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JerseyShawn

Worst/scariest "Holy shit" jump...

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I think it was around jump #-600. Did a 4-way RW out of a Skyvan behind a 14-way RW. The captain of the 14-way told us to exit about 4-5 seconds after the big-way which seemed short too me. We did this becuase there were a lot of solos behind us.

Turned out when I went in tracking I saw the bigway opening right beneath me. Opened as fast as I could and had to pump the rears to speed up the opening. Canopy was fuly inflated about 10 ft. to the side and 6 ft. above one of the bigwayjumpers.
Blue skies!

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Turned out my accuracy in diving down was incredible--I was able to head straight for him.

Lessons learned:

Learn to stop.

If you aren't able to stop in time, realize that with enough time to avoid taking out the formation.

Always jump with an AAD (he didn't have one at the time, and it's a miracle I didn't knock him out).

Always watch out for everyone around you.




You left out diving down lesson #1, always aim off to the side of the formation. Dive down, get on level with a stable, matched fall rate, then move horizontally into your slot. This way, if you 'over cook' your swoop, you can put 100% of your effort into stopping, and not have to worry about slowing down as well as sliding off to the side to avoid a collision.




I feel enlightened. B|
I am ALIVE!

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This Jump. I learned a great deal about awareness, limitations, the importance of having and practicing an EP plan, and just how quickly things can go bad in this sport.

Stay safe folks!
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest" ~Samuel Clemens

MB#4300
Dudeist Skydiver #68

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in may almost had a canopy collision. there was a bit of canopy buffeting at around 2000ft and me and a friend had to take evasive action. too close for comfort. i had the vid on youtube but removed it. if anyone wants to see ill reupload it
Dudeist Skydiver #170
You do not need a parachute to skydive, you only need one to skydive again

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(i) TM w/ 40 jumps, first-time out of a tailgate w/ a girl weighing less than 90 lbs. Ended up on our backs, side spin...

(ii) 10-way FF sit-jump w/ an asshole who had no control of his HD. Trying to close-in he zoomed by me from behind at 30-40 mph, within less than 5 feet separation at equal level. Never had a chance to see him coming.

(ii) was actually a major contributing experience in hanging up the rig about a year later. Too many idiots out there these days! It's a different generation and game...

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I experienced a microburst while I was under canopy last weekend. That was probably the longest three or four minutes of my life.

There really wasn't a lesson learned because it was a freak occurrence; but the lesson reinforced was to fly my canopy all the way to the ground, even if that means you are only flying four or five cells at a time.

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bag lock on a tandem that cutaway only on one side, the reserve went into the main and they entangled some, then the reserve cleared. Then the main bag/lines stayed with us all wrapped in the risers and then it began to deploy out of all that.... I landed a reserve with a severe turn, and a trailing 400 sq ft of fabric on one side....

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I was approaching the landing area when I noticed a herd of cows in the LZ.
The LZ is not in view of the airstrip.

It was ~my 10th jump and I had not been warned about the possibility or heard about it ever happening before.

I didn't know what to do and the cows started trotting as I'm coming in to land. I tried steer slightly into an empty patch of grass in their midst but then they all started moving. I didn't yell or make any noises; guess they just heard my flapping and looked up. I ended up turning slightly to land behind a cow crossing sideways in front of me, landing halfway on a large soft mound courtesy of the herd.

I remember feeling glad they weren't at blind running speed by the time I touched down. It was sensory overload as I tried to land (still wasn't landing softly) while trying not to think about getting stepped on. I think I just zoned out after landing, probably would not have gotten away in time if one were coming at me. Somehow none did, and I just let jumping out of my mind for a while after that.

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Tracked from 4-way. flared, pulled, had line stretch and a tan Cessna dove under me head on, by about 30 feet. Scared us both. He ignored the NOTAM and was near impossible to see from altitude. None of the others saw him. I got a lot better look at the upper side of a 172 than I ever wanted to...

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I haven't scared myself too badly yet - had a few close calls over the years, but typically the danger appears and is (hopefully) gone so fast that you don't have time to worry about it.

'My' scariest jump was actually somebody else's that I watched from the ground.

It was a collision and wrap between two people on opening. After a few seconds we saw what seemed to be a cutaway canopy coming down, but then we realised somebody was still tangled up in it. There was a lot of frantic yelling from the specators ('Chop it!' - not much use, but you can't help yourself ;))

He eventually got himself unwrapped and had a very short reserve ride. He came back in good spirits, laughing and joking and glad to be alive - but never jumped again.

