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music321

Hard opening

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Fill out your profile please, unless you're a troll. In that case, just go away.
"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so."

Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

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It depends
Yes they could
Yes they can
No they are not



But as you know, when they go bad, they can go very bad. Here is a recent example, on a canopy that is generally known to be a soft opening canopy (To the OP: if you were trying to mitigate the risk of hard openings, the Spectre would likely be one of the canopies recommended to you). Yet it spanked someone hard enough to paralyze him. [:/]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4332212
"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

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Thanks for all the replies. I won't be filling out a profile, as I won't be posting here anymore. And no, I'm not a troll.

I've never jumped. I was inspired to come to this site by the work of Jeb Corliss. However, based upon the horror stories I've read, and my less-than-perfect health, I think I'll leave flying through the air to others.

Cheers.

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I ended up with bruises on my shoulders regularly during AFF, mostly due to poor body position while opening. I haven't seen any in quite a while now.

I haven't had any that feel like a car wreck yet. The packers at my dropzone do a very good job! I've only had one set of fairly minor line twists too. I didn't like the looks of that particular rental rig that day, but it was the last one on the shelf, an older model, with tuck tabs that didn't want to stay tucked. I now avoid these rigs, but the line twists weren't that bad and were easily resolved.

The vast majority of these sound like they come from shoddy packing. It's an easy thing to screw up when you're new or in a hurry. Or maybe been doing it for a while, got complacent and forgot to push the riser back into position.

Of course, if you want to try flying and don't want to risk a parachute, or a big ol' planet coming up to greet you at 120 mph, you could just go hop in a wind tunnel. That's fun too, once you learn how to fly. It's quite a workout, though, using all flight muscles you never knew you had in ways you didn't think possible.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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Hard openings vary quite a bit. I have three friends who have broken vertebra due to hard openings. Two have recovered and are jumping again. One is in a wheelchair. On the other hand there are the hard openings which merely hurt and make your say "WTF?"

Fortunately, hard openings are not common.

Yes, good equipment choice, good equipment maintenance, and good equipment packing all can diminish the frequency and severity of hard openings.
The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

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Watched my son deploy when he was working on his "A" I was about 10 feet away when he threw the pilotchute as planned. watched the container open, the bag came off and then came the lines, the main started coming out of the bag before line stretch, when the line stretch came i watched him bounce back up and slack te lines, good thing he was in exellent shape. he wasn't injured except for some spectacular bruises that made him walk like he was saddle sore.
Experience is a difficult teacher, she gives you the test first and the lesson afterward

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the main started coming out of the bag before line stretch



Exactly why I think it is so important to prevent the locking stows from breaking when the most stress is on them, during liftoff from the container. Exactly why I don't trust regular rubber bands for the critical center locking stows. I'd rather trade a bag lock (which I don't think I'll get anyway) for preventing a canopy dump which I know is so much more likely.
People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

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According what I have read in skydiving magazines, a very hard opening can send you to the hospital and even kill you.

The results can be : broken femur, broken ribs, aorta rupture, broken vertebrae, shoulder dislocation, broken neck... all have been reported along years.
There are three main causes for it provided your equipment is OK : packing mistakes, bad position at opening time and premature opening in head down
Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

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Don't let some people persuade you not to jump. Its the greatest thrill available to mankind on the face of this planet. It would be a terrible shame if you let it slip by you, and you never get to experience that thrill...it simply cannot be put into words.
I feel sorry for those who are tethered to the ground, and never spend some time flying their body through space.

Go for it, and dont worry about your questions. I have seen people in wheelchairs jump, and they couldn't walk on ground, but they sure liked the thrill they experienced.

GO FOR IT, and dont let others talk you out of it..

Forge ahead.....and don't back down.

Bill Cole D-41 Canada aka Chuteless 2 & 3




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