Would You Ride the Airplane Down?

[JENNR8R 0]

On the ride to altitude today, the pilot informed us of a wind gust from 4 to 19 mph. That is waaaaaaay beyond my comfort level. I rode the airplane down with a student and her instructor. Everyone else on the airplane decided to jump out. Some of them had far fewer jumps than I, and they all landed safely.

This was just a fun jump. I would have had a harder time in deciding to stay on the airplane if it were a more meaningful jump and everyone else in my group decided to go.

What would you do? How much of a wind gust would convince you to ride the airplane down?

What do you call a beautiful, sunny day that comes after two cloudy, rainy
ones? -- Monday.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

You did the smart thing. If the wind is 4 mph and then 19 mph the next second, that is quite the shift. Sure these people landed safely ... this time. But it only takes one bad moment in time to mess up the rest of your life.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[L.O. 0]

The wind was reported at 21 gust 28knots just before we reached altitude on the first load. I didn't even consider not jumping, but I did mention it to the others in the plane. We all jumped.

The winds were more then reported and the turbulance was extreme. I would have jumped even if they had reported 30 gust 40 but I would have shut everyone else down ( I am the S&TA after all).

I was jumping a 82, I still got forward drive and a soft landing.

I would consider not jumping if I could see the funnel forming, but not before.

If I knew how windy it really was I would have jumped anyway but sent the rest of the load down. No one else had more then 290 jumps

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[DSE 3]

Must be going around everywhere today.
Same story here; tandems and AFF's were grounded, but we did put up a fun load. DZM made it a point to talk to everyone on the load to be sure they understood that the winds might shift. A couple bailed. Winds increased while we were in the air, pilot reported gusts of 30.
The problem wasn't penetration; it was the shifting winds at a variety of altitudes, and rotors from the hangar and other objects.
In retrospect, I'd rather have ridden the plane down, and if you're at all concerned about going up, the worst place to be is under canopy coming down. IMO, you did the right thing, and at the end of the day, the only person who can make that call is you. Screw what others think, you're the one that has to feel good (or not) about it based on instinct.

[Squeak 17]

I wont jump in wind where the gust vary by more than about 5-7 knots. if they are over that I dont jump and i would ride it down

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?

[Yossarian 0]

I cant imagine it ever being a bad decision to stay in the plane and not jump, if your worried about the wind then the jump isnt going to be as enjoyable as it should be for a start. as i am constantly reminded when unsure as to whether i should manifest due to the conditions, its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground (or in this case, the plane...).

[shropshire 0]

I'd like to think that I would have done the same as you.
Gusts are a bitch and get a body bent.


One just has to watchout for that peer pressure tho'.

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

[iluvtofly 0]

One time last year while still working on my A I rode the plane down cause it was too cloudy for my liking. I felt like an idiot cause everyone else jumped. Once on the ground several people told me that I did the right thing. You should NEVER jump if you're unsure about something. I've been told several times, "It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air then in the air wishing you were on the ground." I now live by that. If the winds or clouds or anything puts the thought, "Maybe I shouldn't jump in these conditions." in my head then I won't jump.

[winsor 186]

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On the ride to altitude today, the pilot informed us of a wind gust from 4 to 19 mph. That is waaaaaaay beyond my comfort level. I rode the airplane down with a student and her instructor. Everyone else on the airplane decided to jump out. Some of them had far fewer jumps than I, and they all landed safely.

This was just a fun jump. I would have had a harder time in deciding to stay on the airplane if it were a more meaningful jump and everyone else in my group decided to go.

What would you do? How much of a wind gust would convince you to ride the airplane down?

On one jump, I scratched on the way to the plane because of wind conditions. One of the people on the load wound up in the hospital after getting slammed.

On another load, someone wound up in the morgue. A bad spot for the howling winds led to landing off, and this guy apparently realized he was going downwind (fast) too late.

If the odds of getting hurt are too high, I bag it. I have been hurt badly before, and it sucked out loud.


Blue skies,

Winsor

[skymama 35]

Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[BIGUN 1,050]

Doesn't matter what I would do.
It's your decision to make.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[pinkfairy 0]

Well, having lost most of the short norwegian season due to disrespect for the wind and my own wind limits, I'll have to say that no jump is important enough for me to go out when I know it's a bad idea. I know that skydiving isn't safe in the first place, but when I know that I won't have any penetration, or that I'll get thrown around in turbulence, then it's just stupid to go. There's a lot I don't know about my own limits, but there are some certainties, such as wind and lowest cutaway altitude.

Fortunately, it's usually pretty obvious where I jump if the weather is unstable, and then I just don't go up, but I'm sure that is more of a problem near a coast, where the weather can change fast.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[LittleOne 0]

I would have done the same thing. Gusts from 4-19 sound too volatile for me. I once rode down with a student and instructor on a load that turned into hop and pops because I did not like the way the clouds looked. I'm often the first person to sit down even though my jump numbers are not that low. Sometimes I get shit for it but my body is fully intact so I could not care less.

[wildcard451 0]

Jenn,

Reminds me of a time that I didn't want to be not cool and ride the plane down, so I left with the others that went on a load. Only after I was down did I even think that I barely had 1/4 the jumps they all did and even then, none of us should really have gone.

