Would you move forward after this tandem?

[Interestedude 0]

I did a tandem a number of months ago. Was having an amazing time until the chute opened. Almost immediately I felt the symptoms of what I thought was motion sickness. Pretty soon afterwards I felt lightheaded, started seeing spots, back of neck hurt. Next thing I know I'm waking up in the grass.

For the rest of the day I had a pounding headache, and my lower body hurt.

I'm in my twenties, am a runner, well within normal height, and weight and have no medical conditions that would have caused this issue.

The only thing I can think of is I probably had an very light breakfast when I woke up at 8 am, ate nothing in between, and jumped at around 1 PM.

I'd love to go through AFF and beyond but after this experience I'm hesitant.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

I'd want to get a handle on what you experienced. Some of the symptoms sound like hypoxia. Did your tandem instructor have any insight? Did he do a high G turn? Did they put you on oxygen? What was the altitude you jumped from?

That's definitely not something you want to have happen on a solo jump, and it's probably not something you want to mess around with, either. The scientist in me always wants to say "ooo do it again and see if it happens again!" but that seems like potentially bad advice.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[nigel99 144]

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I did a tandem a number of months ago. Was having an amazing time until the chute opened. Almost immediately I felt the symptoms of what I thought was motion sickness. Pretty soon afterwards I felt lightheaded, started seeing spots, back of neck hurt. Next thing I know I'm waking up in the grass.

For the rest of the day I had a pounding headache, and my lower body hurt.

I'm in my twenties, am a runner, well within normal height, and weight and have no medical conditions that would have caused this issue.

The only thing I can think of is I probably had an very light breakfast when I woke up at 8 am, ate nothing in between, and jumped at around 1 PM.

I'd love to go through AFF and beyond but after this experience I'm hesitant.

Passing out is not typical, I would get a full medical checkup and also make full disclosure to any dz. I would also probably do a couple of tandems.

Being passed out and unable to land a canopy could kill you. Something like this the internet is not the right place to find the answer, it might help you find where to get a good answer though.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[indyz 1]

It's impossible to say for sure what caused you to faint, but most of the time when somebody passes out on a tandem it is caused by the tandem harness cutting off the passenger's circulation. It can usually be solved with better adjustment of the passenger harness. It is less likely to happen on a solo jump but can't be ruled out completely. Before attempting a solo jump, I would advise you to do another tandem and make sure the instructor knows what happened the first time and does the best possible fitting of the harness.

Also, nausea isn't uncommon on the front of a tandem. I have 1000 tandems as an instructor and I avoid riding on the front because it makes me queasy. I have never had an issue on the back or on a solo jump.

[Interestedude 0]

He had no insight. They didn't put me on oxygen. I don't think anyone else except us two really knew what happened. The instructor waited till I woke up, told me to chill out in the grass, and he caught another plane to jump. I basically just got picked up by the DZ go cart, went into the hangar, had the harness removed, picked up my car keys from the front desk, and left.

I'm pretty sure we jumped from 14,500 cause they showed me the altimeter on his wrist and soon after we jumped.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Hm. I like the idea of a medical checkup. Just to make sure you don't have something else going on. Explain the situation to a doctor. 14.5 is a bit higher than you'd "normally" go. I've had visitors from sea level fall out of the car at 12K up on trail ridge road. I try not to take them up there on their first day anymore. So maybe the altitude got to you, or maybe you forgot to breathe during your jump, or maybe your instructor did a high G turn, or maybe something else entirely. If it were a little closer to when you did your tandem, you could contact the DZ and ask him about it. He's probably forgotten by now though.

I'd want to rule out the "something else entirely" first. If a doctor says you're fine, maybe do another tandem or two and see what happens. Or come out here after Memorial day and have someone drive you over the top of trail ridge road, to see if you might just be sensitive to altitude or something. There might be less crude ways to do that.

Or you could just choose to not pursue this particular sport. It's your life you're putting on the line here, and ultimately only you can decide what risk you're willing to accept and what precautions you want to take. If you still want some flying and the experience of watching your savings account shrink, you could just go be a wind tunnel rat. It's less gear to buy but you can still blow a couple hundred bucks on a weekend if you want to.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[airdvr 198]

Possible you were just overwhelmed by all of the excitement and adrenaline release?

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[babz 0]

I've heard people complain of similar issues (not necessarily blacking out though) when they've had leg straps /harness that is too tight as mentioned above.. Also poor diet / low blood sugar. You said you'd not eaten a lot that day, do you normal do well without food?

[davelepka 4]

How did you feel in the plane on the way to altitude? Excited? Aware? Nervous? Any light-headedness in the plane?

Being a runner, and consdiering that you had no problem until the canopy opened, I'm not guessing hypoxia. That tends to happen at altitude, and returning to lower altitudes generally will fix that almost immediately.

