My first AFF -Bad Landing

[jimshred 0]

Hello all, I'm hoping you guys could give me some suggestions on my first AFF jump.

I did my first jump about 9 days ago. My freefall went ok with a few minor mistakes. Upon exit from the plane I didn't quickly arch and look up. Eventually I got into position and responded to my JM to get my hips down. I did my PRCT's and maintained good altitude awareness. I had trouble with my legs and my feet kept hitting my butt (I guess you have to put some effort into extending the legs a little). My JM had signaled me to fix my legs but I didn't identify his signal. At that moment I noticed I was having trouble breathing (keep in mind this is my first ever freefall) and was almost gasping for air. I finally got a good breath of air and checked altitude which was at 5500' so I did my waive off and pulled the ripcord. I made a mistake and just threw my ripcord out into the air - that cost me $20.

My canopy ride went ok until the landing. Wind was from the south. My ears were clogged up so I couldn't hear the radio instr's. I did the ride downwind at 1000' but didn't get far enough beyond the target area. At this point I just rode crosswind at about 600' (I was heading east) and then tried coming back to the target. But I was still too high or so it seemed. Now I was starting to go over a line of trees(I was heading west) on the west side of the DZ. On the west side of the tree line was a strip of corn fields. Here I had to make a quick decision, try to turn back to the DZ or go for the cornfields. I chose to go for the corn fields since turning back towards the DZ would have required too sharp of a turn and I didn't want to do such a fancy manuever. So I turned north into the corn field which was still a somewhat tight turn and I came down fast. I had time to straighten the approach but that was it. I hit the ground hard and did a forward roll on my upper left shoulder and then did a second sideways roll. The corn stalks were about 3-4' high and the dirt was soft from being tilled up which help break my fall. I got up, face down in the dirt, spitting out dirt and cleaning out dirt from my nostrils and ears. But was alive and walking. I got a slightly sprained ankle from the experience which is almost healed now.

This landing experience scared the crap out of me and has almost made me think of giving up skydiving. The 2 other students in my group made perfect landings yet I messed up. How could I have done my landing better? Is it ok to land heading downwind? Are landings like this common amongst first time students?

Currently I plan on giving skydiving a second try. For sure I will be asking my JM many questions on canopy control and landing. But any advance information would be helpful.

Thanks, Jim

______________________________________
"Find your passion, find that thing you love, and, well, get out there and do it" - Jeb Corliss

[Hooknswoop 19]

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(keep in mind this is my first ever freefall)

You should really do 2-3 learning tandems before AFF.

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pulled the ripcord. I made a mistake and just threw my ripcord out into the air - that cost me $20.

Using a ripcord on students status means you have to re-learn how to deploy your main later with a throw-out PC. This can lead to problems.

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My ears were clogged up so I couldn't hear the radio instr's.

Clear your ears under canopy. Also, the learning tandems will teach you how to fly the canopy without relying on radio control.

Expecting someone to perform well on their first freefall with the strssors of having to arch, read an altimeter, deploy, fly and land a canopy is un-realistic. I have taught doing traditional, old school AFF (like you experienced) and more modern AFP which starts with learning tandems. The difference is night and day.

Find a more modern, progressive DZ to learn to skydive at.

Derek

[Superman32 0]

Tandems will also make you more confortable with the idea of thowing yourself out of a plane, which in turn, may help you concentrate on things that need to get done. Things won't be surprise.
Tandem can also a fun ride where you can relax and enjoy the experience while learning quite a lot

Inveniam Viam aut Faciam
I'm back biatches!

[Dougiefresh 0]

Sounds to me like you made some good decisions that kept you from being hurt worse. From your description you did a good PLF (parachute landing fall) and walked away.

I had a few landings like that too, and I'd guess a lot of students do. Keep at it and don't get down on yourself. It gets easier and you'll be doing those cool tippy toe stand up landings in no time.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[jimshred 0]

Thanks for the input.

I have never heard of "learning tandems". There is only one other DZ near where I live. They do require a tandem before starting AFF. But their tandem is just an instructor controlled canopy ride. It is mostly for those curious about the experience.

Sounds like you are suggesting a tandem where the student gets to take the toggles and do some steering.