I had a partial collapse that rippled through my canopy at about 150ish feet, and I was lucky to get it back together by the time that I got to the ground. Scared the shit out of me flying it, but from what the people on the ground said, it scared them even more.

Never be afraid to say no.

[billvon 2,384]

In the winds you describe? Probably would have jumped. In stronger winds (near 30) I wouldn't jump. I remember one load where, shortly after takeoff, I saw a gust front from a thunderstorm pass over the field. This presented a dilemma - would the winds be as strong after we got out, or would the gust front come through and then stabilize after a few minutes? I had someone ask the pilot, but there was much confusion towards the front of the plane ("did he want uppers?" etc etc.)

I had just decided not to jump when they started descending; the winds were so bad that they landed the whole load. Of course then we had to deal with landing a full otter in those winds, but all was well.

The time I have trouble making that decision is when I make it for other people who are OK with the winds. If I'm training and I decide to not jump, that's 7 other people who can't jump. If I'm on a bigway it could be 399 other people who can't jump (or who won't get the record and potentially see a breakoff problem) so I'm a lot more hesitant to stand down.

[Krip 2]

"Back in the day" we did a four way where everyone got hurt on landing due to the high winds. (serious backing up under round canopies)

Everyone on the load got hurt After our buddy got out of the hospital we all got together and talked it over. We found out after the fact

No one wanted to make the jump But no one wanted to be the first one to say no.

If you Don't jump under marginal conditions you won't get hurt and will be able to jump another day. Get hurt it might take a while before your next jump.

R.I.P.


r

[NewGuy2005 51]

You did the right thing. It's supposed to be fun, after all.

[catfishhunter 1]

you should have come up to Ogden.we knew you was going to be blown out with the winds. We jumped all day. next time drive up adnd make a jump with us :)

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

[JENNR8R 0]

The time I have trouble making that decision is when I make it for other people who are OK with the winds. If I'm training and I decide to not jump, that's 7 other people who can't jump. If I'm on a bigway it could be 399 other people who can't jump (or who won't get the record and potentially see a breakoff problem) so I'm a lot more hesitant to stand down.

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You're right. I said "yes" on the poll, but the truth is, I should have picked "It would depend on how important the jump was."

I didn't have any problem at all with staying on the airplane on this particular jump. The 5-way became a 4-way without anyone getting their panties in a wad. I took some good-natured razzing on the ground, and it didn't bother me a bit.

But I can think of other skydives that I have made that I would have risked it. You brought up two excellent examples.

What do you call a beautiful, sunny day that comes after two cloudy, rainy
ones? -- Monday.

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[DSE 3]

Given how I was treated at Ogden the one time I went there...I don't think I'll ever be back.

[Krip 2]

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Given how I was treated at Ogden the one time I went there...I don't think I'll ever be back.

Hi Spot

IMO Bad ju ju bitching about other DZ's Their not going to change because you say your not going back.

If your not happy with a DZ just vote with your $$$ and jump some place else

R.I.P.

[wildfan75 1]

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If I knew how windy it really was I would have jumped anyway but sent the rest of the load down. No one else had more then 290 jumps

And really I wish that you would have know how windy it really was (or I would have know). It definitely was no fun flying backwards trying to avoid the block of woods that I was lined up to land backwards in, not to mention when my canopy started to collapse at 150' but thankfully reinflated fully in time to flare.

Yes, I would ride the plane down. I hate airplanes and landing in the 182 is definitely not on my top 10 funnest things to do, but safety wise, if its a choice of winds like Saturday or landing in the airplane, I'll land with the plane.

Skymama had it right...better to be on the ground wishing I was in the air than in the air wishing I was on the ground.

[DSE 3]

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Given how I was treated at Ogden the one time I went there...I don't think I'll ever be back.

Hi Spot

IMO Bad ju ju bitching about other DZ's Their not going to change because you say your not going back.

If your not happy with a DZ just vote with your $$$ and jump some place else

R.I.P.

I'm not bitching, someone asked me why I didn't go up there.
I do like going up to the tunnel, which isn't too far away from the mentioned DZ.
I'm sure it's a fine place, some folks really like really tight jeans, but I'm not one of them. I gave it a try, and it didn't fit.

[Krip 2]

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Given how I was treated at Ogden the one time I went there...I don't think I'll ever be back.

Hi Spot

IMO Bad ju ju bitching about other DZ's Their not going to change because you say your not going back.

If your not happy with a DZ just vote with your $$$ and jump some place else

R.I.P.

I'm not bitching, someone asked me why I didn't go up there.
I do like going up to the tunnel, which isn't too far away from the mentioned DZ.
I'm sure it's a fine place, some folks really like really tight jeans, but I'm not one of them. I gave it a try, and it didn't fit.

Hi Spot

Sorry me bad (again)

Got it this time

One Jump Wonder

[micduran 0]

Short answer - I would have jumped. 19 mph is still in my comfort zone, but very close to the edge. If the gusts were outside of m comfort zone I would ride the plane down.

Longer answer - I'd take into consideration what the winds had been doing all day. If they were gusting the same speed, direction, etc. for a while, not a problem
If you know a storm is brewing and that is causing the gusts, no jumping for me. You never know how much speed a storm can pick up.

Be patient with the faults of others; they have to be patient with yours.