How tiredness affects you

[GoHuskers 0]

Tightening your chest strap before your leg straps gives a more comfortable fit to the harness. The best part is you can never forgot to route your chest strap appropriately if its part of your snug but comfortable ritual.

[ufk22 32]

The military has done numerous studies that show fatigue, hunger, and/or environment (heat/cold) are the three factors that seriously impair judgement.
Looking back over many years of jumping and student training, most mistakes I have made have had one or more of these factors.
I try to keep this in mind midway through any day of hard jumping and slow things down a little, make sure I eat and stay hydrated. I also make sure the same is true of my students.
What you noticed is a sign.
How well do those last training jumps of the day go?
How many problems occur on those sunset loads?

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[airtwardo 6]

NickyCal

Newbie question: Do you guys wear helmets all the way up? I fasten mine on before heading to the plane and look like a goonie because I leave it on all the way. Everybody else takes theirs off and holds until getting ready to exit. I wear mine in the plane. If I have to get out fast, I want my head protected. Learning to go with my own instincts in this sport (life and death!), but validation is nice, too

That's smart...I do it too.

Here's the validation ~
Your point regarding being ready to get out quick if something should happen, is somewhat a case of right answer to the wrong question.

If the shit hits the fan - exiting, deploying & landing safely can all be done just fine with your helmet tucked snugly under the seat...

~`BUT ~

Only if you are fully conscious with all your faculties about you!

At 1000' we remove our seatbelts for both comfort & to be able to easily access our gear for the pre jump checks.

That's a whole lotta 'objects' not bolted to the airframe that can & will go flying everywhere should something happen...having your head protected will give you better odds of not getting your eggs scrambled by a smack to the melon.

My having boxed on the collegiate level gave me an 'up close & personal' regarding how incapacitating blows to the head can be...even relatively minor impacts can cause disorientation and impairment.

Tough to save yourself when seconds matter, and your mind is sipping margaritas on a beach in Tahiti.

I'd bet the 'cool kids' would feel pretty stupid meeting St. Peter at the Pearly Gates...with their helmets fastened through a chest strap!

On a motorcycle you don't just put your helmet on for 'part of' the ride - an extraordinary event can happen at any time, so you wear it while engaged in that activity 100%...same goes with 'us'.

FWIW ~ that's also one of the reasons I also wear gloves on every dive - for the entire dive.

My hands are useful tools I rely on every day...participating in an extreme sport like this, holds literally dozens of ways to negatively impact the working condition of those tools...pushing through ripped & twisted shards of burning aluminum is just one of 'em.

I just laugh when people tell me 'odds are that won't happen'...Odds Are the plane won't crash, yet I've survived 3 times so far when it has.


~ A few years back I was making some afternoon jumps with a then relatively new jumper who's an 'old guy' like me...a college professor by trade.

Debriefing after the first jump - he said for me to not be afraid to speak up if I see 'anything' he could improve on...I gave him the wear your helmet speech. He'd never heard it - never thought about it, just did what everyone else was doing.

The logic must have made an impression because not only does he always wear it now...I've heard HIM give the speech a time or two!

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

[DocPop 1]

labrys

Quote

I could be wrong, but I have never encountered someone who purposely misrouted their chest strap as some sort of convenience while putting their gear on.

I've seen it. I watched a guy step into his leg straps and put his arms through his MLW, then bend over to put his booties on... chest strap dangling, he draped it through the buckle and carried on. He tightened his leg straps, looked down at his chest, and then headed for the plane. I vectored him off behind the boarding area to remind him that he hadn't finished.

This.

I believe a lot of these are a case of "I'll just sort that out later" rather than actually thinking it's done. I don't believe that a jumper who has been cleared for self-supervision can put a chest-strap solely through the elastic keeper and truly believe it is correct.

Either way, it's unnecessary and if nothing else, shows that the jumper has not performed adequate checks prior to boarding, on the way up and before exit which I suggest is a minimum.

We are expecting this gear to save our lives - we should give it a fighting chance!

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

~ CanuckInUSA

[MikeStafford 0]

ghost47

Quote

My point was that if you're waiting on the ground for a load etc there is no reason to half do up your cheststrap. On or off. That's the rule. If its on - you're good to go, if it's off at least you make it easier for someone to spot.

I could be wrong, but I have never encountered someone who purposely misrouted their chest strap as some sort of convenience while putting their gear on.

It's happened to me twice. Once I caught it myself on a gear check around 10,000 feet, and once someone else caught it for me before boarding. Neither time did I mean to do it half-way --- both times, I simply messed up.

Ever hear of a pincheck? It's done before you get on the plane.

[ghost47 18]

Quote

Ever hear of a pincheck? It's done before you get on the plane.

Assuming you are not a ChrisD clone:

1. Pinchecks can be (and are) done both before and after getting on the plane. A teammate of mine had me check his pin before every jump, around 11,000 or so.

2. What does a pincheck have to do with routing a chest strap incorrectly?

[ChrisD 0]

ghost47

Quote

Ever hear of a pincheck? It's done before you get on the plane.

Assuming you are not a ChrisD clone:

1. Pinchecks can be (and are) done both before and after getting on the plane. A teammate of mine had me check his pin before every jump, around 11,000 or so.

2. What does a pincheck have to do with routing a chest strap incorrectly?

Did you watch the vid? Did anyone else see him make the correction, pull his strap tight, and then as he is in the door the strap appears to immediately loosen up again??? Just a question??

C

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."