Hard butt-first landing. Feels like I was in prison

[ntrprnr 0]

OK. Will try to explain, then some help trying to figure out how this happened would be appreciated.

Winds were a tad bit wonky. Had I known how wonky, I probably wouldn't have gone up.

Jump was fine, canopy ride was fine until about 5 seconds before end. Flared, virtually nothing happened. Instead of sliding along like I'm used to doing, I went "thud" into the ground on my tailbone. The fact that I didn't shatter it is nothing short of amazing. Hurts like all hell right now, but it didn't break. That's a good thing.

What do I do? I did virtually everything right, I thought. I waited to flare like I've learned to do, waited, waited, waited, and flared, but nothing happened. Someone who saw it and came over to ask if I was ok said I hit a "sink" and just dropped. Never hit one before. What the hell are they? How doth one avoid them, other than not jump during anything other than complete calmness (which I'm SO doing from now on...)

Was on a Sabre 2 230. Only got about 45 jumps, still learning.

Truer words were never spoken, and not in the way anyone would think: "Damn, my ass hurts."

All forms of advice and mocking appreciated.

Thanks!

_______________
"Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?"
"Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

[pilotdave 0]

Put your landing gear down before landing.
Turbulence, wind changes, rotors off trees, etc, can cause weird stuff to happen. Be prepared!

Dave

[bmcd308 0]

PLF. Seriously.

I actually broke my tailbone when I had about 50 jumps. There was no need for it.

If the (head)wind just stops blowing over the ground, your canopy will dive to get its airspeed back. If this happens low, you hit the ground. So be ready to PLF.

Brent

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www.jumpelvis.com

[MarkM 0]

Quote

What do I do?

Stop landing on your ass. You can compression fracture your spine. Legs are easier to repair than your spinal cord is. Let them take the first hit on a bad landing(PLF).

Then the next time you hit bad air you won't have to sit on a pillow.

[HydroGuy 0]

Jump 32 in my logbook

Down wind landing...

"MY ASS HURTS BAD!!!"

Mine throbbed to my pulse for 3 weeks...and hurt when I'd sit on the floor to tie my shoes or something for a couple of more.

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[ntrprnr 0]

Thanks all - I knew I should have PLF'd, I guess the real question is and forgive me if this doesn't come out as right as it should... If you're setting up to run it off, coming in slow, all fine, it seems like you have less than a millisecond to make the determination, "ok, not going to be able to land normal for whatever reason, time to plf."

Or am I just not thinking it through correctly? When do you make the decision?

_______________
"Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?"
"Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

[Feeblemind 1]

I was taught to fly my canopy through the landing and always be ready to PLF even from a run. If you cant stand up or run out the landing you need to dissipate the energy via PLF. Most other scenarios end with a THUD of some type.

Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

[MarkM 0]

Quote

Thanks all - I knew I should have PLF'd, I guess the real question is and forgive me if this doesn't come out as right as it should... If you're setting up to run it off, coming in slow, all fine, it seems like you have less than a millisecond to make the determination, "ok, not going to be able to land normal for whatever reason, time to plf."

Or am I just not thinking it through correctly? When do you make the decision?

I used to setup for landing, feet close together and ready for a PLF and then when I touched ground I'd either:

1> Run it out / slide it out on my feet.
2> Go down to my knees and slide it out on them.(bruised my knees a couple times doing this though).
3> If I was hitting the ground hard, turn sideways into a PLF.

My decision time was when my feet touched the ground. I had a bad habit of flaring too low and I'd often hit the ground harder than I'd like. If I had a good flare I could run it out or slide on my feet, if the flare was bad I could still PLF.

[nessvegas 0]

I have only 15 jumps so I won't try and give advice other than to say go buy "The Parachute and its Pilot" by Brian Germain. Read it once real slow, then read it a second time slower. The practical advice helped me to a safe and soft landing when I hit some low thermals recently. Practice his advice up high, and be more prepared for the unexpected when low. The book is NOT just for swoopers. It really helps to drive home the importance of what the canopy can do to help or hurt you. Just my 2 cents........

Bang

_________________________________________
I married the right one......it just took me 2 times!

[Jeth 0]

I am a low-timer, and I always land with my feet and knees together. Like Mark said, when my feet touch the ground I know if I'm gonna stand this one up, PLF or slide. I can do any of those at that moment. I have PLF'd some off-landings where I definitely would've been hurt if I tried to slide or stand up. Just like they tell you in the beginning -- prepare to PLF on every landing. If you don't need to, then great.
Also, if I'm gonna slide, I do it on my hip, not directly on my butt. That way if you come down a little harder its not right on your tailbone.

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[Tonto 1]

You have 2 legs. They are largely repairable.

You have 1 spine. When it's broken, the chances of repair are slim.

1. PLF. Seriously.
2. Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want - so watch those "Wonky winds."

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[tombuch 0]

The simple answer is to PLF. It takes a fraction of a second to get your legs below you and roll the energy along your body. Be prepared for a PLF on every jump. Practice it on the ground over and over until you can do a PLF in your sleep. It works. I imagine you are afraid of breaking an ankle with a bad landing, but as others have pointed out, ankles heal better than the spine.

Now I’ll dig a bit into the back story and the problem as I see it each day. Butt-strike landings have become very common, and compression factures of L1 and L2 are among the more frequent skydiving injuries.

Your profile says you did your training at The Ranch, and they use a three tandem progression. On each of those tandems you were probably told to lift your legs so the tandem instructor could slide the landing along on your butts. That works for tandems when the instructor is in command, but it should never be used for solo jumps. The problem is that your first three very stressful landing experiences were handled by lifting your legs. Now, when you get scared on landing the ‘natural’ reaction is to lift your legs. On top of that, your ground school training in PLF’s was probably cursory at best, and I’ll bet that instructors have rarely noticed or mentioned it when you have landed on your butt.

Another component of the problem is that when you are landing your parachute normally, the process begins by flying across the ground at about 20 mph. When you pull the control lines to flare, the canopy slows down, but at least initially, you body is still moving at 20mph. So, even under the best of circumstances, you will tend to pendulum forward with your legs in front of you. As you land you need to manage your movement so that your legs remain under the parachute.

The problem isn’t isolated to The Ranch, but it does seem more severe at drop zones that use a multi-jump tandem progression. Drop zones can do a better job of teaching PLF’s, and of debriefing canopy landings. That’s something for all instructors to think about.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy