hooking it in...

[sgt_ludy 0]

i also posted this in the swooping-thread. moderator please delete if u feel so.

yeah, it finally happened.
saturday, second jump. wanted to do a 180° front riser turn for landing.
got distracted by another canopy in my peripheral vision. initiated the turn too low / too late. it happened so fast, i clouldn´t even think of giving a quick strong pull on the steering lines.
impacted on my shins, felt a pain in my back, made a front flip and landed on my back. i didn´t want to look at my legs, cause i was pretty sure that i would see some bones sticking out somewhere... but apart of some blood and superficial wounds everything was allright. stood up fast to show everyone that i´m allright (which wasn´t true). after i stopped shaking i went to work on my nightshift. pain got worse, went to hospital. crappy doctors, went to another hospital in vienna where i live. they found out i fractured my spine / vertebrae l4. tomorrow they´ll tell me if i should undertake a surgery or not.

damn, i think i was really lucky. i´m still walking and the pain is no problem. my lesson learned is, that when i´m swooping i have to be focused at least a 100% on my final approach. i should have waited for all the other canopies to land, and than start my swoop. the impact was harder than anything i´ve ever experienced. next week ´ll find out, if someone has taped it by accident...

for me it´s no more jumping till january. but somehow i´m really thankful and happy for this experience and for the lack of much worse injuries...

blue skies!

sgt_ludy

[phoenixlpr 0]

Have a full and fast recovery!

I was quite close to your story yesterday. It was windy: 5/7/10 m/s min/avg/max(10min). I managed to screw-up my pattern with spiraling. I've found myself on 100m 180 degrees off heading where I should be. I had two choices: 180 degrees front riser turn to the left, but there was no place to escape if I get low or 90 degrees to the right and land side-wind. I've made a 90 degrees right turn with some flare turn into the wind. I had a tip-toe landing.

[mjosparky 3]

And your reserve is a seven cell loaded even more than your main. Good luck.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[billvon 2,476]

>And your reserve is a seven cell loaded even more than your main.

Which means . . . what? He shouldn't hook turn his reserve? I don't think he said he was going to.

[Mike111 0]

Glad you are OK.
Get well soon, hope you have a quick recovery.

[sgt_ludy 0]

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And your reserve is a seven cell loaded even more than your main. Good luck.

Sparky

hm. i don´t think i´m gonna do daring front riser turns on a reserve ride... , or would u?

[FlyinseivLP2 0]

Why would you even think front riser if you knew you were low? Why wasn't a break turn one of your options?

[mjosparky 3]

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>And your reserve is a seven cell loaded even more than your main.

Which means . . . what? He shouldn't hook turn his reserve? I don't think he said he was going to.

It means his reserve is loaded almost 60 lbs. above the max rating, it is a F-111 7 cell and he is having problems with a lighter loaded main. Draw any conclusions you wish.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[mjosparky 3]

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And your reserve is a seven cell loaded even more than your main. Good luck.

Sparky

hm. i don´t think i´m gonna do daring front riser turns on a reserve ride... , or would u?

And you didn't think you were going to hook in you main did you?

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[phoenixlpr 0]

High winds. I was not sure if I had enough altitude to finish it, but it was no escape on the left side if things going wrong. I did a flat turn to the right instead.

[sgt_ludy 0]

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>And your reserve is a seven cell loaded even more than your main.

Which means . . . what? He shouldn't hook turn his reserve? I don't think he said he was going to.

It means his reserve is loaded almost 60 lbs. above the max rating, it is a F-111 7 cell and he is having problems with a lighter loaded main. Draw any conclusions you wish.

Sparky

hm. thats not accurate. the techno reserve has max. exit weight 100kg. my exit weight is/was 105kg. for me personally thats okay.
oh, and i already demoed my reserve (MY reserve canopy), and had no problems what so ever...

i appreciate your experience and your concerns, but
i´m stil gonna jump my rig with this main and this reserve and with the priceless experience i´ve made this weekend.

[MarkM 0]

Just curious but, how long were you doing 90's before going to 180's? Do you think you would've had this problem if you were doing a 90 instead of a 180?

[billvon 2,476]

>it is a F-111 7 cell and he is having problems with a lighter loaded main.

Right, but they are not the same. I watched someone who is quite competent under his smaller Crossfire almost break his back when he tried to turn his much larger MicroRaven 135 reserve 90 degrees down low. They are two different kinds of canopies with two different required techniques.

