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pchapman

Pranks on jumps - what is acceptable nowadays?

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pchapman



-- Letting someone jump on "go!" with others not leaving

That's an old one. Do the count, buddy leaves on "go!", but everyone else stays on the plane. Maybe a little cruel if someone is planning a cool jump and then gets left with a solo freefall. Heard of it done very occasionally. At least compared to dumping at 10 grand, the spot should be good and thus is a safer prank, with less need for pilot coordination. Pranks that don't waste the whole jump for someone are nicer.



Had this done to me as an April fools a few years back when I had about 100 jumps. Was actually really funny and to be fair to the rest of the guys on the jump they even chipped in to cover my jump ticket!

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I guess that prank pulling should be left the discretion of those experienced enough to safely do them to people who will be able to safely react to them.



As was shown above - still not a good idea, if the prankee isn't ready, say head down or somehow goes unstable & has a slammer...you've just hurt your friend.

I still say leave the rig alone.










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

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people do seem a lot more uptight now...

I was grabbed and spun/tossed by an instructor on my coach jumps before I even had my A. :o:D I was concerned for a moment until I realized he just wanted me to relax and have some fun on the bottom half of the RW jump. :)
I've "cannonballed" people (grabbed their hands on a 2 way star and just dropped into a sit) and spun/chucked people across the sky... nothing remotely dangerous. After a bunch of tunnel flat flying isn't really all that challenging so you have to spice it up occasionally. ;)

I probably wouldn't care much if someone dumped me out (as long as I was flat) but it really depends on who you're with and what's going on at the time... Kinda like the time one of my friends hit the kill switch on my bike at 80mph... at first I was like "you bastard!" and then I just laughed and caught up to him. At least he didn't pull my key out and drop it on the ground... :ph34r:

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

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dthames

I don't want anyone messing with me (phyically) during the jump. Lie to me, fly one way and leave me by myself with a different plan, or whatever to alter the dive flow. But don't mess with me.

Maybe I am a stick in the mud.



B|B|B|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OnpkDWbeJs
B|B|B|
Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

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Heck at 2500 feet back then I still usually had a line of several guys waiting for their kiss pass! The funniest was one time I had a guy going in for the standard kiss pass and when I went to him he grabbed me and fruit looped me. I was laughing so hard that I could hardly get stable!!!

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roostnureye

i had a fun prank on a wingsuit jump a couple weeks ago.
we were just doing some vertical stacking in close proximity, i told everyone on the load (2 others) i was going to have some fun with the base,
so we all get out and get flying, i flew up to the base that was backflying and got above him,
then dropped down and grabbed ahold of his harness and started dryhumping him mid flight, we both started laughing our asses off in freefall and he started humping back. it really was some funny ass shit.
when we landed, everyone on the jump was almost crying because we were laughing soo hard!!
i think its good to have fun every once in a while as long as you do it safely and up high.



sounds gay...

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roostnureye

i had a fun prank on a wingsuit jump a couple weeks ago.
we were just doing some vertical stacking in close proximity, i told everyone on the load (2 others) i was going to have some fun with the base,
so we all get out and get flying, i flew up to the base that was backflying and got above him,
then dropped down and grabbed ahold of his harness and started dryhumping him mid flight, we both started laughing our asses off in freefall and he started humping back. it really was some funny ass shit.
when we landed, everyone on the jump was almost crying because we were laughing soo hard!!
i think its good to have fun every once in a while as long as you do it safely and up high.



Last time you fucked around in the air, you permanently cost another skydiver their hearing (not to mention a lost camera battery and lens).
One can only hope everyone was sober this time around. >:(

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The old standard hand full of pea gravel in the pack job, is still a classic... 5 lbs of flour too is a classic. Hand tacking risers to the packing mat for those who always leave their rig laying around the packing area all day taking up space.
you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

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DSE

***i had a fun prank on a wingsuit jump a couple weeks ago.
we were just doing some vertical stacking in close proximity, i told everyone on the load (2 others) i was going to have some fun with the base,
so we all get out and get flying, i flew up to the base that was backflying and got above him,
then dropped down and grabbed ahold of his harness and started dryhumping him mid flight, we both started laughing our asses off in freefall and he started humping back. it really was some funny ass shit.
when we landed, everyone on the jump was almost crying because we were laughing soo hard!!
i think its good to have fun every once in a while as long as you do it safely and up high.



Last time you fucked around in the air, you permanently cost another skydiver their hearing (not to mention a lost camera battery and lens).
One can only hope everyone was sober this time around. >:(


:S:S:S

I guess I'm lucky d00d didn't screw around & hurt ME while he was fucked up....I'd be doin' 20 to life. :|










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

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ghost47

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The guy got a lot of negative reaction for his prank. But when I consider skydiving history, I would have thought it would be regarded as a real hoot, a good prank on a buddy, even if not something I'm really inclined to do (Given that pilots & jumpers were informed.)