It sounds like you had a common problem with tandem harness that are not properly adjusted. You tend to hang more forward in a tandem passenger harness, as opposed to straight up and down in a solo harness. What this does is put pressure on the forward part of your inner thigh, right on your femoral artery, and then you pass out. There would be no pressure until the canopy opened, so you would have no symptoms until the canopy opens.

Check with your doctor, and if you get the 'OK', try another tandem and bring this up with your instructor. There is a trick after the canopy opens where you lift yout knees, and slide the legstraps from your crotch forward a few inches to just under butt/ upper thigh. This has you sitting more than hanging, and takes the pressure off your femoral artery.

Provided you don't pass out on that jump, proceed to solo jumps. You sit much differently in a solo harness, but even then you can do the same trick as with the tandem harness if need be. Most people do not need to do that trick with a solo harness.

[normiss 622]

I'd put money on your experience being entirely related to a tandem passenger harness.
More so if you jumped a certain manufacturer's equipment.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to get them to fit everyone properly, comfortably, and not choking off an artery or two.


Give it another shot!

[CSpenceFLY 1]

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I'd put money on your experience being entirely related to a tandem passenger harness.
More so if you jumped a certain manufacturer's equipment.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to get them to fit everyone properly, comfortably, and not choking off an artery or two.


Give it another shot!

I was wondering how long it was going to take for someone to get to this. Although this usually happens to heavy people, I've seen it happen to all shapes and sizes.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

This is not a question for us to answer. The answer is within you! How bad do you want to do this. Bad enough to give it another shot? If not, go find what your looking for.

If this is something you feel strongly about, I'd say get a physical and then give it another go.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[Pacific 0]

Try another tandem...then you'll know for sure.

[stayhigh 2]

I always get sick when I ride as a passenger of tandem, and I have close to 4000 jumps.

I've heard everything from harness being too tight, to you not being in center of the parachute theory.

I think both reason plus you not driving/flying the thing makes you more prone to having motion sickness.

and sigma could improve by adding little more padding or making leg strap wider.

I have total of 5 passenger ride, they all sucked. I have huge respect for the TI examiners.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[Interestedude 0]

I should have added in my initial post that it hurt on my legs where the leg harness was. I have a feeling it was cutting off the femoral artery.

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How did you feel in the plane on the way to altitude? Excited? Aware? Nervous? Any light-headedness in the plane?

I remember the whole flight up. I felt fine. I was talking the whole way, looking at sights. Not an ounce of nervousness, the only apprehension I had was when I was standing in the doorway.

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This is not a question for us to answer. The answer is within you! How bad do you want to do this. Bad enough to give it another shot?

That's the problem. I'd never had so much fun in my life as when I was in free fall. I really enjoyed the flight up too.
I just wouldn't want to put the tandem instructor or drop zone facility in peril.

[Zlew 0]

There used to be some specific harnesses when I started jumping that were known to have the potential to put pressure in the front/inner leg, instead of under your butt (thus risking cutting off some circulation).

Years ago, we used to have one out of a few hundred people on those rigs who would land sick/dizzy/out. Seemed like the combo of adrenaline, heat, and circulation didn't work well for some folks. Not sure if this is the same thing...but could be.

I rode front side on several tandems on those rigs to help my friends get their ratings...and they were very uncomfortable in the way they hung you in the harness...and were very different than the way pro/sport gear supports you. I never passed out, but I bitched about it a lot :)

[Zlew 0]

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Years ago, we used to have one out of a few hundred people on those rigs who would land sick/dizzy/out.

uh oh...cold one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFgNcZ7nan0

[demoknite 0]

You probably had the perfect storm of motion sickness, low blood sugar, adrenaline overload, and the harness cutting off your circulation at the femoral artery. Lots of people on the thread qualifying their advice with see a doctor (which is the right thing to say), but Id say give it another shot and just advise the instructor of what happened last time. If you are really looking to do AFF, let that be known too so you can actually get a class and not a roller coaster ride and those two jumps should count towards your first jump course...depending on what DZ it was.

So basically, eat a high glycemic breakfast, request that you steer the canopy as that will prevent some motion sickness since you are anticipating what you are doing, and get a really good harness adjustment.

[davelepka 4]

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I remember the whole flight up. I felt fine. I was talking the whole way, looking at sights. Not an ounce of nervousness, the only apprehension I had was when I was standing in the doorway

This helps to rule out hypoxia. The ride up would have been 'fuzzy' in your memory, and you would have been 'slap happy' the higher up you went.

[BIGUN 1,068]

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I'd put money on your experience being entirely related to a tandem passenger harness.
More so if you jumped a certain manufacturer's equipment.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to get them to fit everyone properly, comfortably, and not choking off an artery or two.


Give it another shot!

Agreed.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.