Also, my freefall experience for the most part went ok. I was able to focus on the rehearsed procedures. The only thing is that I noticed it difficult to breath towards the end of my freefall. Maybe a tandem jump would have helped in this regard. I don't know.

It is the canopy control and landing that troubled me the most. Maybe I should have asked my instructor more questions about this area.

One thing about the level 1 AFF that I noticed is that there is a lot of information to absorb. If I was to improve on this I would break it up into 2 days instead doing a 4hr class and then jumping right away. I think it would help to take home the knowledge, rehearse it, then go back the next day with any questions, take the test and then jump.

Anyways, thanks for the input.

______________________________________
"Find your passion, find that thing you love, and, well, get out there and do it" - Jeb Corliss

[AggieDave 6]

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Sounds like you are suggesting a tandem where the student gets to take the toggles and do some steering.

Its more involved then that. Its a Cat A skydive like with AFF, but you're doing a tandem. Also, the instructor should be teaching canopy control while under canopy and teaching how to landand flare (as well as a basic landing pattern). The student helps flare and land the canopy.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Fab 0]

Landing into the wind is easier to land but landing downwind isn't that much of a problem. Making low turns are dangerous though. Before you get up in the air you should have a flight/landing plan. Where are you going to be at 1000 ft and where are you going to be at 250 ft. If you are too high on the 250 point you can loose some altitude by making slow turns (towards the DZ) till you are at 250 ft.

You probably hit the ground hard because you made a low turn (as you said you barely had time to straighten the landing?). Don't do that anymore . Your canopy needs time to recover from a turn.

You shouldn't rely on radios to land is my opinion as they can fail. My DZ uses no radios at all.

My first landing was a bit hard too because I flared too high..made a PLF..no big deal . Most first time students withouth a radio won't make a perfect landing... I"m sure your next one will be better...

Talk to your instructors about your flightplan/landing plan etc.

Congratulations on your first jump and enjoy your next jump

_______________________________________

[Orange1 0]

2c from a newbie... "should have" done tandem first when he's already done AFF1 imho is not such a helpful piece of advice! anyway i'm betting most of the 'older' skydivers here never did and still seem to be pretty good at what they do...

don't beat yourself up too much about the landing - it was your first jump, you were overwhelmed - which is normal - and you landed safely. oh, and you are definitely not the first student to lose the ripcord! and i know it's hard, but don't... DON'T... get into the trap of comparing yourself to other students! Human nature is to compare yourself only to those who do better, and that can be both disheartening and unnecessary... some will be better than you, and some will be worse than you (do a search here for the 'worst AFF stduent' video) - or better in some bits and worse than others - but eventually you all get off the initial learning curve roughly the same. and there's always more to learn

it's easier to absorb instruction once you've actually done a jump... bit of a catch-22! learning theoretically about freefall and canopy control when you have no experience of your own to reference it to is one thing (I guess this is why a tandem first can be useful); learning the same things after a jump will make more sense to you.

you'll be amazed at how quickly you pick things up the more you jump. go back, jump again - you very obviously want to - not every jump will be perfect, but before you know it you'll reach that day when door fear is gone, you have a great freefall and land on target (without help) and you will feel ... on top of the world!

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[kelpdiver 2]

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2c from a newbie... "should have" done tandem first when he's already done AFF1 imho is not such a helpful piece of advice! anyway i'm betting most of the 'older' skydivers here never did and still seem to be pretty good at what they do...

If he's suffering any doubt from the last jump, a tandem would solve a lot. He could get a lot of canopy specific training, esp on flying a good pattern.

[Hooknswoop 19]

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2c from a newbie... "should have" done tandem first when he's already done AFF1 imho is not such a helpful piece of advice! anyway i'm betting most of the 'older' skydivers here never did and still seem to be pretty good at what they do...

It's not too late. A tandem would still increase canopy control abilities, confidence, air awareness, etc.

Derek

[pccoder 0]

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This landing experience scared the crap out of me and has almost made me think of giving up skydiving

I understand that. I haven't gone back yet from a landing accident last November. I do intend to return, but that time seems to keep extending further and further out. It's funny how hitting the ground nice and hard can really make you think.

