Got my face slapped today

[captain1976 0]

Don't know if this is the proper place to post this, but I wouldn't call it an incident and the bonfire doesn't seem to fit, so here it is;

With 4 on the load, I went first out for a simple 2 way in a Cessna today and maneuvers along with the fact that this guy is 50 lbs lighter than me got me below pretty quick. He couldn’t catch up but something was slapping me in the face while in freefall.

Between tracking and keeping an eye on the rest of the load which were all higher than me, I just though my jumpsuit collar had come undone so I didn’t look to see what it really was.

It got pretty violent and when I went to pull at 3,300, I felt myself pulling something along with my pilot chute (I use a leg strap mount because of a shoulder injury). Deployment was normal and then I saw the problem.

I use a belly band I had installed some time ago for demos as it’s a great place to stow flags.

Its similar to the chest strap however there is a lot of excess strap to stow. The length of the strap makes it handy for bulky stuff. Well, the stow came undone and this long strap was slapping me in the puss. It also became apparent that I got a handful of it along with the pilot chute.

I must admit I need a good slap every once in a while but this thing hurt like hell and it still does.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[fasted3 0]

My first skydive was a tandem, and I wore a frap hat. The strap was loose and beat me severly around the neck and face.
Wahhhahhh
Suck it up cupcake, this is your chosen sport, don't forget.

But what do I know?

[bullin82 0]

on my AFF 9 jump my left riser cover came undone and slapped me all the way down to 4500. not the same but at the time i had no idea what the hell was going on lol.

[JohnRich 4]

I had a similar event once where a riser cover came loose on a style jump, the brake line snaked out into the air, and then half-hitched around my arm. I ignored the tightness I felt around my arm, thinking that it must have just been a twisted sleeve on my jumpsuit. I was busy - I had fast turns and loops to perform - I couldn't be distracted! Only at pull time did I bother to actually look and realize I had a line wrapped around my arm. I managed to quickly clear it, and the opening was "interesting", but worked.

The lesson you should take away from this, is the same one I learned: If something doesn't feel right in freefall, stop whatever the heck you had planned to do, and figure it out. Don't assume anything. Don't wait until the last second. Fix it NOW.

You can always do your jump over again after you fix the problem.
But if you ignore an equipment problem, you may never make another jump.

[DougH 270]

I had a pair of cargo shorts that had "webbing" in the bottom of the short legs. More fashion then function.

Those shorts were so worn out that the webbing mostly burst free and beat down my unmentionables!!!

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[champu 1]

I was shooting VFS video jumping a prototype-ish liquid sky suit back when Julio first started putting magnets in the flap that protects the zipper. The torso cut was a little long for me and about half way through the jump the bunched up flap opened up and started hammering my chest and chin.

hooooooly crap it felt like I was bleeding when I got down. No blood, just brutal bruising and welts.

I'm happy to report he's since changed the cut of his suits around the collars so this doesn't happen anymore. If you have a suit with magnets and you've never experienced this... you're welcome.