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danielmaxin

how much skill is needed to deal with malfunctions?

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Thanks again for the replys.

I guess in reality I do not have a problem with accepting the risks. Every time
you step out the door you accept that you might die in a car crash yet you are
more comfortable with that because you do things that you are very familiar with
and you have confidence that you can deal with the problems. Throwing yourself
out of the airplane is very very new to me and that is what makes me fear the
fear so to speak. I mean no matter the excitement the only thing I had in mind
looking down just before exitting was :" whatta hell am I going to do?". And it
took me a second to accept that I was not in the plane anymore:)remembered to practice the pull, and I actually pulled myself I had only funny
thoughts during the free fall.
Actually I have already booked a second tandem(got the discount) so I will
concentrate to have a clear mind from the beginning.

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I guess in reality I do not have a problem with accepting the risks. Every time you step out the door you accept that you might die in a car crash yet you are more comfortable with that because you do things that you are very familiar with and you have confidence that you can deal with the problems.



And that's the key with skydiving, eliminating the unknown so you can deal with any problem you run into. Probably 98% of the accidents in skydiving have happened to other people, are pretty well known issues, and should be part of your training whenever you enter an aspect of the sport that exposes you to the same risks.

Learn about what can go wrong, plan out what you'll do in the same situation and train for it. You can still do something wrong and die, everyone makes mistakes no matter how good they are, but planing and training will help you react correctly in a bad situation.

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I had a horrible professor for my major (Occupation Safety), but I do remember one nifty line he taught me...

Risk is always present,
Risk can be managed,
Risk cannot be elimanated.

Sounds simple, and it is. It's also true.

Manage your risk by being an attentive student during your FJC, subsequent briefings and debriefings, and remembering to practice EP's. Practice EP's before you jump, and asking questions when you don't understand something.

Or you can stay home, lay in bed and avoid all risk, right? How many risk factors can you think of if you were to stay home in bed 24/7?


Some fear is healthy.

Blue skies,

Johnsisland


Yea, I didn't have any fear until after I let go from the wing, and during the second or two I fell (static line) I said "Oh Shit, I am falling." What did I expect I would do, float upwards? Still worth a laugh and smile.
Arch? I can arch just fine with my back to the ground.

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I practice my EPs all the time, with gear on and even without when I am itching for a jump. My biggest fear was my first mal. I have not had a cut away from a mal but I have had to cut away because I got stupid and borrowed gear without knowing the name of the canopy since it was south africian and I "ASSUMED" it was in my skill level since it was being loaned to a low time jumper, only to open to a fully elip. It didnt pass the check of being square and I red , silver it pretty quick. No RSL no AAD on the rig I borrowed. The hardest part of my cut away are the laughs I get when I tell the story.

I cant offer advice, but it is important to KNOW the fear, and to KNOW your gear. Personally I am thankful that I had a cut away so early on. It was that one major unknown fear I had.... "Could I cut away and pull my reserve and would I do it in a timely fashion"

I wouldnt begin to think that anybody can execute EPs under pressure. This sport to me appears to be more for those who handle pressure well. Everytime I have had a scarey experience in the air, it wasnt until I got on the ground and went to gather the lines that I started getting upset about the danger I just faced. Good luck in deciding what you want from this sport and if the risk is worth the reward.
Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

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Well, unless your name is Scott Lutz http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1004 then you will be just fine.

You will get ground training that will prepare you for malfuntions. I have 3 more jumps to get my A, and i do a few things on the ground, and plane before each jump, check my 3's .. three rings, chest strap, leg straps, as well as, placing my hand on my pc, cutaway, and reserv. I will do that during ascent, and as i am getting to the door of the otter. When trying something new on the jump, i check put my hands on the pc pillow and silver a lil extra, to make sure i have the muscle memory.
CLICK HERE! new blog posted 9/21/08
CSA #720

