Extra credit A license skills

[danielcroft 2]

Ok, I had some fairly silly stuff happen to me leading up to my A license. I thought it might be fun to share and see what other people had happen to them. Mostly all my fault, actually, all my fault but it only happened once.

1. Landing out on my recurrency (jump 9). I tracked too long away from the DZ, mainly due to mental overload. Pull priorities!

2. Velcro on alti (school) coming loose in FF with my coach's alti being faulty on the same jump (jump 10). I could still see my altitude so it wasn't a loss of awareness. We did pull high on that one because I wasn't comfortable. Better gear check perhaps?

3. Cutaway from self induced line twists (jump 12). Totally my fault, I learned the stupid way to be slower with inputs.

4. Laterals coming loose in free fall while practicing back loops. Clearly not done up right but freaky when your rig starts making you turn. Gear check!!!

What about everyone else?

[Hausse 0]

Line over and then cutaway on something around jump 12.

[DocPop 1]

Dislocated shoulder (jump 2).

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[klingeme 0]

Pilot chute in hand malfunction on jump 13.

[wildfan75 1]

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I packed myself a Line over and then cutaway on something around jump 12.

Fixed it for you

[danielcroft 2]

Looks like my cutaway at 12 puts me in good company. [12]

[wildfan75 1]

On free fall #6, I accidently dislodged my reserve handle on deployment, 2 out. Then landed my reserve (after cutting away) downwind while doing the properly landing pattern/direction for the previous week.

Flared too high on jump #17 and landed on tailbone. I literally rolled out of bed for three weeks.

Jump #11, 12, 18, 19, 21, 22--I became the master of "The Uneven Flare", paving the way for my now great crosswind landings.

[danielcroft 2]

That reminds me; Level 4, could have stood it up but did the tandem landing on my ass. Tail bone hurt for months! The radio guys was yelling at me to put my legs down but it just didn't really get through.

[blacksha 1]

Talk about learning the hard way...I've:

1. Had a low turn first jump off radio. I was static line progression so this happend on like jump number 4 or something, can't remember exactly...

2. After being lectured on #1, was totally overcompensating on anti-low-turns...saw a friend under canopy in traffic, and worried about a collision, I turned the opposite way at enough altitude and changed my plan However, now I was on final, and just barely landed next to a tractor. Would have been a goner for sure. Never forgot tiny S turns to avoid obstacles after that, that's for sure.

3. Landed underneath a small Arizona tree by barely missing the landing area...main was all caught up in the tree. After jumping at the Ranch learned what a real tree is and decided I didn't ever want to do that again. Also learned alot more about what spotting is.

4. On a 5-10 s delay, like jump number 6, from 4500 or 5500 still didn't know how to get stable and had the parachute open while I was upside down. I remember seeing my legs in between the risers and pulling my legs out.

5. Had a reserve ride on jump 19. Jumping old ripcord spring loaded pilot chute main and most likely pilot chute was in burble all I had to do was look at it....didn't know that before the jump. Broke my wrist under reserve because I didn't PLF on landing.

6. Was out of the sport for 2 years. Didn't have my A yet, so did an AFF 7 on my recurrency jump then a solo on my 2nd jump back. Wasn't comfortable under canopy and due to a mixup in the plane jumped with my radio off. Had so much adrenaline under canopy, didn't realize I could reach over and turn the radio on, so I just made a landing plan and stuck with it. Landed downwind, but wow did I learn a valuable lesson here about having a landing plan and not changing it.

7. Jumping a student rig, didn't tighten the chest strap all the way. Let's just say on deployment, the chest strap was all the way to my neck and there was like a 3-6 inch gap above my shoulders to the nearest over the shoulder webbing. And some people said the chest strap could have decapitated me on opening. Let's just say I like making sure my harness is on very well now...

Safe jumps and Blue skies...

[danielcroft 2]

Glad you're still around to tell your stories! Thanks!

[SkyJeaux 0]

Got lost under canopy on AFF1 at The Farm. By the time my instructor found me and was radioing to me to turn around, i was 1500' and was about two farms away. Ended up landing between two parallel sets of power lines and one perpendicular barbed wire fence in a field full of waist high grass. Can we say Holy SHIT! Nothing like a tight landing space with a 260 for your FIRST SOLO LANDING with hungry power lines!

Lost the damn radio in farmer brown's grass field ( not that sort of grass ) on landing and had to come back with the Instructor's radio and play some bizarre Marco Polo for an hour.

Lessons:
Really stare at the way the DZ looks on the map BEFORE you jump.
PLF baby!
Andy's FJC really does prepare you for power line avoidance.
Any landing you walk away from without hurting yourself, others or farmer brown's field is a GREAT ONE.

BSBD

[aresye 0]

1. Learned how to kick out of line twists on my first AFF jump. Had about 5-7 twists.

2. Learned how to land out, while avoiding trees, powerlines, and landing in a small field on my first AFF jump.

3. Learned how to land via the rear risers, when a steering toggle snapped off during a control check on my AFF level 4.

4. Learned how to land downwind on my AFF level 3.

Above all, most of my really wierd stories happened during my AFF, mostly due to bad luck. After AFF, I've had some learning experiences, but nothing really that would be that much worth telling.

Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours.

[JCulver 0]

Jump #45: August of 2000. Doing a accuracy comp for novice jumpers (under 100 jumps). Went out at 4000ft for a 5 second delay. Opened nicely and landed 1/2 meter off target. When I got back to the hangar to de-rig and noticed my chest strap was routed wrong and completely loose. I shutter to think what would have happened if I was at terminal. It scared me bad and I quit. Sold my brand new rig and walked away from the sport. I was pissed at myself for letting that happen. After a 9 year break, I'm coming back. (I did WIN the comp though and got a cheesy trophy out of it )


1st day I got my rig. Rigger inspected it and did a repack on the reserve. I flat packed that PD210 the way I was always taught while my coach looked over my shoulder. Went up and had the hardest opening I've ever had. Broke 3 ribs. (They were on my left side, so I guess I wasn't quite belly to earth symetrically) That put me out for about a month. Never forgot to roll the nose after that one. I don't know how I didn't break any lines. Canopy flew good though and no visible damage. I remember looking at my altimeter and I was open in 100 ft. at terminal.

[freeflyit 0]

Jump # 20 or so. Eearly mourning overcast at 3000' and windy. Went to 3500 with a load full of very experienced jumpers (1000+ jumps at least). Couldn't see the ground but everyone was jumping out so I jumped out, went to pull and went unstable. Regained stability and pulled. I was also downsizing from a 280 Manta to a 190 Sabre. Upon opening I discovered myself directly above a house at about 1200'. So I yanked the toggle and induced linetwists. Luckily I kicked out quickly and was heading toward a road with powerlines. The dropzone was over a kilometer away from me at this point. I cleared the powerlines and ended up landing downwind in feild of cut corn. (For those of you that don't know, it's like landing in a feild full of spikes.) Plus it was November so the ground was stiff. I remember thinking and saying "I'm FU**ED!" As soon as one foot touched I tubmled hard. Walked away with some dirty gear and bruised ego. Pleasant way to start your day!

[bloody_trauma 2]

280>190!!! WL?

Fly it like you stole it

[HeatherObscura 0]

Oh my 8th jump i landed on a runway about 100 feet away from a moving airplane i remember seeing it all, knowing what was going to happen but i was to afraid to make a low turn so i went with it, my feet landed on the grass but my knees and hands landed on the runway and i got dragged a good 5 feet..luckily i walked away with scraped knees and a nice road rash on my palms

[Andy_Copland 0]

Thats a good ouchie

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[danielcroft 2]

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Thats a good ouchie

Yeah it is, ouch!

[shropshire 0]

Andy, tell 'em yours

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[SmoothAl 0]

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Got lost under canopy on AFF1...Really stare at the way the DZ looks on the map BEFORE you jump.

Damn, I thought I was the only one! Did some tandems as part of my start into the sport, out in Boulder near Las Vegas. I was told to jump near where I lived...on my first AFF everything went great. Then it was time to pull. I went up, they went down, I looked at my canopy and lost sight of my instructors. I didn't look at an aerial of the DZ...I landed in an open lot where a local priest pulled up and drove me back to the DZ. Ended up I landed two miles away. When I got back to the DZ my instructor says, "Ah, we wondered what happened to you."

Good times, good times.

SA

[bloody_trauma 2]

i pulled at 3500 this weekend.. bout gave my instructor a heart attack.

Fly it like you stole it

[imirie 0]

you're my hero!

[aresye 0]

Well, good thing I've landed downwind before, because on Saturday, I was going to overshoot my landing area on final. I either had to land crosswind on the runway, with an airplane taxiing, or set up another approach, and land downwind. I chose the second option.

I must say, it's one thing landing downwind on a big F111 student rig, during a light wind. It's a pretty scary experience landing downwind with a decently loaded Spectre, and 10-15mph winds at your back.

Tumbled quite a bit, as I slid in. PLF would have likely been more dangerous. Got all scratched up, and was covered in sand, dirt, and foxtails. Walked back to the packing area while continuing to say, "Never again...never again."

Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours.

[bloody_trauma 2]

i had something similar happen to me this weekend... ended way out from the spaceland over a lake, so had to fly back to the property, ended up over the swoop ditch, the clean pond, and was heading for powerlines and barbed wire fence on upwind
i ended up on a crosswind landing in between the swoop ditch and the run way, had to lay on my canopy cuz the otter was comin back in... wasnt too bad a landing, little to no wind on 0.85WL on a 280.

Fly it like you stole it

[dreaming13000 1]

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].

Jump #11, 12, 18, 19, 21, 22--I became the master of "The Uneven Flare", paving the way for my now great crosswind landings.

That basically sums up my last 5 landings.... jumps 13-18.... I have not mastered the uneven flare yet! but I will grrrrr.

Jump number 13 I pulled at about 3,800....just about gave myself a heart attack!

Jump 16 was hop n pop from 5k....totally fumbled the exit, tumbled towards earth, pitched the second I had belly to earth! open by 3k just extremly pissed at myself

"A man only gets in life what he is believing for, nothing more and nothing less" Kenneth Hagen