off, I turned from the formation and tracked. I was concentrating on de-arching and tracking far. During my wave-off, I saw a team mate's canopy deploying about 50 feet below and 50 feet to the LEFT of me. We did NOT collide and I was able to deploy without difficulty.

Review of the video explains how this happened. At break off, my team mate on my LEFT turned 180 degrees from the center of the formation and tracked off screen. I turned about 210-220 degrees clockwise from the center of the formation and tracked off. The video ends here. Presumably my path crossed my team mate's radial path, which put him on my LEFT (he should be on my RIGHT). During my track and wave off, I was looking DOWN, not DOWN AND TO THE SIDES.

LESSONS LEARNED:


1. At break off turn 180 degrees from formation center. This is elementary, but critical.

2. During track and wave off, look both down and to the sides. This is elementary, but critical.

3. We were lucky....VERY LUCKY.

4. My team mate is a nice guy. He did not pummel me (vebally or physically) after we landed.

I hope that this story may help others keep from making this potentially catastrophic error.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[SkyHigh04 0]

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to hear that you're alive and well. Live and learn right?

"...And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return..." - Leonardo da Vinci

[marks 0]

ok, so check this out.

as your tracking, flat tracking. you are looking down.
try looking back and to the sides also.
make a game of it, try to be the flattest tracker of them all, then look down and back and to the sides, it is easy to see the path everyone is taking then.

your not flat tracking unless you can see your own feet!

[beowulf 1]

Glad you are ok and no one got hurt. I suggest you try some tracking jumps. Usually Matteo will lead at least one tracking jump a weekend. If you can keep up with his max back track you will be doing very well.

[happythoughts 0]

From a round, the breakoff direction is more clear.
However, I would prepare for the day that it is not.

What if you are doing a satellite, an open accordion, or a phalanx? The direction must be decided by being aware of your surroundings, so it is best to start working on developing that awareness while tracking.

Second, once you open, there is no guarantee that your canopy, or that of another will open on heading.
On your 4-way when you were close, what if the other person had an off-heading opening.

On a 4 way, ideally, you are tracking away from the others at 90 degrees. On a 12-way, it is not 30 degrees. When it starts to get more crowded, the possibility of an off-heading opening becomes an even larger problem.

Your canopy opens and turns 90 degrees to the right, or the canopy of the person next to you does, and you are flying at another open canopy head-on.

To be safer, when you open:
First, grab your rear risers and look around for traffic, even on just a 4-way. You can steer out of trouble immediately.

Make sure that you have clear airspace, then you can do stuff like fool with cheststraps, booties, sliders, etc.

Be safe, have fun.

[feuergnom 22]

reminds me of an experience with a close call i had some four years ago.

in that very thread tonto said something, that proved to be very valuable for me ever since:
"Remember, experience is what you get when you don't get what you want"


so i guess you all learned a lesson, you'll never forget.

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[livendive 8]

Quote

From a round, the breakoff direction is more clear.
However, I would prepare for the day that it is not.

What he said. Breakoff is one of my favorite parts of most skydives, perhaps second only to launches which are more 3D. Pick a smart line and then beat feet...track like everyone else is trying to kill you. If you find yourself being out-tracked by others, get some practice in and work harder at it.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[UDSkyJunkie 0]

I can add a similar story for your benefit and others:

Recent (last couple months) 4-way with a pick-up team for the day. Breakoff roughly 4300, I (point) turned 180 and tracked, the tail guy, somehow, turned and tracked in a manner that put him directly below and parallell to me. He's a pretty heads-up guy, so I really don't know how this occurred, but the fact is it did. I am light and a very flat tracker, so by 3500' he was well below (a few hundred feet) and behind me.

I considered trying to change direction but decided against it due to not wanting to inadvertently end up in another person's path (a poor decision in retrospect). I also considered allowing the low guy to dump first, as I was pulling away, and decided against it because I don't like dumping much below 2800-3000 with my canopy due to guaranteed 800 foot snivel (again probably a poor decision looking back). Decided instead to dump immediately with the logic that I was high (around 3300 by this time) and he would wait a few more seconds (poor logic).

Result: As soon as I let go of the hacky, he dumped RIGHT below me. my canopy did it's standard snivel, went into a minor linetwist, turned 180, and headed directly for the other guy's much faster-opening, fully-inflated canopy. I kicked out of the twist and went to grab a right rear riser to turn away (still decending much more quickly than him) and whizzed by at high vertical and horizontal relative speed at a distance of less than 15'. Everything happened so fast, I really don't know if my riser input had any effect. Other jumper was below and his canopy faced away, so he never saw a thing.

Too many lessons learned to list. Actually, I already knew those lessons, so primary lesson learned is to follow your training instead of trying to make something up on the spot! I screwed up, and it nearly was a disaster. I believe the other guy screwed up too by tracking the wrong way, but that's not really the point... I should have dealt with it correctly instead of making it worse.

"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

[base_nz 0]

Same sort of story with me...

I had about 60 jumps and was doing a two way with another novice.
I turned and tracked and he ended up tracking after e and dumping at the same time i did!!!! Both opened and as luck would have it ended up about 10 meters away from each other, Both got freaked and flew straight into each other at 3000feet.

LUCKILY we where both at the same height so when we hit it was chest on chest, Both canopies collapsed but then re inflated.

Close fuckin call..... and i was scared shitless of another canopy being within 50 feet in the air for the next 100 jumps.

.....And you thought Kiwis couldn't fly!!!!

[happythoughts 0]

Just some thoughts...

I'll wave to you! I'll give you a last moment to see me. may see them. 400ft of vertical separation at terminal (175ft a second) is not long. However, with an effective wave off, we get a 2-second chance to avoid collision.

Last weekend, I was in a 4-way zipper attached to the base. All 4 of us had blue jumpsuits.
Blue and black blend into a background of trees on the ground pretty well. Wave your arms and get some attention. Send that last warning.

Track straight. Pick a spot on the ground in the distance and head for it. Some people do not realize that they actually track slightly off heading, in a slow arc (that could be you). They slowly intersect with someone else.
The more people, the more important that becomes.

Learn to look Right as you leave, look at where the others are going, perhaps adjust. Then, as you track, a quick glance back next to your elbows, to see if you have nearby company.

Don't be extra cool Breakoff and track like a scalded dog.

I did a 2-way with someone who backed off 10 ft, blew me a kiss, and dumped... under the cameraman. His face -->

I also saw someone stay and geek the camera.
A few seconds later, he went past the person who was supposed to have the center. He came 20 ft from killing my g/f as he went by her.
The explanation was, "Dude, I have 1,000 jumps. I know what I'm doing."
Not from where I'm sitting.

It is serious

If you hit someone going 120 while they are under canopy (relatively stationary), it may literally remove their body parts.
If someone tells you a story about missing by 20 ft, they are talking about being 20 ft from a permanent injury.

Serious. So this deserves advance thought and some practice.

[GreenLight 5]

"your not flat tracking unless you can see your own feet!"

I strongly disagree. Looking at your feet will put you more head down and you will not travel as far. Looking at the horizon will get you farther than looking down. You should only look down briefly to make sure no one is under you and to keep track of altitude. But you should keep your head up through most of the track if you wish to go far.

Green Light
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."
"Your statement answered your question."