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Anyone can deal with a malfunction! They're really not such a big deal (apart from the really nasty ones maybe..).
I always wondered if I could handle the situation and when I had my first mal it was at a time where I least expected it ("confident phase" ~500 jumps). And how I felt about it is exactly the same as what other jumpers have been saying: have you ever been driving your car and doing spins on the highway after hitting a corner too fast in wet conditions? You don't panic and scream, you know what to do, you know if you don't stay on the road you're screwed, so stay on the damn road!. You look up to check your canopy and all you see is a whole bunch of crap above your head and you don't think 'Oh shit I'm gonna die help!!!', it's more a 'ok, this is a mal, there's my cut away handle there's my reserve handle, etc... - just as you've learned! And all that goes really fast, so 20ish seconds is quite some time to react by pulling two handles.
Nature has equipped us with this wicked sense that give us the ability to totally focus on the situation that threatens our life and think&react rationally without any fear or panic.
On my first mal (linetwists) I lost my whole camera helmet and even though I can now remember accidently hitting the quick release while trying to kick out I didn't realize at the time until being under reserve. It was like a fly on the shoulder while dealing with the real problem.
My advice is:
1. get packing advice from experienced jumpers/packers, but don't take over everything they say (too many smart-asses out there), just pick out the bits that make sense and you find useful for yourself!
2. get a good set of gear. There's nothing worse than climbing out of the plane worrying about open flaps and lose pouches.
3. maintain your good set of gear, have spare parts (closingloops,etc) with you in your gear bag
4. do your gear checks! Pins, strap buckles, handles, etc. on the ground and before you exit the plane. Get used to a sequence of checking so you never forget any.
If you do your part, you can avoid most nasty situations. But no matter how skilled you are shit happens sometimes and from your first day on you're being trained to deal with it when it comes and so you will, in order to survive.
So yea, mal's are not a big deal, the ones I've had so far were actually all good fun, kind of a change and excitement (when you go adventuring through the countryside looking for your bits of equipment spread all over the show..) but you don't want them all the time that's for sure.
trust your equipment and all the clever technology that's out there for us. (Listen to jumpers from the old days, stories about front mounted reserves and cut away buckles, now that's scary shit!)

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Nature has equipped us with this wicked sense that give us the ability to totally focus on the situation that threatens our life and think&react rationally without any fear or panic.



huh?

nature has given us adrenaline, a chemical that dumbs us down and gives us tunnel vision. rational thinking is the first to go, and why we drill EPs for muscle memory.

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Nature has equipped us with this wicked sense that give us the ability to totally focus on the situation that threatens our life and think&react rationally without any fear or panic.


huh?

nature has given us adrenaline, a chemical that dumbs us down and gives us tunnel vision. rational thinking is the first to go, and why we drill EPs for muscle memory.

Both of you are correct. The keyword is "instinct". Both of you ultimately refer to the same thing. We simply train our instinct to do the right thing.

I haven't had a mal yet, but with simulated EP pratice even at home roughly every week during the Canadian week (sometimes I imagine the mals all the way to landing an unfamiliar Raven Micro 150 with a careful pre-tested flare if there is time, and PLF), it's already essentially an instinct.

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are you kidding, Mark?

We're talking about wildly different things.

Tunnel vision != focus on the problem at hand
dumb as shit != rationally view and solve the problem.

Fight or flight served us well, once upon a time. These days, it's less than helpful most of the time.

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I didn't have time to read the other replies so I really apologize if this has been said.

Just trust in your instructors and listen to them carefully. Make sure you can recite all the different procedures without thinking about them too much while going through the hand and body motions.

I had a high speed mal (bag lock) on only my eleventh. I didn't have time to really think about it until after I was on the ground and gave my debrief. I realized I had simply gone through the procedures without thinking about them - a true testament to my instructors.

BEER


you will be fine. have confidence in yourself and what you are taught.

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I've just completed my AFF and on my 17th jump, a fun jump, I got a malfunction. Somehow the parachute came out as soon as I jumpedm, I guess something must have tugged at it in the ride up, however the chute didn't unfold, it just hung there above me, I recognized straight away that things weren't normal and the drills kicked in, look, locate, right, left, arch, check, hey presto! not wanting to big myself up, but I was surprised at how cool I was considering. Learn the drills well, and it becomes second nature so you've nothing to worry about.

http://jamesspratt.com

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Somehow the parachute came out as soon as I jumpedm, I guess something must have tugged at it in the ride up.



Somehow?

Is there anything to be learned from this experience?
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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Check kit, check again and know your drills.



Maybe get a visual pin check from another skydiver before exiting the aircraft?
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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>Somehow the parachute came out as soon as I >jumpedm, I guess something must have tugged at >it in the ride up, however the chute didn't unfold, it >just hung there above me,
I think that it is important to know that if your main container opens in freefall, the first move is to throw the main pilot chute, then deal with the probable bag lock.

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>Somehow the parachute came out as soon as I >jumpedm, I guess something must have tugged at >it in the ride up, however the chute didn't unfold, it >just hung there above me,
I think that it is important to know that if your main container opens in freefall, the first move is to throw the main pilot chute, then deal with the probable bag lock.



Kinda sounds to me like his pc was already out. Otherwise he either left out that important piece of info or wouldent be around to tell others about it.

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[...]When the malfunction finally happens, believe it and take action now. I've seen people go in or almost go in because they were in denial, they couldn't believe they were under a streamer, etc. Believe it, and just do your EP's.



Thanks for this reminder. The worst, most sobering "man did I just fuck up and get to learn from it" experience I ever had was due to thinking "that's odd! This shouldn't be happening! Hmm! That can't be right!" Resulted in a really low pull because thinking so much about how odd it was distracted me from what WAS happening. As I'm preparing now to skydive again after a long break, your post reminds to skip the editorial analysis next time (other than "oh shit," that is) until I'm on the ground.

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