19 knot Direct Downwind Landing...whew

[Monk 0]

Wow...what a pisser today. Had a downwind landing with the winds at 17-19 knots. I'm setting up in a left pattern getting in place for a 180 turn to final when out of nowhere I hit a downdraft of over 500 ft per min. I'm a high time instructor pilot for the German airlines so I know a bad downdraft when I hit one. So I lost so much altitude that I couldn't risk turning back into the wind...and a braked turn would have put me into the side of a building. So what to do?? Land downwind on a dirt road. My ground speed was over 40. I ski'd the first half of the landing...then ran another 1/4 of it out then had no choice but to PLF the rest. Everyone freaked and started coming out thinking I was hurt bad. But I stand up...brush myself off and curse a bit and head on in to repack. Only thing that happened was a scuffed and dusty rig and a very small scratch on my knee. So lessons learned?? Don't try to turn back into the wind if its going to cause you to die. I'm proof positive that you can walk away just fine from a downwind landing that is well over 40 knots. I had one guy try to tell me I made the wrong decision. Hmmmm....Well I'm none worse for the wear and only have a dirty rig. What do you think?? Bad descion...I think not.
Ciao
Monk <---Dusty Monk

[harro 0]

Man you walked away.....great landing ( Golf Clap )
Me on the other hand suffered a fractured vertibrae from a high speed downwinder, some have the luck, some don't!
Freemind, freesky, freebeer, freefly

[froggie 0]

Monk,
i think its one of those "only you know best' situations. you made your decision and you walked away from it, perfectly fine (well almost). You dont see as many incident reports in parachutists cause of "skiing the first half of the landing...then running another 1/4 of it out then having no choice but to PLF the rest" as you do "low turn, traumatic injuries" or whatever they call hook turns. Id have taken the downwinder too. Rather have a broken extremedy then a broken face, cracked jaw, broken ribs, cracked sternum, fractured arm, torn muscles, compound fracture of both ankles and numerous other injuries that would seriously injure/kill me..
but thats just me.
froggie

[drosenberg 0]

I recently made a very low 180 turn in high winds, I posted the issue on the safety and training forum (you might want to have a look), from my experience and reading your post I totally agree with froggie.
Only you, being the guy up there needing to make the decision can know or evaluate the situation best.
In my landing (which was perfect with a flare and all) people on the ground told me that I should have either turned earlier or landed downwind, but I did what felt right for me at the moment, and like in your case – It worked !
Blue Skies and safe landings,
David

[Dutchboy 0]

Aren't you glad you were wearing shoes! I know people try to be cool by jumping barefoot. One of them landed off and sprained his ankle when he it a hole, then fell and broke his wrist.
The Dutchboy
http://www.geocities.com/ppolstra

[Pammi 0]

Sounds like you did great with it Monk! Best of all, you kept a clear head, didn't panic and landed safely. Hey, I land like that on a normal basis UPWIND, so doesn't sound so bad! hehe Slid in on my stomach last weekend (tripped trying to run it out in tall grass) so just call me 'Ms. Graceful'.
Anyway, glad to hear you did okay with a sticky situation and came out safely!!
Pammi
"The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live."
http://trak.to/skydivechick

[Zennie 0]

Sounds like you did the right thing to me. I can't imagine a situation where I'd opt for the low turn (I know David calls his situation a low turn, which I guess technically it is, but most people don't die from low controlled braked turns, it's the low toggle turns that are killing people).
One tip that one of my instructors gave for downwinders was to just slide it out on your ass. Doesn't look pretty, but it gets the job done relatively safely.
------------
Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Billy 0]

Well Done Monk!!
Ya didn't mention the "pucker" factor!! I'd bet ya knew it was gonna be a little rough eh?? But ya I think ya did the right thing and glad your ok,,
Blue ones and Sweet dreams!!
Billy

[skymedic 0]

Good job monk!!! I did the same thing but was on my level 2 AFF jump and didnt walk away from it...but I am all better now!!!

[freaksister 0]

Hey there sweet, YOU DID GREAT! I have been told many times that it is better to land downwind and PLF than try to TURN back in to the wind and kill yourself or break lots of shit!!
I feel like Pammi, I do shit like that on upwind landings! Actually, I have only very recently started having bad landings, which is probably Karma from a thread a long time ago about women and landings/depth perception...
I suppose if I did a normal "freaksis" landing downwind I might just die or be hurt a lot. I have regular crosswind landings and thank God I finally learned to PLF!!
Anyway, no matter what has ever happened to the rest of us, GOOD JOB MONK!! Been missing you on the forums, glad you are back!!
Blue Ones,
Sis
The road to hell is paved with good intentions-but sometimes,good intentions are all we humans have.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Monk,
there is absolutely nothing wrong with landing downwind, even at 40km, when you have prepared for it. As I have responded to others in the past, the thing to remember when landing is that you must cancel either your vertical speed (descent), your horizontal speed, or both in order to land "safely". In your case, you did OK up to the point where you started running. Not to say that you did badly, as you obviously lived through the tumble, but had you kept your body low with your feet farther in front of you you could have skidded the entire landing out on your feet. That, of course, unless you caught a toe or something. Keeping your toes up is very important, as is keeping one foot farther in front of you. Where most of my students and novice jumpers mess up is when they try to flare HIGHER than normal thinking it is going to stop them on their downwinders; NOT. It just means they are going to stall their parachutes while still travelling forward at warp velocity.
Anyway, I am sure it was outstanding to watch and I am happy that you made it through with no real damage.
Chuck Blue
D-12501

[Monk 0]

Actually...I planned to ski the whole thing out. And I'm normally pretty good about it. But 2 days before the landing I broke my normal Teva's..and had to buy new ones..and these new ones have INCREDIBLE traction. Hehe...so the skiing lasted till the traction took effect. :)
Oh well. Actually I didn't walk away unscathed. I broke my big toe. Doh. Didn't know it until the day after.
Ciao
Monk