Brainlock twice, how lucky is that !

[Plummets 0]

Wondering how common a touch of brainlock is. So far in my 60 jump career its struck twice (lightning is also strangely attracted to me)...

Brainlock 1.. Second consol after AFF. Good exit checked alti 11,000 feet, few manouvres, checked alti 11,000 feet!. Thought I must be relaxing more as the dive is lasting longer, checked again 11,000 feet....... hang on was that 11K again ? thinks few secs...... Wow that pond i'm heading for is a whole lot bigger than normal, pulled. Jolted alti back to life at 2K

Brainlock 2. At around 40 jumps went on hols to South Africa, did a couple of jumps on rental gear which used hip mounted ripcords. Had only ever used Boc even on AFF, so had a converstion course / briefing which was fine and jumps were good. On return and several jumps later on a skydive U jump I inexplicably went for the hip mounted ripcord, which despite a thorough search was not there. It took the ever increasing size of the planet make me realise maybe I should be going for silver, it was at this point that I thought "maybe I should try the hackey first". Still opened above 2K although don't consider this good as we were last out of the Otter so knew we would have a long spot so agreed 4.5K. Made good video....

Is this type of situation normal for low timers ?? I am somewhat reassured by the fact that realisation of impending doom (forgeting cypres of course) does appear to unlock the affected parts

"Life is a bowl of deadly nightshade, stay way way out on the rim brother"

[Ron 7]

Yes, any time you change gear..TRAIN it like hell.

The best thing to do is not train different types of gear till you have one setup down pat...and even then don't change it.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[LawnDart21 0]

I saw a video once of a Tandem cypress fire many years ago. The TMs altimer worked fine out the door at 14000ft, and wound down to 6000ft, and then just stopped at 6000ft, the TM has 1000s of jumps, but still had a cypres fire at 2000ft. He would have rode it in if he hadnt had a cypres. It can happen to anyone.

As mentioned above, train like hell, practice your pull procedures on the ground until they are drilled into your head.

Be safe. Tom

--
My other ride is a RESERVE.

[cruzit 0]

Quote

Wow that pond i'm heading for is a whole lot bigger than normal, pulled. Jolted alti back to life at 2K

Same scenario happened to me early on. Altimeter stuck on 5K or so. I literally watch 3 other people pull before I realized how big the stuff on the ground was getting. I kept thinking to myself...why are they pulling so early??? Duh!!! I estimate I pulled at about 1,500'.

Lesson learned, pay a lot more attention to what is happening around you, i.e., if everyone else is pulling, there may be a good reason. Also, I wear an analog alti on one hand, a digital alti on the other, and I have a pro-track back-up.

[Edgar 0]

In a RW-2 I once had an Alti going up! from 5k to about 5300ft, didn't saw the earth getting smaller though! Just waved goodbye and opened. Good lesson learned: its mechanical and it (Altimaster) won't stop the time

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Quote

Is this type of situation normal for low timers ?

YES

I would not call the first instance a brainlock. This is just you taking some time to deal with a new situation. That is why juniors should not be dumping at ~2000'.
The second case is also common for junior jumpers. Transitions kill. For the life of me I don't know why people still use ripchord activated mains. Whenever you use an unfamiliar type of gear you should practice until you are thoroughly bored, and then practice some more.
The key to avoiding brainlock (other than preparation) is to keep thinking; never try the same thing more than twice. If it didn't work the first two times, you need to do something else. I'm glad to see that you thought yourself through it on both occasions

[ZoneRat 0]

Had an amazing brainlock just last weekend. 4-way team jump.

Couldn't for the life of me remember the next point. 15 seconds... 15 seconds I stared at the rest of my team, with that "What are all these people doing here?" look... they pointed me... pointed at the grips I was supposed to take... nope. Nothing registered. Eventually they quit pointing and just sorta hovered about laughing at me.

After 3000' of this the light clicked on... and we built a most beautiful hook.... right before breakoff...

happens.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[freeflynick 0]

My favourate brainfart was early on after my transition from rounds to squares - in fact I think I was jumping my ragged out Pegasus 220.
Canopy opened, some end-cell closure, but that was normal, but the damned slider was stuck down!! Spent the whole canopy ride pumping the brakes to get the sucker to go up, but it was stuck down! So prepared for landing, which was about as soft as that canopy would give me, and it wasn't until I was halfway through telling someone about my near-death canopy ride that it hit me!! Ooops !!!

.

Hobbes: "How come we play 'War' and not 'Peace'?"
Calvin: "Too few role models."

[GreenLight 5]

huh?

Green Light
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."
"Your statement answered your question."

[bodypilot1 0]

What you did is not called a brainlock.

The first one should have been avoided by "READING" you altimeter and knowing what it had on it, and not just glancing at the needle. After you did your first scan of it and seeing it was at 11,000ft, then looking at it again and reading the same thing, you should have used common sense to pull if you couldn't tell what altitude you were at.

The second is a common thing when using different gear than you trained on. Not a wise choice, but maybe the only one you had...
Practicing before you jump is something you always want to do when jumping NEW TYPES of gear. Make the jump as easy as possible so you dont forget what you have practiced also.
As for being a common thing? I wouldn't say it common , but it does happen.
Be as safe as you can on every jump and try and stay current to prevent this from happening.

Or brianlock like this may lead to you reaching the ground BEFORE your parachute opens next time.

Be safe.

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