[sgt_ludy 0]

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Just curious but, how long were you doing 90's before going to 180's? Do you think you would've had this problem if you were doing a 90 instead of a 180?

i think i had something between 20 to 25 jumps on which i really focused on 90° before switching to 180. doesen´t meen, that i just did 180 from then on, but when it felt right i went for it. i really had some good 180 that felt right and went far. no corner, no toggles, just the rear riser to flare out.
for me last weekend was just a mess up on various different point, startng with the fact that i just wasn´t focused enough on the task, mainly because of my lack of sleep due to my nightshift the night before. won´t do that again...

[mjosparky 3]

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the techno reserve has max. exit weight 100kg

Your profile states you have a Tempo reserve. The 150 Tempo, closest to what you have listed, has a max. Suspended weight of 165 lb.

You are right about the Techno reserve, it has a weight range of 60 kg. (132 lb.) to 100 kg. (220 lb.) max suspended weight for the 155 size. That makes it only about 10 pounds over.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[mjosparky 3]

reply]>it is a F-111 7 cell and he is having problems with a lighter loaded main.

Right, but they are not the same. I watched someone who is quite competent under his smaller Crossfire almost break his back when he tried to turn his much larger MicroRaven 135 reserve 90 degrees down low. They are two different kinds of canopies with two different required techniques.

[pilotdave 0]

I'm actually surprised nobody's commented on

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yeah, it finally happened.

As if it was inevitable. As if "hooking it in" after one year in the sport is long enough to say "finally." I'd expect that sort of comment from someone with thousands of high speed landings who finally misjudged one by a few feet. Or maybe an AFF student that "finally" stood up a landing. It's all relative... but breaking your back after ANY amount of jumping shouldn't be a "finally," especially after just a year or less. If I ever twist an ankle on landing, I'll say "it finally happend." I'd think a little differently about a broken back though. Maybe "holy fuck it happened and I'm lucky my dumb ass is still alive and I can walk."

Stupid low turns don't just happen. People read about them and think they know better, as if they are different from the last guy to fuck himself up. But apparently you were just sitting back waiting for the day to come...

Dave

[sgt_ludy 0]

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the techno reserve has max. exit weight 100kg

Your profile states you have a Tempo reserve. The 150 Tempo, closest to what you have listed, has a max. Suspended weight of 165 lb.

You are right about the Techno reserve, it has a weight range of 60 kg. (132 lb.) to 100 kg. (220 lb.) max suspended weight for the 155 size. That makes it only about 10 pounds over.

Sparky

yep. made a mistake in my profile. i do have a TECHNO 155.

[phoenixlpr 0]

So are you going to have that surgery?

[sgt_ludy 0]

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Maybe "holy fuck it happened and I'm lucky my dumb ass is still alive and I can walk."

well, that´s exactly how i feel!

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But apparently you were just sitting back waiting for the day to come..,

i think i used the wrong words. i surely wasn´t sitting back and waiting. if i had been, i know could say "it happened". instead i was actively pulling my left front riser knowing what the results could be. it didn´t happen to me, i DID it.

[sgt_ludy 0]

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So are you going to have that surgery?

just called the hospital, and the dr. told me that they would strongly recommend it. right now i´m trying to get at least another opinion, and the name of a good surgeon.

[Squeak 17]

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Just curious but, how long were you doing 90's before going to 180's? Do you think you would've had this problem if you were doing a 90 instead of a 180?

This is where my thinking is, I have heard it recomended by MANY experience HP pilots that a couple of hundred 90 degree turns are recomended before progressing to 120 degree turns and so on,
300 jumps and pulling 180s, well glad you're not dead Hope you stay that way

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[mr2mk1g 10]

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i had something between 20 to 25 jumps on which i really focused on 90° before switching to 180.

Looking back now while pumped up on pain killers do you think in hindsight 20-25 jumps was enough?

There's a good lesson there for everyone; thanks for posting it and swift recovery.

[BETO74 0]

http://web.mac.com/ac057a/iWeb/AC057A/H0M3.html

[packerboy 3]

In my limited experience opinion, I would suggest double fronts first. Then 45's, 90's, 180's and so on.

And when first attempting 180's etc. you should be planing out with enough altitude to maybe even need a little double fronts to keep the speed induced by your turn up for your landing. Then bring it a little lower very slowly untill you have it mastered.

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In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson