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Eloy Holiday Boogie 2007 - Let us not have another fatality

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It is no secret people from all over the world, with different currency and experience, flock to this wonderful boogie.

25% of all the skydiving fatalities I have personally witnessed happened last year at this boogie - seventy times my personal average of fatality per jumping day ratio.

I think the numbers are more than just luck - I witnessed stuff that was crazy. Also, I remember in 2005, someone who will remain unnamed, but reminds me of a barn and a house, yelling at me over the PA for a poor canopy decision... In 2006 people made much worse decisions and were not educated. Lets go back to calling out the mistakes (privately if need be), so we can all keep this safe!

Reminders:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2593116;search_string=eloy;#2593116

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2592835;

I am sure the DZ has reevaluated the situation and has made changes for 2007 that we all will find out about.... However, (some of) my observations, for the sake of being flamed by people who hate rules::P

1) Every jumper - regardless of how familiar with the DZ - should get a comprehensive "canopy rule briefing". Last year the briefing to our group was, "you have been here, great you know the rules, go jump." The boogie rules, the regular rules, and the rules as you remember them can be vastly different.

2) High speed landing and turns... Keep them tame, the person you are flying next to might have jumped a year ago... It is a boogie after all. Revert back to something simple for your first jump and slowly ramp it up, if you choose to ramp it up.

3) Police the landing area and pattern. Jumpers help jumpers. DZ management watch and educate.

4) Land out and walk. There is no reason to land in when you are uncomfortable or can not safely enter the pattern.

Other ideas are welcome to be posted to this thread... However, remember this is one cool ass boogie and this thread should be optimistic!

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stay safe out there folks. remember lots of un current jumpers that arent use to that many canopys in the air at one time.

sadly this will be my first xmass not attending the holiday boogie. i will be going somewhere else due to the landing restrictions at sdaz.

ill miss you guys lots, have a merry safe holiday experience!!!
>

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Was at Eloy from the 23rd to the 27th; just got back today.

Wish I could have stayed longer... :(

Anyway... things were a bit "slower" than I expected for Eloy during the famous Holiday Boogie, but maybe it had something to do with the weather??? ... Christmas day was pretty much winded out from the get-go... only one load went up on the morning and everyone on it landed way way out... to the east (?) out past the tunnel... then before load 2 could go, the winds picked up to over 20mph, gusting to 30-ish... bad day for jumping :(... good day to drink beer ;)

Anyway, other days, saw a few landing "infractions" in the main landing area... i.e. folks landing in opposing directions / not following the first person down / racing to get down & landing in opposite directions, but fortunately, no collisions. Pretty sure those not following the pattern / initial direction got a talkin' too.

Saw some folks land-out to avoid traffic... did so myself a couple of times.

Saw some folks seem to "push" the "no more than 90deg of turn to final" in the main landing area and "no more than 180deg of turn to final" in the alternate landing area rules, but nothing too serious.

Other than that, things seemed pretty good in both landing areas... i.e. everyone following the rules and playing nice most all of the time... didn't seem like a "free for all" at all... except for the Tandem landings in the main area... seems like the rules don't apply to them / they get to "buzz" the viewing area & the East / West rule in the main landing area doesn't apply to them... I was disappointed to see that.

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... except for the Tandem landings in the main area... seems like the rules don't apply to them / they get to "buzz" the viewing area & the East / West rule in the main landing area doesn't apply to them... I was disappointed to see that.


That's right. The rules don't apply to them. They land after the rest of the load and have the right of way otherwise. They land in the direction most likely to give their students a soft, safe landing.

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Per Bryan Burke, only one minor shoulder injury due to rough landing.



Yes, that is what I saw too.

And... This year I landed in the main landing area every jump except for three, where I could not get back due to the (balloon) spot(s).

This is a huge change from last year where I was running far far away from the chaos. I was very impressed.

I only was cut off once. We did a freefly, we went fast, I was open around 2K right over the main landing area. I saw I was the lowest and closest canopy and over the landing area, so I tried to sink it down quickly to set a pattern and give separation between the other groups... But a tandem videographer cut me off on final and I had to do a braked turn to avoid him, putting me on the opposite side of the landing area crossing the center line, which is a no-no when you set up your pattern on the other side... I have good video of his canopy, I kept it to remind me of what this boogie could have been on every load.:P

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> Per Bryan Burke, only one minor shoulder injury due to rough landing.

Yep. Overall he commented that people were a lot safer in the pattern. Personally I saw very few blatant violations of the landing pattern in the main areas. I watched several swoopers do 270's and land out in the desert, which seemed to cause no problems.

It was a nice feeling to be able to look around in the (crowded) patterns and know what people were going to do. Thanks to everyone who made the boogie a safer one, and thanks to the non-pattern flyers who stayed away.

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Yep. Overall he commented that people were a lot safer in the pattern.



Glad to hear things went a lot smoother this year.
I didn't go because of the carnage I witnessed last year.

I just wanted to see if people got their shit together before going back.

Anyway, how was the boogie this year? Were there a lot of people?

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Yep. Overall he commented that people were a lot safer in the pattern.



Glad to hear things went a lot smoother this year.
I didn't go because of the carnage I witnessed last year.

I just wanted to see if people got their shit together before going back.

Anyway, how was the boogie this year? Were there a lot of people?



The Boogie was a lot of fun. I have been to a number of boogies over the years and this one was the best of the bunch. I normally landed in the main landing area and for the most part the patterns were fine. The Staff talked to those few who didnt follow the pattern, but for the most part there were very few issues.

I had a great time and plan on going back next year for more fun in the sun

Major Dad
CSPA D-579

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Yep. Overall he commented that people were a lot safer in the pattern.



Glad to hear things went a lot smoother this year.
I didn't go because of the carnage I witnessed last year.

I just wanted to see if people got their shit together before going back.

Anyway, how was the boogie this year? Were there a lot of people?



The Boogie was a lot of fun. I have been to a number of boogies over the years and this one was the best of the bunch. I normally landed in the main landing area and for the most part the patterns were fine. The Staff talked to those few who didnt follow the pattern, but for the most part there were very few issues.

I had a great time and plan on going back next year for more fun in the sun





I have to agree. This year was very good and while there was an occasional person not in the pattern the overall traffic was very predictable and not crowded. The only scary thing the whole boogie was the Cypres fire at 9k feet during a head down round. The video is absolutely incredible and I am still amazed that the person wasn't hurt after having a terminal reserve deployment while headdown. One other jumper had a similar Cypres issue but refrained from jumping the rig when the unit didn't function properly when turned on. Overall, a very good and busy boogie this year.


The one thing I did notice that disturbed me is an observation I made over the course of the boogie and that I've seen at most DZ's. No matter what DZ I go to, I am stunned at the vast majority of people who cannot land their canopies. I watched more people biff their landings,some of which would better be called crashes, than I could count. I just find it hard to believe that all these people can crash in, get up and be more concerned about what they did on the dive than the cartwheel they just did across the landing area. People in the sport need to start spending more time concentrating on learning how to land their canopy. If you don't believe me, just watch a few loads land on any given day on any given dz and keep tabs on the amount of biffs, butt slides/crashes, run outs that end in a face plant vs correct landings.
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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A contributing factor to that might be that Eloy is at a higher elevation. I always noticed that I had a considerably harder time landing my Lightning when I was there than where I normally jump. I can travel to Florida and not blink an eye, but I always found it pretty dramatically different landing at Eloy.


W

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A contributing factor to that might be that Eloy is at a higher elevation. I always noticed that I had a considerably harder time landing my Lightning when I was there than where I normally jump. I can travel to Florida and not blink an eye, but I always found it pretty dramatically different landing at Eloy.


W



I also noticed a lot more people biffing in at Eloy than usual. I normally jump at a higher elevation than Eloy (2250 feet at Eden North) and certainly see a lot of sea-level'ish jumpers at Lost Prairie (4000 feet) and have not seen the number of people with poor flares as I saw during the boogie.

We have been putting on a number of canopy seminars in Alberta this past year and will continue this year. I know that here we do spend time with people off student status if they have "issues" landing their canopies.

All in all it was a good boogie and hats off to the Skydive AZ Staff.

