Injuries...and Lessons learned

[k2everest 0]

What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

[waveoff5500 0]

i broke my pinky on my first aff, lesson learned? dont rely on the radio to bring you in safely.

"its just a normal day at the dropzone until its not"

1653

[beowulf 1]

While I have never had any major injury skydiving, this question got me thinking of what would be the best advice I could give to a new skydiver.

Don't get in a big hurry to learn everything. Take your time and ask your instructors lots of questions. I think learning CRW and focusing on canopy control would be a great idea. Being able to handle close proximity to others under canopy is a very useful skill.

[wmw999 2,116]

Pretty much what he said, and I'd add that you should really think about and understand your gear, and why you do the things you do while skydiving (e.g. when to PLF, why breakoff matters, when to stand down, how your gear works).

Because once you understand something, you begin to internalize how it can fail, and once you've done that, you're about halfway towards preparing for that possible failure.

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)

[airdvr 197]

I fell and hit my head at the bonfire one night...learned not to drink to excess, at least not while in an upright position.

Actually, I screwed my elbow up years ago. Turbulence landing on a hot, windy day. Don't land behind a tree on a day like that.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[brucet7 0]

I landed in the dark on a night jump. Got a concussion, busted my helmet, and have no memory of the event.

Lesson learned, when nearing the ground (especially in the dark with no knowledge of where you are) go to half brakes. It should prevent the face plant,

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[btvr 0]

My Bank account

[missbrz 0]

I've been way more hurt with drunk antics and windy day activities than with actual skydiving.... so dont do stupid shit when not jumping.

[deltron80 0]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

Listen to your instructor when he tells you to land in the golf course.

[tkhayes 124]

see my avatar, don't hook it too low

[airtwardo 6]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

In 35+ years, never sustained an injury that kept me off the next load.

Lesson: Jump smart, be conservative...if you go outta yer way lookin' for ways to get hurt ~ You will find them!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[k-dubjumps 0]

Sprained ankle and broken calcaneous from a gopher hole on a night jump. Lesson learned: don't do night jumps where the landing area is field laden with gopher holes.

Adrenaline is my crack

DPH #3
D.S. #16 FAG #12 Muff Brother #4406

[JohnRich 4]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

Injury: I once cut my lips by opening a beer bottle at the end of the day by putting the bottle cap on the edge of a piece of metal and thumping downward on it with my fist. I didn't know the glass rim had broken and was razor sharp until I put it to my lips to drink.

Lesson: Use a bottle opener.

[millertime24 8]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

Sorry, no skydiving related injuries on me (unless you want to include the horrible bruises I got on my thighs due to student gear leg straps, which I thought was piano wire at the time. Or a few hard openings nearly turning my lights out.). But the lessons Ive learned have been both many and invaluable.

One example is when I was at LP last year and Monkycndo came up to me after a landing and told me "Finish your flare next time". I don't really know why that stuck with me (it wasn't a bad landing), but from now on I always end my touchdown with my arms fully extended down.

The most predominate example I can think of is (again at LP) when I watched a jumper go in. I remember MadJohn giving a few of us a talk after it happened. To paraphrase he said "Here's a good example of "If you thought this couldn't happen to you, well it can". People will deal with this in their own way. Some won't ever jump again. Some will seek solitude. Some will drink. NONE OF THESE THINGS ARE WRONG. I will go up on the next load to remember why we do what we do. If you want to be on this jump, hand me a jump ticket, and if you don't, that's not a wrong decision either" I gave him a jump ticket. Scariest jump of my life. Glad I did it though to remind me of why I love this sport so much.

I guess I never really thought before that that the Millertime could ever have anything like that happen to him. It put things in perspective and gave me a greater appreciation for life.

Anywho, these are lessons I learned without any physical injury to me.

Muff #5048

[baign32 0]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

I crushed my right heel on demo jump in '98. Landing area was very tight and concrete as far as the eye could see (demo was into Port Kembla Steel Works - just south of Sydney, Australia). I was 4th out of 5 jumpers on the demo and the last two of us got blown back by some wind gusts. I had to sink in (full brakes on a PD210) between power lines and portable toilets. The guy behind me crushed his heel as well.

Lesson learned: stay away from demos that don't have good 'outs' also don't stay too long on morphine (in excess of 4-5 days) 'cause you'll end up having really bad nightmares.

[Squeak 17]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

I crushed my right heel on demo jump in '98. Landing area was very tight and concrete as far as the eye could see (demo was into Port Kembla Steel Works - just south of Sydney, Australia). I was 4th out of 5 jumpers on the demo and the last two of us got blown back by some wind gusts. I had to sink in (full brakes on a PD210) between power lines and portable toilets. The guy behind me crushed his heel as well.

Lesson learned: stay away from demos that don't have good 'outs' also don't stay too long on morphine (in excess of 4-5 days) 'cause you'll end up having really bad nightmares.

Sounds like that would have been a fairly high Demo license requirement. Like B or A?

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?

[baign32 0]

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What injury have you sustained while skydiving, and what would you recommend to others to avoid that injury?

I crushed my right heel on demo jump in '98. Landing area was very tight and concrete as far as the eye could see (demo was into Port Kembla Steel Works - just south of Sydney, Australia). I was 4th out of 5 jumpers on the demo and the last two of us got blown back by some wind gusts. I had to sink in (full brakes on a PD210) between power lines and portable toilets. The guy behind me crushed his heel as well.

Lesson learned: stay away from demos that don't have good 'outs' also don't stay too long on morphine (in excess of 4-5 days) 'cause you'll end up having really bad nightmares.

Sounds like that would have been a fairly high Demo license requirement. Like B or A?

I held a Display D at the time but in hindsight everyone on the load agreed that the demo should have been called off. So yes more like a B or A or shouldn't have happened kinda thing.

[popsjumper 2]

I haven't been really injured as yet and I hope to continue that streak.

The lessons learned from watching and listening to others are too numerous to list.

Thanks to all you guys out there who have taught me what NOT to do!

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

[Joellercoaster 6]

The worst injury I've had was a fractured finger.

The lesson was to wear gloves on every jump. I got mangled and bled bit, but it would have been worse if I had been unprotected. I wear gloves even when jumping in just shorts... same with shoes.

There are plenty of opportunities to hurt your extremities skydiving; this one happened on exit!

As for other people's injuries... some of them have really sucked, and the lessons were numerous. I hope I have learned from those without having to go through the pain and rehab, because not being in those friends' shoes is a powerful motivator.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[skyjumpenfool 2]

I had the opportunity to ride a streamer in from 500 ft. I'll not bore you with all the details, but, I had several seconds to get all my affairs in order, only to be spared by dumb luck.

Lesson learned? Don't do CRW below 1500ft.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

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