how long did it take you to jump after a scary experience

[airbornesoon 0]

Just wondering from people out there how long they took after having a very serious accident? might be different for someone who has hundreds or thousands of jumps as they really have that passion for the sport. what about newbies that have under 100 jumps. have any of you had something bad happen, and if so how long did it take you to get to the sky again.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

[topdocker 0]

My accident happened March 10 of this year. Physically, I healed up enough to jump three weeks later and made a couple of jumps.

But psychologically, it took me a lot longer to get back to where I was before the accident. For a few months after, I had real issues I had to deal with sitting in the plane on the ride to altitude. And really, it took up until the 4th of July weekend, where we jumped four days straight for me to really put it out of my mind.

I think I handled it pretty well, and have a lot more empathy for those that just quite can't make it back to jumping again. Once that level of trust/belief is broken on a visceral level, you may never get back into the game.

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Jump more, post less!

[NWFlyer 2]

I had a sketchy two-out situation that was mostly my own fault when I had about 200 jumps. It happened in May, and it took me a few weeks to get my gear back together, and that first jump back was terrifying. It took me most of that summer to get back into the groove I was in before that. It took some friends with way more experience than me taking me up on some really goofy fun no-pressure skydives in August to really help me feel the joy again.

At just under 800 jumps I had a bad landing with a serious sprain in my left ankle and a torn MCL on my right knee. It was winter, so it was easy to decide to be very conservative with my healing on the knee. Physically, I had cleared myself to jump after about 4 months, but then I managed to make all kinds of excuses for not jumping for another month, even going out to the dropzone and deciding not to jump despite perfect conditions. When I finally did get back on the horse, of course it was great, but getting over that first hump was not easy, especially when you tend to overthink like me.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[mrubin 0]

I had a scary accident when I had under 100 jumps. I came very close to breaking my back but got extremely lucky and walked away with some bruises and sore muscles. I was back in the air two days later. I recognized the series of bad decisions I made that led to my accident and what I needed to do to avoid repeating it. Then I felt like I needed to get back in the air before the fear dug itself in. That's not the right thing to do for everyone and it might not even be right for me if something happens again, but it was what I needed to do that time.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[Arvoitus 1]

After I had my hard opening (I fractured a rib and got some minor damage to my sternum) I was back in the air in about 40 minutes or so. I just basically landed, packed and manifested straight away.

It was weird though, during gear up, ride up to altitude or even the initial free fall I felt fine, but then around 6k feet I flipped to my belly to get ready to slow down for opening (the only explanation for the hard opening I could come up was the fact that I was doing about 277 kmh/172 mph when I deployed) I immediately had this full body anxiety where I was just expecting to receive a lot of pain. I think it took something like 50+ jumps before I could relax again during deployment.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[Bignugget 0]

First cutaway was at like 109. I guess you would call it scary although it went perfectly fine.

I was jumping the next day, only because I chopped and it took me until dark to find the main.

Gotta get back on the horse.

I can tell you I was a bit nervous the first few back though when pull time came.

[UliToo 0]

On my 25th jump a year ago, I had an unstable opening, in which my foot got caught in the lines of the opening canopy, which pulled my leg at an unnatural angle and tore my MCL. It took until November to heal and I figured I'd be good to go come spring. However, after having all winter to think about it, the fear really grew. If it hadn't taken so long to heal, I would like to think I would have gotten right back to it.

[savvyd 0]

Thought I might actually jump on this one. I had a serious accident at 29 jumps, ended up with a broken vertebra and fractured pelvis. I was life flighted out of the field I landed in and spent 11 days in the hospital, the first 5 days of it wondering if I was going to be able to walk again.I was told by my ortho to stay grounded for a year, he wasn't familiar with skydiving as a sport. So I took his 6 month healing period for the bones and how I felt after a lot of working out and strength building, into consideration on my decision.
For a while I didn't think I would ever get back into the sky thought that the metal would really be a reason to stay grounded. After 8 months of working out, a bit of depression about being out of the sport, I felt like my body could take it. I was really shaky the first tandem and two solo jumps back. It took a couple weekends of jumping to figure out how my body flew with its modifications. It was frustrating, but I don't think I have every been more proud of myself.

[sfullerman 0]

Jump 285, canopy collision. Other dewds kite wraped around my lines jez above my head. Thought I was clear of all his stuff when I cut away. Felt myself falling sideways, still hung up in his lines...had to do some flappin to get free and deploy reserve. No rigger in the area at the time (had to put my rig on a bus to McElfish in Dallas to have Mike McGowen repack and put it back on the bus...took a week or so) So...back out to the DZ the day after the collision, and borrowed a friends rig to "get back on the horse". His kite flew completely different from mine, very sharp and choppy. Scared the piss outta me. TWO jumps in a row I got skeered. Waited till my rig came back on the bus a couple weeks later. A month after that - jump 300, total on the main, streamer to explosion on reserve...broken back and assorted other stuff....THAT one I retired from.

[diablopilot 2]

About 20 minutes, or at least thats what the call from manifest was.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[kawisixer01 0]

lol yup. My first cutaway at like jump 50, walked in threw my rig down in the packing shed and a guy walked over and handed me his second rig and said "get your ass back on that horse now or you might not ever again". I had three more awesome jumps that day.