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During a 4way, a jumper accidentally pulled my cut-a-way handle(instead of grabbing my grip). I waved off and pulled my reserve at terminal. the opening was brutally hard, and broke the right rear riser french link. The lines were hanging on the very tip of what was left of the link. VERY long ride down!

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during aff i had just finished a jump with a coach and i turned and tracked pulled around 3.8k waited for that tug and didnt feel it, looked up and just saw my bag in massive line twists just twirling above me, moved straight for my cutaway handle, but the movement let the bag catch some air and it opened, that got my adrenaline going and reminded me of how fast the sport can turn on you.
"its just a normal day at the dropzone until its not"

1653

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3 of them to date:
~on a wingsuit "challenge" event where all participants were supposed to have "tried out" and "everyone will be very experienced."

A guy was flying above me, and apparently he had not yet learned to slow/stop a dive. He hit me in the back of the head so hard that it knocked out a molar, tore my lens and battery from my camera, and shattered the LCD screen.
I saw stars for quite a while.

Turns out the "very experienced" kid had 30-odd wingsuit jumps.

Between the tooth, camera, jump tix, flight, and hotel, it was a 5K$ jump for me.
Lesson learned: know abilities of anyone on a challenging jump before getting on the plane with them. Demand organizers provide that information up front if they've deviated from their evaluation process.

Second was a demo I; a new camera flyer at the DZ was added to the demo. I was under a 190 Silhouette, he was under a JVX 94. He was flying straight towards me coming out of a 180 turn. I turned right, so did he. End cells were perhaps 3' apart, we both were shakey on landing.
Lesson learned; never exit after "that guy."

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One of the last days at Phoenix/Zhills (next to Skydive City). An unnamed guy who had a previous history of very low pulls was one of the people who showed up at the DZ in the final days. (a lot of folks who had previously been banned from the DZ were showing up) We did 3 or 4 points on a 16-way and the last point was a big round. Scotty the unnamed jumper moved to the center of the star, did a couple of geeking 360s, and then, without warning, he dumped out of the formation. Terrorized, and realizing that we must be extremely low, everyone else immediately turned to track to at get at least some separation before pulling. We just knew we had to be down in the dirt. As I turned away I noticed (and I'm sure everyone else) that we were just passing through 6 grand. So the "scary, holy shit" part of the jump only lasted a few brief seconds. But the expressions of sheer panic on everyone's faces was priceless.

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3 of them to date:
~on a wingsuit "challenge" event where all participants were supposed to have "tried out" and "everyone will be very experienced."

A guy was flying above me, and apparently he had not yet learned to slow/stop a dive. He hit me in the back of the head so hard that it knocked out a molar, tore my lens and battery from my camera, and shattered the LCD screen.
I saw stars for quite a while.

Turns out the "very experienced" kid had 30-odd wingsuit jumps.

Between the tooth, camera, jump tix, flight, and hotel, it was a 5K$ jump for me.
Lesson learned: know abilities of anyone on a challenging jump before getting on the plane with them. Demand organizers provide that information up front if they've deviated from their evaluation process.

Second was a demo I; a new camera flyer at the DZ was added to the demo. I was under a 190 Silhouette, he was under a JVX 94. He was flying straight towards me coming out of a 180 turn. I turned right, so did he. End cells were perhaps 3' apart, we both were shakey on landing.
Lesson learned; never exit after "that guy."



The first & second ones were so traumatic, it completely erased memory of the third. ;)
Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess

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When I had a couple hundred jumps I had a pilot chute in tow (or likely a pilot chute in my burble) after deploying at 4500. Instead of aggressively clearing the air over my back, I made a meager panicked attempt to clear the air and then went to my reserve. My main deployed completely and my reserve remained in the free bag fairly close to my feet. I attempted to contain the reserve between my legs to prevent it from deploying. Instead this knocked the locking stows loose and my reserve opened at the same time that the lines wrapped around my legs. I was stretched horizontal between my canopies with a squirrely reserve and had to improvise. I cutaway my main when I had clear air and disentangled my legs from my reserve lines. I was free of this garbage at 1000 feet and then had an uneventful landing.

Lessons:
Don't panic.
Don't get lazy when tossing the pilot chute.
In the event of a pilot chute in tow, aggressively clear the air over your back.
Altitude saves lives.

Despite making quite a few bonehead decisions on that jump, I really feel that this incident resulted in my becoming an extremely safety conscious jumper.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

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