A month or two ago, I think at the farm, on a jumper's 500th jump, one friend decided to fruit-loop her just as another friend decided to prematurely deploy her. (I believe the story was that the fruit-looping friend had no idea that the other intended to prematurely deploy.) Heart contusion, bruised sternum, spinal injury. Not so funny after all.




i was going to bring this incident up. could have came out alot worse than it did. could have also been a fatality. especially on a big way as this one. I also believe you have to have an AFF rating to even be able to deploy someone? in which the person in this case didnt.

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DSE

***i had a fun prank on a wingsuit jump a couple weeks ago.
we were just doing some vertical stacking in close proximity, i told everyone on the load (2 others) i was going to have some fun with the base,
so we all get out and get flying, i flew up to the base that was backflying and got above him,
then dropped down and grabbed ahold of his harness and started dryhumping him mid flight, we both started laughing our asses off in freefall and he started humping back. it really was some funny ass shit.
when we landed, everyone on the jump was almost crying because we were laughing soo hard!!
i think its good to have fun every once in a while as long as you do it safely and up high.



Last time you fucked around in the air, you permanently cost another skydiver their hearing (not to mention a lost camera battery and lens).
One can only hope everyone was sober this time around. >:(

I don't know the details of this event, but maybe this explains why some people don't like pranks. By the sounds of it, the poster referred to here caused someone permanent damage yet still thinks he has the skills to have fun in the air from time to time.

DSE's post suggests that he has not got the required skills, but that doesn't seem to have dampened his enthusiasm.

***********************************************
I'm NOT totally useless... I can be used as a bad example

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Just a generic response to the idea of this thread, but you need to REALLY think through the consequences of your actions before you involve yourself in someone else's skydive.

Let's take the 'harmless' idea of dumping someone out at 10k. Even if everyone else on the load and the ground knows what you're doing, and you cover all the bases you can, how about -

- a malfunction? How far away will the main and freebag drift if the jumper chops up high? Are you going to scour 10 sq miles of countryside to help find the $2000 worth of stuff that's now lost?

- a hard opening? Ever heard of an opening hard enough to cause injury? What are the odds of a hard opening when the jumper isn't expecting the deployment, you're hanging off their harness, and you're up in the thin air? How about if you dump someone out, they get hurt, and then have to sit under canopy for 10 min trying to get to the ground? What if they're injured and unable to steer their canopy? How far away from help will they land? So 10 min under canopy and 30 min laying on the ground waiting to be found?

Now you could say that either of the above could happen to a jumper who decides to dump high, but the key word there is that the JUMPER decides to do this, not someone else decides for them.

The best to know if a prank is acceptable is to look at the time/place. You can do anything you want, provided that it happens before the jumper hits the loading area or after they walk in from the landing area, and that the prank doesn't carry over into either of those areas.

As comfortable as you might become with skydiving, remember that everyone's life is literally on the line, and that things go from regular 'fun day at the DZ' to 'someone ends up dead for no good reason' very, very quickly. Every fatality I've ever seen started off as business as usual, which turned into a mal or other problem, and ended with a dead jumper less than 30 seconds later.

I've got a lot of time shooting tandem and student videos, and early on I learned that the #1 rule of doing that job is to 'do no harm'. No matter what happens, you can not become a safety hazard to the student in the course of doing your job. Even if you have to shit-can the video in order to avoid adding an ounce of risk to the student, you shit-can the video.

I've taken that same thought process into my other jumps in that no matter what happens, I'm not going to be a part of subtracting from the safety of another jumpers skydive. One thing you can count on when jumping with me is that you will have every opportunity to conduct a safe skydive, and that I will never 'subtract' from that part of your jump. I may 'add' to it by helping you or otherwise influencing related factors, but the one thing I will never do is be any part of anything that could even remotely become a link in a chain of events that leads to an accident.

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I've somewhat lost my taste for pranks.

I've been tackled a couple of times, grabbed, spun and thrown a couple too. All good fun, as long as the "grabber" can do it without grabbing the wrong place.
One of my favorite jumps was one of those. 1st kiss pass, then bear hugged and away we went. She was rather surprised to see me laughing and smiling as we tumbled our way down.

But when you start doing strange things, unexpected things, stuff can happen.

Last year at Summerfest, I got pranked. The other 2 guys on the jump decided to change the dive plan to "Keep Away from Joe" after the first point. It was confusing and strange, but kind of funny.

The very next jump, we added a fourth, and were on the Skyvan. We were 2nd out, and in front of us was the "Infinity Way." They saw that I jump an Infinity, and one of them said "You should join us, tell your buddies you are changing groups."

I said "Make sure everyone in your group knows I'm joining and is ok with it, but DON"T tell my guys." :ph34r:

So on exit, they get most of their group in the door and I'm standing right by the two behind the line. They go "Ready, Set" and I turn to my friends, flip them off, yell "FUCK YOUUUUU" and run out the back with the other guys.

They were left standing there going "What just happened?"

No harm no foul, right?

Not exactly. Because I didn't really know the dive plan, and had only seen who I was supposed to dock on in the plane, I wasn't sure what slot to take. Not exactly dangerous, but not the best idea.
And because the group I was supposed to be with was thrown off a bit by my unexpected departure, they had to ad lib their jump. And during it they got way off level. And nearly had a fairly high speed freefall collision. One that could have been serious.

It was funny. The payback was great. It made for a great story.
But I now realize that it wasn't all that good of an idea.

And I won't do it or anything like it again.

Plan the jump, jump the plan.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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DSE

***i had a fun prank on a wingsuit jump a couple weeks ago.
we were just doing some vertical stacking in close proximity, i told everyone on the load (2 others) i was going to have some fun with the base,
so we all get out and get flying, i flew up to the base that was backflying and got above him,
then dropped down and grabbed ahold of his harness and started dryhumping him mid flight, we both started laughing our asses off in freefall and he started humping back. it really was some funny ass shit.
when we landed, everyone on the jump was almost crying because we were laughing soo hard!!
i think its good to have fun every once in a while as long as you do it safely and up high.



Last time you fucked around in the air, you permanently cost another skydiver their hearing (not to mention a lost camera battery and lens).
One can only hope everyone was sober this time around. >:(


i have apologised to you multiple times.
i did not do anything to you on purpose, it was an accident.[:/] and i was sober, it was 7 in the morning 1st load......
also i had 25 wingsuit jumps when that happened.
i didnt know what i didnt know.
I AM SORRY DUDE!!!!!!!
you got hurt, i should not have even been invited to that event with my experience... :|
it was 200 ws jump minimum, i had 25.
the organizer asked me to come to the event,:S
it had nothing to do with being fucked up, everything to do with not approaching the formation properly.
I have learned from my mistake.
can you quit quoting everything i post and trying to publicly shame me? it is getting quite old.
Flock University FWC / ZFlock
B.A.S.E. 1580
Aussie BASE 121

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roostnureye

******i had a fun prank on a wingsuit jump a couple weeks ago.
we were just doing some vertical stacking in close proximity, i told everyone on the load (2 others) i was going to have some fun with the base,
so we all get out and get flying, i flew up to the base that was backflying and got above him,
then dropped down and grabbed ahold of his harness and started dryhumping him mid flight, we both started laughing our asses off in freefall and he started humping back. it really was some funny ass shit.
when we landed, everyone on the jump was almost crying because we were laughing soo hard!!
i think its good to have fun every once in a while as long as you do it safely and up high.



Last time you fucked around in the air, you permanently cost another skydiver their hearing (not to mention a lost camera battery and lens).
One can only hope everyone was sober this time around. >:(


i have apologised to you multiple times.
i did not do anything to you on purpose, it was an accident.[:/] and i was sober, it was 7 in the morning 1st load......
also i had 25 wingsuit jumps when that happened.
i didnt know what i didnt know.
I AM SORRY DUDE!!!!!!!
you got hurt, i should not have even been invited to that event with my experience... :|
it was 200 ws jump minimum, i had 25.
the organizer asked me to come to the event,:S
it had nothing to do with being fucked up, everything to do with not approaching the formation properly.
I have learned from my mistake.
can you quit quoting everything i post and trying to publicly shame me? it is getting quite old.


http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/bd/b7/ba/bdb7ba8e7f4f8587e0ec9843cd6b0f0e.jpg



Here's the thing ~ your 'accident' is exactly the kind of thing Dave was talking about above...any decision resulting in an action that takes away from the safety of another - really isn't an accident.

Invited or not, if you knew there was a minimum... you shouldn't have been involved period.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you had to know you weren't ready for that.

As with the prank thing, pushing it can permanently affect someone else's life ~ ~ maybe even end it!

Some may say 'what are the odds' but who cares, it's someone ELSE'S well being, & you shouldn't get to make that call - ever.

As far as being impaired on the 1st load - I don't know I wasn't there but I've been on 1st loads where the people that partied until 3am were still reeking of it.