[Andy9o8 0]

The following day, back in my rental gear days. At about 50 jumps I had a total malfunction (hard pull) and a very hard, unstable (basically head-down) reserve deployment at terminal that put me in the saddle passing thru 1,000 ft. (no AAD). Left my neck hurting like hell and the insides of my thighs purple. I'm glad I didn't wait longer than 1 day. In retrospect, I probably should have got back on the horse the same day, but I begged off, saying I wanted to rest my body. In truth, I just needed the time to get my mental shit back together.

[ronkhensley 0]

Had a slammer opening on my 5th (cat d) AFF jump that completely broke my femur in half in June 2011. Canopy was trashed and I cutaway with the busted leg. After I landed with the busted leg, the main thought in my head was 'OMG will I be able to jump again.?!" (Slammer caused by me going stiff and scared and into a dead flat spin , dearched on my back come pull time, whiplashed my leg at the strap).

I would have jumped again the next day but alas broken bones heal slower, slower yet in your 40s. Took 10 months to be truly cleared by the doctor (Bones didn't set very fast).

As soon was I was cleared I started a S/L program to slow things down, especially opening shock a few jumps with the new metal in the leg. Still jumping, still having the time of my life, just passed my B and at 78 jumps now.

1st Jump I was hooked and not much would have stopped me from living the dream...

Ron - Blue Skies

[DSE 3]

http://skyvideo.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/live-live-with-no-regrets-recovery-road-part-one/

Just over 5 months from broken back/pelvis to next jump.

[demoknite 0]

Havent had one as serious as others have mentioned but had a cutaway at 89. Was back the next week after a repack with only minimal anxiety at pull time. Had a canopy collision at about 1500ft where a guy basically skipped over the top of my canopy partially collapsing it but it reinflated. After that it took me about two weeks to get over it.
The most nervous I get is jumping in the desert during the summer with a lot of dust devils, thermals, and otherwise turbulent air. I get scared every time but always come back because Im an addict.

[format 0]

airbornesoon

Just wondering from people out there how long they took after having a very serious accident? might be different for someone who has hundreds or thousands of jumps as they really have that passion for the sport. what about newbies that have under 100 jumps. have any of you had something bad happen, and if so how long did it take you to get to the sky again.

You should explain what You consider as a a very serious accident

What goes around, comes later.

[piisfish 135]

4 days, which was the next time I was at a DZ.

If you want to read about my incident, check in the incident forum for a thread called : Last Night a Cypres saved my life

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[riggerrob 558]

During my 35th jump, I opened unstable, tumbled through the lines and stopped an L-Bar connector link with my moustache.
My unstable opening was caused by me struggling - for the fourth time - to pull stiff, four-pin main ripcord. Yes, four-pin main ripcords were fashionable when I was a freefall student back in 1979!
There I was, hanging under canopy, sneezing and crying and bleeding on my chest-mounted reserve. When I looked up, my round canopy was fully inflated, but the risers were twisted. Since it passed a control check, I pointed it towards the DZ, then concentrated on pressing my knees together for a proper PLF.
After dinner, I asked the local doctor to sew my upper lip back together.
I returned to jumping the following weekend.

[Boomerdog 0]

Two weeks.
Groin was very sore after a hard opening, a snapped right brake line, landing on rear risers and a rather hot PLF. Some additional bruises from the hot PLF but that was all.

Immediate "pharmaceutical therapy" was four beers and my wife drove home!

[D22369 0]

one month of going to the dz and watching everyone else while I argued with myself.

I had a self entanglement on jump 11 - I did a front flip into my deploying lines, spent 2k trying to get them out from around and between my legs then chopped at 2k only to find out I wasn't going anywhere... at 1500 still somehow trapped in the lines even though there were none between my legs I dumped the reserve hoping to get a bigger wad of crap above my head and survive the impact - I had no hope of a good reserve, I knew it was going to entangle. But the round reserve opened in front of me due to the spin from the wadded main and it opened cleanly then the ball of crap drifted off.

the only thing I did right on that jump was to keep track of where I was - the reserve pull was pure desperation.

and what really shook me was in the parachutist magazine -there was a fatality the month before exactly the same but with a different result.

it took me a while of calling myself a coward to get the nerve to make one more jump then call it quits if the love was gone - thankfully it wasn't gone at all.

Although you sound like your asking for peoples input about injuries and coming back I just thought I would reply as this was the one incident that really made me sit back and think "is this worth it"

I had some really interesting line burns all over my body but I had no real injuries and I think that my incident made it easier to understand and help with new jumpers fears once I became an instructor.
Roy

They say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it.

[LyraM45 0]

I was doing a freefly jump 4 months ago and got taken out-- it was almost a helmet to helmet high speed hit, where probably one or both of us would have been knocked out or maybe even worse. Luckily the head to head didn't happen, but I got hit hard enough to completely tear ligament off the bone in my knee as this jumper fell through me full speed head down from above me while I was head up.

I'm just getting back to jumping now, and I was just talking to people at the dz about this yesterday..... I'm just mentally not where I want to be. Even though I was jumping with very talented fliers yesterday I was afraid to jump with people at freefly speeds (and we were only head up.... I'm so scared I couldn't fathom doing a head down jump right now), and I'm having trouble committing to no wind landings now since I'm worried about re-tearing things that are in the middle stages of healing. I guess the landing issue isn't the same as the first issue based from mental fear after an accident. I just feel mentally screwed now and wonder when I'll get back into the swing of things and stop thinking about what happened. Glad I stumbled on this thread ;)

And it's not like a torn up knee is going to kill you or is "very serious", but I guess the thought of what could have happened if we had hit head to head is what really scares me overall.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)