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FlyinDawg

What would happen if without wear goggle?

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It hurts like hell.
My goggles broke in freefall (elastic was blown off the attachment to the lenses) and it was very painful, causing me to pull immediately.
Try riding a motorcycle at 120 mph with no eye protection. Not only would it be stupid, but exceptionally dangerous, let alone what physical damage that might be done to your eye, don't you think?

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If you have contacts, you will probably loose them. Your eyes will probably water like crazy and it might be painful. It most likely will not result in any permanent damage. Losing goggles or having a full-face helmet come open isn't especially common, but it isn't rare either (mostly caused by improperly adjusted gear or collisions). Some people even regularly jump without any eye protection.

If you are jumping in a group and you loose your goggles, it is extremely important that you consider your options instead of just pulling immediately. Unexpected deployments can cause collisions, and collisions can cause death. The couple of times that I had my goggles flip up on RW dives, I just squinted my eyes and carried on. It wasn't comfortable and it was a bit tough to see, but in my case it was the safest option.

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It depends on the person, I think. I know some people that have done it and found it extremely unpleasant, others (like me) it doesn't bother so much.

I generally wont bother wearing goggles on a hop and pop, and once lent my goggles to someone else in the plane before a 4-way from altitude. That was not so nice because it was fecking cold but I could still see and function OK.

None of this is in anyway reccomended.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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I hit a large bug in freefall at about 8000 feet directly on my left eye. If I hadn't been wearing goggles I would have definitely lost the eye. The impact snapped my head back enough to be visible in the video. I always figured the bug was pretty pissed off about it too.

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On a hop n' pop of 3-4k, it's no big deal. Most of our jumps are on a tandem-loaded plane, so we're always going to 13k.
Good point about pulling immediately, indyz. Small DZ, exceptionally rare to be jumping with a formation, let alone anyone else close, but at the moment of eye agony (cold, wind, fear of what might be blown into my eye at 130 mph) I didn't consider anything at the time, other than getting my canopy out once I'd stabilized. Bad move on my part, and it could have been bad if I'd been jumping at a larger DZ.

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If you're flying head down or head up, you can see, and it doesn't hurt, but you'll probably be squinting a bit and won't necessarily be pleased about your decision to jump w/o them.

Can't say I've tried backflying w/o goggles, though. Anyone?

Landing w/o goggles can make your eyes water, and can therefore reduce your ability to land safely.

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I haven't had much of a problem with no goggles. My eyes water a bit but have neve never had pain from it. I'm sure I have done more than 50 full altitude jumps without goggles. It's not something you want to do on every jump but if you forget your goggles it's not a big problem. I will usually give mine to someone on the load if they forgot theirs and are not comfortable jumping without them.

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I've jumped quite a bit without goggles...well, probably 25 or so hop-n-pops (maybe more) and a handful of full altitude belly jumps.

Didn't bother me. It made my eyes water a bit, but it didn't hurt and I could still see. YMMV
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I am suprised by the response I read. I have made MANY full terminal Freefall jumps with out goggles... I can see fine but my eyes will water a little bit. No pain or real vision issues. Addimittly it is not as "crisp" in terms of vision as having goggles bbut really not bad. If I am missing goggles I am not going to fret too much

Scott C.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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Here's some uninformed and possibly stupid advice.

If you're afraid of causing an accident by deploying immediately...just backfly for a coule of seconds.

Or don't if it's a bad idea



ininformed, but not necessarily stupid! the problem with this is that if you cant backfly, like me, then you could be more of a liability in the sky on your back than a stable, half-blind person would be!

i have contacts, and without them im totally blind, so if i lose my goggles or forget them im fucked. i dont particularly like full faces, so i just make sure i always wear tight fitting goggles and TRIPLE check that i have them round my neck before i get on a plane!
www.ewancowie.com
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I heard that Bob Sinclair almost never wears goggles. He's been doing that for probably 50 years. But then again he's tougher than the average jumper. My eyes tear up really easy, and I'd have a really hard time without them.

I had a pair of really big, black, rubber (bultaco)goggles back in the 70's. They really looked cool, but they let in way too much air. I ended up with tears everywhere on the inside of them, so I had to scrap them and go back to my little plastic portia goggles. I guess my eyes are kind of on the wimpy side...Steve1

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Repeated exposure to high speed wind can dry out your tear ducts, causing permanent damage.

I also ran across a paper -written - by a medical doctor - about the risk of permanent damage to corneas, if you lose goggles during HALO jumps. He said that exposure to 2 or 3 minutes of bitterly cold, wind can scar corneas.

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I've jumped quite a bit without goggles and I wear contacts.

I'll only wear goggles if I'm going higher than 6000'.
I've done some camera jumps where I've forgotten to put my goggles up and I didn't notice any problem.

The only time wind has affected my eyes is when my goggles don't fit right. that's when a jet of wind sneaks under the goggles and right into my eye. Blurry contactless landings always follow.

I think that the shape of your face and sensitivity to the wind are what plays a main role. I would never suggest to anyone that they jump without goggles, I've seen many a student come down with "raisen eye". My experience is annecdotal and not the norm.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

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I heard that Bob Sinclair almost never wears goggles. He's been doing that for probably 50 years.



I made sure to get in a fun jump with Bob a few months back when he was squating in Deland.

No helmet for Bob
No goggles for Bob
No altimeter for Bob

He was squinting like Mr. Mole the whole dive,
his canopy accuracy was perfect though.
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Better you than me
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I almost always wear eye protection of some sort ... usually Gatorz, clear goggles when it's dark. I've jumped without them many times and it doesn't bother me, so I wouldn't land with the plane if I discovered that I forgot my goggles ;) On the other hand, I would definitely recommend making it a habit to jump with something proecting your eyes.

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i'm no expert and i keep telling the same story over and over, but if on my tandem i had not been wearing goggles i would have been in a alot of pain, we jumped through a cloud in germany and it was snowing in there (hurt like a bitch) once under canopy i couldnt see anything because ice had formed on my goggles and turned it into one big sheet of ice! that would have sucked for me
Fly it like you stole it

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Hi FlyinDawg,

I spent about 3 yrs jumping without goggles (all types of jumps, most at altitude). The only problems I had were that at the end of the day my eyes were dry and slightly irritated.

I finally got tired of the dryness & irritation and went back to goggles.

However, that may contribute to why I now wear bifocals.

Given the choice, I would recommend wearing goggles.

Jerry

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He said that exposure to 2 or 3 minutes of bitterly cold, wind can scar corneas.



That's true. Your cornea has no blood supply of its own (otherwise you wouldn't be able to see through the network of vessels!) so it relies very much on the thin tear layer covering it. This tear layer can be reduced by something as simple as air conditioning, let alone relative wind! If your cornea dries up and stays that way you will have a scarred cornea and permanently reduced vision.

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I have probably between 100 and 200 jumps without goggles. I forget them, they break, or I lend them to someone who is less comfortable without eye protection. It does not effect my vision. I am usually the inside center on a team and I can still see clear enough to key.

Goggles are a nice-to-have -- like and altimeter, an AAD, or a helmet. :)
John
Arizona Hiking Trails

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