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unkulunkulu

Dealing with mistakes

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I did a near-to-big mistake on one of my last jumps. It was a wonderful freefall and for the last say 30 jumps I was consistent with my accuracy and was working on that (since the snow came off and the target became visible). And on this jump I felt that I could score a "zero" and held in half brakes for too long, probably started going to full flight about 40ft above the ground, realized that immediately, stabbed the brakes, landed on my butt quite softly, but still :|

This is just an example, however I consider this a serious mistake for myself. We all make mistakes, but my question is: how do you deal with them personally and practically? What exactly should we take from those mistakes? I mean, I surely knew that I have to go into full flight at least at 150ft (in clear area), but still I did _this_. I met those people who said "Today I caught a steering line excess around my finger, couldn't get free of it and landed that way, now I will always check where I put my fingers through" and I thought "Well, why does everyone have to do this to themselves to start looking?".

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Sometimes our brain is working on other stuff and doesn't register stuff that we could be thinking about.

May I say?
IMO, your BIG mistake was landing on your butt.

I'm sure you were taught how to PLF.
It sounds like you were not taught why we PLF or you didn't give the teaching a significant level of importance.

Landing on your butt exposes your spine to injury. That injury could be severe...all the way up to paralysis.

Practice your PLFs. Wouldn't it be a good idea to be able to do it properly before you needed to do it?
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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Yes, that was my concern too, I hit with my legs and only then with my butt, but still, should practice it more thoroughly. Somehow I'm not ready for PLF in some scenarios, I used it during student training a couple of times successfully. Something to do with controlling the canopy and preparing to PLF at the same time, will give at a good thought :|

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PLF's aren't all that easy to DO when you're not used to doing them every landing. I've had the same problem, having normal landings stand-up, then messing one up and not doing a proper PLF because it's simply not on my mind.

It's easy to say "do a PLF", but much harder to actually do it. It also isn't hammered in as much as the emergency procedures.

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Until you're confident that you can do a PLF automatically, I'm going to suggest that you plan every landing with a PLF. Go into PLF position as you're coming in, then change to a standup at the last minute if the landing looks good. You'll still stand up the vast majority of your landings, but you'll be more prepared to PLF if it looks bad.

It helps with your muscle memory, and it helps with your priority-setting at landing time.

And to the OP, one of the things that you did right for your experience was to jump a modestly-loaded canopy. That gives you the room to make more mistakes. You can still kill yourself on it, but this would have been far more painful on a canopy loaded more heavily.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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PLF's aren't all that easy to DO when you're not used to doing them every landing. I've had the same problem, having normal landings stand-up, then messing one up and not doing a proper PLF because it's simply not on my mind.

It's easy to say "do a PLF", but much harder to actually do it. It also isn't hammered in as much as the emergency procedures.



Yes, doing things is hard at first. That's normal. Not doing them because it's "hard" is a mistake. You don't need a "PLF required" situation to do it.

Like Wendy intimated, your plan is to do a PLF and only stand up if it turns out to be OK to stand.

I'd suggest, to get the safest practice, do PLFs even on stand-up situations until you get good at it.

When things go bad on landings, what do you think is going to give you the best opportunity for landing unhurt...an attempted stand-up or a PLF?

Please, for your own safety, practice and get good at PLFs.

Thanks in advance.
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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Until you're confident that you can do a PLF automatically,

It IS kind of a reflex for us old round jumpers, isn't it?:)


Old farts be PLF KINGS and QUEENS!
:D:D:)
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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PLF's aren't all that easy to DO when you're not used to doing them every landing. I've had the same problem, having normal landings stand-up, then messing one up and not doing a proper PLF because it's simply not on my mind.

It's easy to say "do a PLF", but much harder to actually do it. It also isn't hammered in as much as the emergency procedures.



Yes, doing things is hard at first. That's normal. Not doing them because it's "hard" is a mistake. You don't need a "PLF required" situation to do it.

Like Wendy intimated, your plan is to do a PLF and only stand up if it turns out to be OK to stand.

I'd suggest, to get the safest practice, do PLFs even on stand-up situations until you get good at it.

When things go bad on landings, what do you think is going to give you the best opportunity for landing unhurt...an attempted stand-up or a PLF?

Please, for your own safety, practice and get good at PLFs.


This is a bunch of bullshit! (waves crutches in air wildly) BULLSHIT I SAY! :P

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Just curious, did you learn to land in brakes for your B license?

Didn't practice that in a real jump, although I have some experience landing a round (a reserve even) from a couple of years back, so I know a bit about PLF, just not drilled it in every situation on a ram air, going to fill that gap.

POPS is right, it's not mandatory here.

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It's not that I haven't done PLFs because it's hard, I haven't done them because they weren't on my mental shortlist of get-out-of-shit-free tools. I know, it is a pretty poor excuse, and it actually cost me last weekend. I messed up a landing on Friday and sprained my thumb. Nothing very serious, but it was bad enough that I didn't feel comfortable jumping on Saturday and Sunday, while the weather was gorgeous and a good coach was available.

I know better now, and I will definitely be weaving PLFs back into my safety routine. And while your suggestion to do a PLF on every jump, also the good ones, does sound reasonable, it is not taught at my DZ to the low-jump-number students. Other people may not be so lucky as I am, to learn with a minor injury and a lost weekend, both of which will be gone by next week.

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I know better now, and I will definitely be weaving PLFs back into my safety routine.


That makes me very happy to hear.
Good luck in your future, eh?
:)
I'm sorry that your DZ doesn't put more emphasis on landing priorities. Maybe you could convince them of the need....especially for the new jumpers?

:D:D
"...get-out-of-shit-free tools..."
I like that and I'm stealing it future use.
:D:D
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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