loss of an arm?

[link2334 0]

I'm posting up a new thread here, on this just to get some answers. Last weekend I dislocated my right shoulder in freefall. Now I skip the part about me throwing my pilot chute with my left hand, I know how stupid it was but thank God the canopy opened. Once under canopy I was able to just lift my arm enough to grab my steering toggle but wasnt able to move my arm without extreme pain. Now i managed to make it back to the landing area but I figured it would be better to flare with both toggles in my good hand then not flare at all. It was a piss poor flare but it slowed me down enough to just coast in on my butt. I didnt want to do a PLF, afraid I would do more damage to my arm. Did I play my cards right or is there something I should have done different.

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Eat, Drink and Jump for tomorrow we die.....
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[darkwing 4]

You did just fine.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[Reginald 0]

Hmm, I gotta go with "Bravo!" That was a tough situation. Only change might have been to pull your reserve instead of main. Ya know there's a deployment handle within reach of both hands for a reason. All in all though you handled a bad situation successfully.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[AFFI 0]

Must have been quite a trick deploying your main PC with your left, I had imagined you reached round your back. Have a friend with right shoulder problems so his BOC is set up for a left handed deployment.

I am curious as to how you injured your shoulder.

Good job recovering from a less than ideal circumstance.

Hope you heal quickly.

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[Tonto 1]

You did good. Only improvement would have been to use your reserve instead of your main.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[yoink 321]

Scary stuff. Congrats on surviving!

Out of interest, why did you choose to use the main rather than your reserve?

The idea of entangling my one good arm in the deploying main lines scares the hell outta me.

[Yossarian 0]

i think reserve would have been a much better option but imagine terminal reserve opening shock on an already dislocated shoulder - ouch!

[bch7773 0]

I don't think i could even throw my main PC with my left hand. I might be able to touch it, but toss it?

I would have gone with reserve... much less time wasted trying to reach around to get the PC

MB 3528, RB 1182

[twibbles 0]

My personal drill is to go for the main, go for it again, go to reserve. Could the thought process be to try for the main first before going for the reserve?

Eugene

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of
people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

[bch7773 0]

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My personal drill is to go for the main, go for it again, go to reserve. Could the thought process be to try for the main first before going for the reserve?

And I think thats a great idea for a normal malfunction.... altitude permitting. Its good to get your malfunction drills down, the same way most of the time.

But for unnormal stuff like dislocating arms, horseshoe malfunction, etc, different procedures might need to be followed

MB 3528, RB 1182

[twibbles 0]

That's true, could be that i don't think of practicing a cutaway drill that's not a resulting of a malfunctioning main. Got to go think about it a bit more,

Eugene

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of
people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

[link2334 0]

I knew as soon as I could not reach my hacky with my right hand to go for the reserve, but I was still high and I just tried with my left hand. I know that wasnt the wised idea but...
It almost put me in a barrel roll but Instead of rolling into it I just pushed my body the opposite way. Now that its all said and done, I would never try it again. I have long arms but I still don't know how I reached it. There definitely wasn't a strong throw-out, thats for sure. Pictures of myself getting tangled in the lines of the main flashed threw my head, but thank God it opened.

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Eat, Drink and Jump for tomorrow we die.....
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[link2334 0]

Just want to clear something up. I went to check one of my origanal post's. In it I said it was very easy to throw it with my left hand. I shouldn't of wrote that, was typing and thinking fast. Kind of wrote in in excitment, which can be translated into Talking out of my Ass...
Now that I can actually move my arm around better. I put my rig on last night to see what I acually did. I can reach my hacky but just enough to pull it out, not throw. And to be honest trying to replay it, There must of been an angel or something holding me stable, cause replaying it slow last night it just looks like things should of just went totally bad.
Hey you live and you learn!!!!!!!

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Eat, Drink and Jump for tomorrow we die.....
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[goose491 0]

You did good.

Don't knock your flare because all it did was what it was supposed to
Re: going to the reserve. This happened "in freefall", so I'm not sure how much time you had to "mess around" trying to get to your PC.

Personally, I say good on you. Why go straight to the last chance when you don't have to?

Now, had you tumbled until 1500' trying to do it and left that part out, I take "good on you" back, and sub "shame on you" in it's place.

Sounds like a job well done. Heal fast bro!

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[goose491 0]

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I went to check one of my origanal post's. In it I said it was very easy to throw it with my left hand. I shouldn't of wrote that,..snip

Oh, okay then, forget what I said. lol

(for the record, I have seen someone deploy with their left hand with ease... yes, on a normal right handed BOC)

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[yoink 321]

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Personally, I say good on you. Why go straight to the last chance when you don't have to?

Because if it didn't go exactly right and you got your left arm tangled up in the deploying main, you've:
a) just broken your other (only working) arm,
and b) just put a big ball of washing in the way of your reserve deployment, which you can't now pull anyway...

It seems like a balance of risk issue to me...

[link2334 0]

I think everyone is right, it comes down to a judgement call. Granted it worked and I landed with no other injuries, I think for me as a newbie and not having the experience to play threw every situition, I should of pulled my reserve with my good hand.

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Eat, Drink and Jump for tomorrow we die.....
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[goose491 0]

I understand, yoink.

The original post said it was an easy task and I've seen someone do it before. If it were "easy", I'd say go for it. However, you are absolutely right about entanglement issues and I would never advise struggling for it.

Nick

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[crazy8 0]

not to discredit he main topic of you saving your life but how did you disslocate your shoulder. i may have gone to reserve first depending on altitude and other variables. this comming from a guy who could not find his hacky and spent forever on it. so i know things are always easier said than done.

[link2334 0]

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not to discredit he main topic of you saving your life but how did you disslocate your shoulder.

On the jump before once I landed I Fell back and caught my fall with my arm. It wasnt hard, just thought I bruised it. Got up wrapped up my gear went it the hanger, packed up and went on the next load. While doing front and back loops it must of popped out. I went to throw my pilot and couldnt reach it...

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Eat, Drink and Jump for tomorrow we die.....
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