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David Wang

Low Altitude Emergencies for Students

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Hey guys,

Hope you're enjoying your labor day weekend! 

I've been lurking on DZ.com to see what has been going on recently and I saw that there was a student fatality in Canada. The first thought on my mind after reading about it is that there're similarities between mine and this incident - we both ended up low with a malfunction and a very low cutaway (under 100ft) followed. The difference in my case is that my reserve was already out, which very likely contributed to my survival. The outcome of this incident in Canada is much worse. (My sincere condolences)

I'm thinking that in general it might be very difficult for inexperienced students to deal with low-altitude emergencies...and how we/dropzones could improve on this. I understand that one of the principles of student training is to not overload them with information. I also understand that it's a lot better to deal with malfunctions up high. But what if, for whatever reasons, the student ends up low with a malfunction (and I think the possibility of this happening is not very low). I know during training students are taught not to cut away under 1,000 ft if there is a malfunction on the main, except downplanes. (This is what I was taught at Perris, this rule may vary slightly between DZs, I don't know) Is this rule sufficient to deal with this issue as long as it's 'strictly reinforced'? Or is there a possibility to improve on the training methods so that we could potentially prevent incidents like this in the future? 

This question just popped up in my mind. Please forgive me if I trigger anyone here.

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Thanks — and I’ll put a pointer in the other thread

Here is a link to David's incident; he doesn't have a lot of skydiving experience, but he's probably the only one posting here who remembers being in a seemingly OK situation that just kept getting worse, as a student.

Wendy P. 

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I think it's a good question.

In my opinion the biggest issue you face is that someone is in a high-stress situation with a potentially fatal problem.
Doing "nothing" (not cutting away) is against every instinct you possess.

Also, I have not conducted any research into this, but I'm willing to guess that most people with a mal at low altitudes actually started with a mal at a reasonable altitude which they couldn't fix in time - adding even more stress / panic / sensory overload.

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10 hours ago, riggerrob said:

I disagree.

Static-line students are taught to count to 5, then look up to confirm if they have a good canopy overhead. If not, they should immediately cutaway and deploy their reserve. Any delay worsens their chances of survival. Adding an altimeter only adds an extra layer to the decision-making process.

First jump students are already emotionally over-loaded. Any extra instruments (e.g. altimeter) just complicate the decision-making process.

What about low altitude malfunction? After collision, after wrong assuming of main canopy state (like bow tie lineover) 

If student can't handle with altimeter maybe skydiving it's not activity for him/her? 

IMO square canopies - altimeter obligatory for skydive

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8 hours ago, Iwan said:

" ... If student can't handle with altimeter maybe skydiving it's not activity for him/her? ... "

Tandems and wind tunnels are part of the process of screening out those students who are not emotionally tough enough to handle high-speed, high-stress sports like skydiving.

Do any wind tunnels use reverse-clock-altimeters to train AFF levels?

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8 hours ago, Iwan said:

"What about ... After collision ... "

We try to avoid collisions by spacing students from heaviest to lightest and when in doubt, take extra (airplane) passes to create an extra minute or three of spacing.

I can only recall one canopy collision between students during this century (see A.I.M. reports in old issues of Parachutist magazine).

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9 hours ago, Iwan said:

What about ... after wrong assuming of main canopy state (like bow tie lineover) ... " 

 

We teach "if it is not square, get rid of it and follow through with the reserve ripcord. Problems like line-overs or pilot-chute-unders are best dealt with at 2,500 feet ... er ... shortly after opening. Any lower than that is a waste of altitude.

Edited by riggerrob
add a phrase

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i agree with the altimeters for all students.  not that easy to set up for a landing pattern at 1000' if you don't have an altimeter.  i don't think a tandem screens out anything except broke people.  i've seen lots of tandem passengers that shouldn't do it on their own.

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On 9/5/2022 at 4:25 PM, Baksteen said:

I think it's a good question.

In my opinion the biggest issue you face is that someone is in a high-stress situation with a potentially fatal problem.
Doing "nothing" (not cutting away) is against every instinct you possess.

Also, I have not conducted any research into this, but I'm willing to guess that most people with a mal at low altitudes actually started with a mal at a reasonable altitude which they couldn't fix in time - adding even more stress / panic / sensory overload.

I don’t think doing nothing is the drill. If I’m too low to cutaway under a malfunction, I’m not cutting away but I’m sure as hell getting more fabric out rather than just going in on my main alone.

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On 9/4/2022 at 11:25 PM, Baksteen said:

" ... Doing "nothing" (not cutting away) is against every instinct you possess. ... "

I disagree.

Mammals are born with three instinctive reactions to danger: fight, flight or freeze. Politicians later learn a fourth response: filibuster.

"Fight" means pulling more handles to improve the main canopy overhead ... or replace it with a better reserve canopy.

"Flight" means running away from the problem ... pulling cutaway handle.

"Freeze" means doing nothing and hoping or praying that the big nasty problem loses interest and goes away. S/L, IAD and AFF instructors try to screen for those reactions during ground school. Most of the time, ground-school instructors screen out the least competent students.

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12 hours ago, riggerrob said:

I disagree.

Mammals are born with three instinctive reactions to danger: fight, flight or freeze. Politicians later learn a fourth response: filibuster.

"Fight" means pulling more handles to improve the main canopy overhead ... or replace it with a better reserve canopy.

"Flight" means running away from the problem ... pulling cutaway handle.

"Freeze" means doing nothing and hoping or praying that the big nasty problem loses interest and goes away. S/L, IAD and AFF instructors try to screen for those reactions during ground school. Most of the time, ground-school instructors screen out the least competent students.

Granted. I too see "freeze" as an involuntary response / panic. That is not what I meant and accept the change to "Flight". 

I should not have called it "doing nothing", even though I can imagine it would feel that way to a student in that situation.
You read all kinds of advanced stuff about changing stable two-outs into a downplane to cut it away. About canopy transfers. About hook knife use. About bloody standup bloody landings being the golden standard for a good landing. About sliding in on your arse.

As a beginning student I do not want you to do any of that when the shit hits the fan. I want you to remember your decision altitudes and act accordingly.

And I want you to PLF your first few landings, or I'll make you PLF all the way back to the hangar.

Edited by Baksteen
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