PcCoder.net

[jigneshsoni 0]

I finally got a good breath of air and checked altitude which was at 5500' so I did my waive off and pulled the ripcord. I made a mistake and just threw my ripcord out into the air - that cost me $20.



I am trying to understand what you mean by that? Doesn't a student actually pull the pilot shute and throw in the air? What is the rip cord thing that you are talking about?

[jimshred 0]

I know what you mean, pccoder. I really, really want to skydive again but I must give my ankle time to heal. My ankle is definitely healing but it is going really slow. I think it will take several more weeks yet.

I wish I hadn't had this bad landing experience. I envy the other students who did perfect landings. I have gone over and over the whole thing in my mind on how I could have done it better. There were some valuable lessons from this I guess - like don't do a low turn, concentrate on flaring at right time, and it would have been ok to have landed downwind, etc.

Hopefully someday I can return. I'll probably have to restart from AFF level1 or, if I can talk them into a "learning tandem" I'll probably do that.

______________________________________
"Find your passion, find that thing you love, and, well, get out there and do it" - Jeb Corliss

[rasmack 0]

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I am trying to understand what you mean by that? Doesn't a student actually pull the pilot shute and throw in the air? What is the rip cord thing that you are talking about?

The pilot chute is packed inside the container. It contains a large spring. The container is kept closed by a piece of wire (ripchord) going through the loop (where the closing pin is normally situated). On the end of the ripchord there's a handle. You pull the handle, the spring propels the PC out of the container. You are left holding the handle
The argument is that this system is safer for (potentially unstable) students, as the PC gets away from the jumper and virtually ensures linestretch.

Insert your favourite newbie know nothing disclaimer here...

EDIT: To the original poster. Please don't be too hard on yourself. You're not the first nor the last to not remember all that was said during the FJC when you're there for real.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[psipike02 0]

So I´m sure everyone here has better advice than I do, but seeing as how I´m a Level 3 AFF, I thought I could relate a bit.

I did a tandem a year before I did AFF and it did help, I was more comfortable in the air because I knew what to expect.

As for your first jump, no worries, the first jump is always a little rough. I, too, had problems keeping my legs down. Being 6´6, I fall fast, so I had to remember that. Just take note of what your JM´s tell you after its done and focus on keeping your legs down. On my level 2, my legs were fine and they weren´t even a problem.

As for your landing, I had a similar but also different experience upon landing. My landing was fine and canopy control was great, but as I neared the ground, I forgot one important thing that we had spent about 3 hours in ground school reviewing over and over.......I forgot to FLARE. So I PLF´d and rolled up the side of my body and my back and it didnt hurt, but I hit going about 15 mph. A little shocker....I will never forget to FLARE and didn´t forget on my Level 2 jump. Thats also how I got my nickname FLARE at my DZ.

But don´t let it get you down man, take everyones advice here and go back up, re do the jump in your mind when you practice and practice keeping your legs down among other things. Ask your JM questions before you go again if you´re not sure.....everyday is definately a learning experience, just keep going man.... You´ll be fine....

Puttin' some stank on it.

----Hellfish #707----

[SkydivingNurse 0]

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2c from a newbie... "should have" done tandem first when he's already done AFF1 imho is not such a helpful piece of advice! anyway i'm betting most of the 'older' skydivers here never did and still seem to be pretty good at what they do...

It's not too late. A tandem would still increase canopy control abilities, confidence, air awareness, etc.

Derek

I had a long break from my previous jump to this year, did a "training tandem" and it helped immensely. Especially the confidence thing, no door nerves at all when I went back into aff after the tandem.
Also, the fact that I can have a conversation with the TM about the landing pattern instead of one way radio was a huge plus.
Now I just need to heal from these damn strap bruised in my crotch and on my arms.

[aftermid 0]

I landed in a cornfield on my AFF-2, played around under canopy and got stuck down wind.

Sounds like all and all you did pretty well. You pulled on your own at the proper altitude and walked away.

Most importantly you came away with specific things to work on and practice. You'll be learning for a long time, learning is a lot easier when you have concrete things to work on. Talk to your instructors and you won't repeat the same mistakes twice.

What suggestions did your instructors give you?

[jimshred 0]

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What suggestions did your instructors give you?

I don't remember much about what my instructor said during my briefing (I was in that "first jump high" at the moment).

He wrote in my log that I left the "play area" too early and should have waited till 1000'. After thinking about this for a while I think I know what I did wrong that started this whole chain of events. I misinterpreted the reading on my altimeter. I remember looking at it while in the play area and saw it was going in this red zone area on the dial. At that point I thought I was supposed to start heading downwind.

My memory on the whole event is starting to get foggy now. But I think this is what had happened.

I do remember finding it difficult to focus on maneuvering the canopy while constantly checking the altimeter.

Overall I felt that not enough instructional time was spent on canopy control and landing. This is not too say that the instructor was bad. He probably gave good instructions for most people to land adequately (the other 2 students landed fine). But I probably needed some rehearsal in going thru the canopy flight plan and landing.

I don't know if it is possible to rehearse canopy control and landing but if it is it would help me a lot. All the ground rehearsal we did for the freefall part gave me confidence and something to focus on and I think that it would do the same for the canopy part of the whole skydive.

Anyways, thanks for all the suggestions.

______________________________________
"Find your passion, find that thing you love, and, well, get out there and do it" - Jeb Corliss

[kelpdiver 2]

Ask for clarification from him on the 1000ft pt. Typically you're in the pattern at that point, not beginning to leave the playground. It is easy to wait too long, and if you look a bit forward at the ground rather than directly at your crotch you may be further out than you think. Leading to a pattern less direct run at the landing target.

But yeah, red zone (2500) would be too early.

[skydivermom 0]

I am a student and cannot give advice. I just wanted to tell you that I also had a rough landing last Saturday and sprained my ankle as well. I didn't flare enough (if at all). I didn't even get to pull my own chute! My instructor pulled at 7000 because I could not get stable. I had no arch at all! I even lost one of my shoes during freefall (I saved the other one and decorated it).

Anyway, hearing other stories makes me feel so much better. I think that is one of the purposes of this forum. Great job on getting stable in freefall! That is one of my goals.

Don't give up the sport.

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[jimshred 0]

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I just wanted to tell you that I also had a rough landing last Saturday and sprained my ankle as well.

Sorry to hear about your sprained ankle. Give it lots of time to heal.

My ankle is almost healed now. Although, last week it was feeling good and so I went to the gym and worked on the stair climber machine. Turned out that excercise irrated my ankle and it became sore again. For several days it was sore. Now it feels just fine. But I will be giving it 3 or 4 more weeks just to be sure.

Meanwhile, I have ordered a video on canopy control and will be studying that. I will also be practicing my PLF's.

______________________________________
"Find your passion, find that thing you love, and, well, get out there and do it" - Jeb Corliss

[Superman32 0]

I think the tandem progression is very useful. At my DZ you are required to do 3 tandems and then AFF is only one instr.
Here's why I think tandems are more than just a joy ride:
Tandem 1: This one, is just a ride but you are jumping out of a plane for the first time, you can easily be overwhelmed by everything going around you. Having somebody that knows what to do greatly decreases your level of stress and you can enjoy the ride. You also get to pull for yourself and you know what to expect.

Tandem 2: Altitude awareness is your primary job, you also get to start and stop turns, and forward movement, and I think you also do practice touches (can't remember), pull at correct altitude.

Tandem 3: Same as tandem 2 but you have to pick a heading, the TM will turn you, and you have to turn back to your heading.

During all 3 levels you get instruction on flying the canopy, landing patterns and flaring.

I think the tandems prepared me very well for AFP and would not do it any other way. (Passed AFF without any repeats)

Just my experience.
Hope you get back in the air soon

Inveniam Viam aut Faciam
I'm back biatches!

[rasmack 0]

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Turned out that excercise irrated my ankle and it became sore again. For several days it was sore. Now it feels just fine. But I will be giving it 3 or 4 more weeks just to be sure.

Please remember that fully healing a sprained ancle also includes exercise. If you don't use it, you will not rebuild your strength, and mobility might also be reduced. Be sure to apply pressure on it also in positions that are not too comfortable.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...