...sometimes, as we all know - we can be 'not quite 100%' but not feel it...that's the effect we go for when we drink, smoke, inject, etc.

You HAVE to make logical choices and not depend on 'feeling ok'. The 8 hours 'bottle to throttle' is a MINIMUM that intelligent pilots use.

There is a reason for that, other people's lives may be at stake. IF you hurt / kill somebody & can't pass a piss test, you have some problems ahead...waiver or not.


I don't know you but simply from what I've read here, I wouldn't jump with ya. You apologize but is that enough...it's just words.

You need to 'own it' as far as what happened & it doesn't seem like you're there yet.

- You lay blame on the organizer...they didn't 'make' you jump.

- You're posting about doing some unexpected humping, funny maybe but was it completely safe? You of all people should be leading the parade for safety given what happened before.

- Have you made any attempts to get right with the injured guy, other than with words?

Replace the damaged gear, pay the doctor bills?

Words are cheap. . .it's the actions that speak volumes.

As with some of these 'pranks', what may seem harmless CAN cost someone dearly. Is it really worth it?

If you think 'hearing' about it online now & then gets old - imagine waking up every day For The Rest Of Your Life having to deal with the effects of your 'accident'.

The decisions we make matter...










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

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samlee

***

-- Letting someone jump on "go!" with others not leaving

That's an old one. Do the count, buddy leaves on "go!", but everyone else stays on the plane. Maybe a little cruel if someone is planning a cool jump and then gets left with a solo freefall. Heard of it done very occasionally. At least compared to dumping at 10 grand, the spot should be good and thus is a safer prank, with less need for pilot coordination. Pranks that don't waste the whole jump for someone are nicer.



Had this done to me as an April fools a few years back when I had about 100 jumps. Was actually really funny and to be fair to the rest of the guys on the jump they even chipped in to cover my jump ticket!

That's so unprofessional. You'd never see serious skydivers do that, especially at 1:27. https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10151516282124165
Remster

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roostnureye




i have apologised to you multiple times.
i did not do anything to you on purpose, it was an accident.[:/] and i was sober, it was 7 in the morning 1st load......
also i had 25 wingsuit jumps when that happened.
i didnt know what i didnt know.
I AM SORRY DUDE!!!!!!!
you got hurt, i should not have even been invited to that event with my experience... :|
it was 200 ws jump minimum, i had 25.
the organizer asked me to come to the event,:S
it had nothing to do with being fucked up, everything to do with not approaching the formation properly.
I have learned from my mistake.
can you quit quoting everything i post and trying to publicly shame me? it is getting quite old.




Truthfully, you haven't. Saying "you signed the same waiver I did" isn't exactly an apology, is it?
It's unfortunate that your fuckup that cost someone a part of their career and a significant portion of their retirement is "getting old" for you.
You also "pranked" two new wingsuiters out over the ocean and they landed well out to sea. It's fortunate it didn't end worse.
We both know what I'm referring to about jumping "straight."
Pranks or not being aware of others and their limitations, can cause serious injury or death. It's not a matter of "that's getting old" but rather recognizing that your actions can have permanent impact on someone's life or death.

Whether they signed the same waiver you did or not.

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stayhigh

Taking extra cut-away handle on a Hybrid jump, if you are a hanger. and show that cut-away handle below the belly group screaming oMG!!!!! and watch those newbies face in terror.



That's clever, but what if four belly guys all go straight to their reserve thinking that their main is disconnected? I think you better run away real fast when you get to the ground...

And even if they still try their main first, you've instilled fear and doubt in them, and I think that goes beyond a prank...

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You asked a question and the answer is simple,...

It is not acceptable under any circumstances.



It is a sad day when so many have such a cavalier attitude regarding the lives of others.

C














It does not depend upon the people involved, you have no idea what somebody else is, or was, or could be thinking. All of these justifications revolve around the prankster and are an indication of the extreme hubris involved. Lives depend on others knowing exactly what they think you are doing and to imply by qualifying that the prank depends upon this quality or that circumstance is just an example of self delusional thinking that serves no one and sets a bad example.
But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

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All depends on the people involved. If Chris Farina did that to me no worries. If Joe Smith* tried - I'd worry. Not because he meant me harm but because whatever he was trying to do he'd probably screw it up and put us both at risk.

(* - name altered to protect the guilty)

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Pranks can be fun and make for great stories around the fire. But, things can go bad quickly. Pulling someone out at altitude seams harmless enough. But watch what can happen.
In this video, a jumper INADVERTENTLY gets his little finger into the handle of anothers PC handle when reaching for a grip.

This could have ended much worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30xSs3DICCU
Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

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