P.S. Happiness was a open Beer Trailer on Christmas Day surrounded by three Canadians! Too windy to jump and we had the trailer to ourselves for a couple of hours!!! Thanks Brian:)

Major Dad
CSPA D-579

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A contributing factor to that might be that Eloy is at a higher elevation. I always noticed that I had a considerably harder time landing my Lightning when I was there than where I normally jump. I can travel to Florida and not blink an eye, but I always found it pretty dramatically different landing at Eloy.


W



Eloy is only 1500' elevation, but could be quit a bit different for folks coming from sea level and more windy places. Summer time always makes for fun landing here in AZ, landing in 110 degree zero wind weather is always fun .

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A contributing factor to that might be that Eloy is at a higher elevation. I always noticed that I had a considerably harder time landing my Lightning when I was there than where I normally jump. I can travel to Florida and not blink an eye, but I always found it pretty dramatically different landing at Eloy.


W



Eloy is only 1500' elevation, but could be quit a bit different for folks coming from sea level and more windy places. Summer time always makes for fun landing here in AZ, landing in 110 degree zero wind weather is always fun .



Byron (NorCal) is sealevel, and it just seemed a little bit speedier to me - nothing traumatic or that I couldn't handle though. I have to agree with LouDiamond - it's the (lack of) landing skill. The few times I've biffed in the past year or so I realize that I just f'ked up.

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A contributing factor to that might be that Eloy is at a higher elevation



For some of us - it is like going DOWN to sea level. You should try my DZ - last summer one day the calculated density altitude was around 10,000 in the landing area. And most people could still land on their feet.

However I will say, landing in Eloy on a colder winter day is easy. I kept wanting to do downwinders just so I could feel "at home".:P

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Scott,

I actually thought the landings in Eloy were better than the national average. Although I only landed in the experienced landing area in front of the hangars when I could get back. The two times I landed in the alternate, I saw a few more dirt stains on jumpsuits.

That is probably pretty sad, huh? You think landings suck, and I was impressed they were "better than average."

I had a long conversation with a friend about Safety Day. He was talking about EPs, seatbelt use, etc. I asked him, "how many people at our DZ have been injured about seatbelts EVER, or can't figure out how to use technology in every car since the 50s????

I tried to express my thought on all things in life - pick the low hanging fruit, spend the least effort to make the biggest change...

Statistically - the one major injury at my home DZ by an experienced jumper last year was broken bones from a low turn. All over the world, this is how people are getting hurt. So I suggested to him - safety day should put 100% focus on landing and (intentional) low turns to practice for the (unexpected) necessary low turns.

His response to my idea of low turn drills - "way too dangerous." Is it not irronic that people don't even think we should DRILL and PRACTICE for something that is bound to happen sometime - the necessity for a low turn.

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So I suggested to him - safety day should put 100% focus on landing and (intentional) low turns to practice for the (unexpected) necessary low turns.



Sounds like a very good idea to me. The only problem is that you need someone that can actually TEACH people how to land their canopies better. Pretty much every skydiver can tell you the proper way to land a canopy, they just cannot do it correctly themselves. The only way to really address this is through a canopy control course with instruction and video feedback. The part thats really absurd is that people have no problems spending insane amounts of cash on tunnel time or coaching but won't spend a few hundred dollars and a day or two to learn how to fly and land their canopy better. 2/3rds of the skydive is spent under canopy yet the average skydiver devotes little to no time at furthering their understanding of flying a canopy past what they learned during AFF.
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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So I suggested to him - safety day should put 100% focus on landing and (intentional) low turns to practice for the (unexpected) necessary low turns.



Sounds like a very good idea to me. The only problem is that you need someone that can actually TEACH people how to land their canopies better. Pretty much every skydiver can tell you the proper way to land a canopy, they just cannot do it correctly themselves. The only way to really address this is through a canopy control course with instruction and video feedback. The part thats really absurd is that people have no problems spending insane amounts of cash on tunnel time or coaching but won't spend a few hundred dollars and a day or two to learn how to fly and land their canopy better. 2/3rds of the skydive is spent under canopy yet the average skydiver devotes little to no time at furthering their understanding of flying a canopy past what they learned during AFF.




I learned to jump here in AZ out at Desert Skydiving Center. The landing area there is extremely hard compacted desert (concrete) covered in small gravel and rocks. After a couple of crash landings you learn very quickly how to land your canopy.

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