Does anyone else get "The Fear" at sub 1000ft?

[Newbie 0]

I get this fear at about 1000ft sometimes that if something were to go wrong, there is little that can be done. I'm way below my EP hard deck and occasionally i get this irrational fear at about 200ft or less (right down to sometimes 20ft off the ground) of "oh man would it not be good if my canopy somehow became detached right now". Of course, i know this is irrational, as it's like the old "what happens if my leg straps break?" train of thought, but i still get it sometimes. Not for a prolonged period, or on every jump, but sometimes it's just a passing thought. I totally trust my gear, and i don't know why i'm sometimes getting these weird thoughts.

Is this normal? Who else after a couple hundred jumps gets "the Fear" for irrational reasons?

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[achowe 0]

yup. most loads.

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Woooaaaaaa!!! Woooaaaa!!! I'm gettin' off it!

[BIGUN 1,075]

Get in the habit of doing your monthly gear checks at the end of each jump weekend and it will go away.

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

[achowe 0]

Not in my case. nothin wrong with a bit of fear anyway

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Woooaaaaaa!!! Woooaaaa!!! I'm gettin' off it!

[adamsr 0]

i'm the other way round, i get the fear up to 800 feet on the way up, thinking if anything happened to the plane now it'd be too low to jump.

if however something really bad happened, like a wing falling off, at less than 800 feet i'd still jump and take my chances!! but if the plane is still flyable then of course i'd stay in

[achowe 0]

i think ive misunderstood. i shit myself in the aircraft below 1000 and sometimes JUST before exit. But not under canopy...much

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Woooaaaaaa!!! Woooaaaa!!! I'm gettin' off it!

[adamsr 0]

yeah, had any more dreams about the 182 recently??

[achowe 0]

ah, Russ. hi.

actually, no. i think ive conquered my fear with that one. did a 2 grand lob the other week to try and scare the fear out of me.
although ive had a few mal dreams recently. go in and walk away form it unscathed.

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Woooaaaaaa!!! Woooaaaa!!! I'm gettin' off it!

[tdog 0]

For me - it is greater than 10,000 feet...

At 1000 feet, I am working hard to land in the chaos that some people think is a landing pattern. No time to think about anything else...

However, on a high pull the other day, I looked up, I looked down, and said, "And I trust this stuff?"

I actually irrationally trust my rig more than I trust the wing on a 737 airplane under major turbulence... I always think, "that wing is metal, it is flexing 6 feet or more, how many times more before it snaps."

[Ron 7]

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Is this normal? Who else after a couple hundred jumps gets "the Fear" for irrational reasons?

Normal.

With over 3500 jumps I still get it once in a while.

Just last weekend on jump #16 I took a second to watch the ground zoom up at me right before I deployed. Knowing what a high speed impact can do to a human body.....It was kinda freaky.

Most times you are busy doing things to notice...But if you think about it, it can give you a chill.

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

[tdog 0]

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Most times you are busy doing things to notice...But if you think about it, it can give you a chill.

Ya, I get that... When I am 4waying or even just jumping with a 2way - I am so busy I never think about it. But, on a solo, that is where my mind does all sorts of survival instincts in the plane, during freefall, and under canopy...

So, ya, me too!

[Joellercoaster 6]

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Just last weekend on jump #16 I took a second to watch the ground zoom up at me right before I deployed. Knowing what a high speed impact can do to a human body.....It was kinda freaky.

Is this why people swoop?

[edit: Back on-topic... glad it's not just me who gets the "shit, what if my leg straps fall off now?" feeling under canopy. Don't get me wrong, I love canopy flight almost as much as freefall, but... the first few seconds are a bit creepy.]

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[Ron 7]

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In Reply To
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Just last weekend on jump #16 I took a second to watch the ground zoom up at me right before I deployed. Knowing what a high speed impact can do to a human body.....It was kinda freaky.

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Is this why people swoop?

No, I swoop because it is a different aspect of the sport to work on. Lest say I do an AFF level 1 and the student nails it and does not try to kill me. I pull and I don't have a mal.....I need something to work on to make the jump fun for me.

Swooping is a skill I can work on by myself, I don't need my 4way team to achieve something.

It can easily be added to any skydive for no extra cost.

But its not fear.

BTW the fear is many times related to currency....But not always. Even when I am "Florida Current" it still can sneak up and say "Hi!" But when I am uncurrent it is more likely to pop up.

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

[GreenLight 5]

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I took a second to watch the ground zoom up at me right before I deployed.

Ya... That's when it happens to me and I try not to do it because I tend to pull in a track when that happens... LOL!!! It's only when you think about it that it happens though and YES... it is normal... You are normal... It's fun to watch the other aspect of looking down while tracking though... Watching the ground go past you, not up at you... Then you know you are tracking well...

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

[rehmwa 2]

GOOD FOR YOU - it's not irrational either - just extrememly unlikely at that point. Irrational is thinking everything is perfect all the time and getting complacent.

You can call it fear, but I bet you don't get unreasonable about it. More like - "If a couple lines break right now and canopy is trash - what would I do? Likely, since it's low, just get as much material as you can above you and keep your limbs together for whatever kind of PLF you can pull off"

That's not fear, it's thinking ahead and realizing potential risks and responses. Use it to keep in mind what all your options are and what are the altitudes where they apply. (It's commendable as long as you aren't obsessive about it or let it make you uncomfortable to the point that you don't enjoy the sport or it inhibits your piloting ability)

It's much better really than being oblivious all the time. We have enough of those types around.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Newbie 0]

Ok thanks, its heartening to know even the “big boys” with thousands of jumps occasionally get this too. Yeah, I forgot the ground rush thing-that can give it to me too.

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[Newbie 0]

Yeah you hit the nail on the head. I don't obsess nor does it affect me adversely to the point I don't enjoy myself. Its more exactly what you said about lines breaking/turbulence/if a jumper I didn't see comes out of nowhere on a collision course etc. And yeah, its about getting the Fear but also I end up thinking “ok what would I do if that DID happen”.
Thanks all for the replies, its intersting. Oh PS I was referring to while under canopy to the guy above

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[kelpdiver 2]

I definitely get a bit ill at ease when the canopy is bucking around in the low altitude. I don't have baseline for normal yet.

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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i'm the other way round, i get the fear up to 800 feet on the way up, thinking if anything happened to the plane now it'd be too low to jump.

if however something really bad happened, like a wing falling off, at less than 800 feet i'd still jump and take my chances!! but if the plane is still flyable then of course i'd stay in

I don't really let myself get the fear. I'm a pilot and I know that Kro (Tristan) here at Sebastian and anyone else who's allowed to fly these Otters and Caravans and Skyvans is more experienced and more trained than I am, and they know how to handle emergencies as best they can be handled.

I sometimes give a thought to the fact that we're too low for bailing out, but I don't let it bug me. I guess I have made a sort of peace about the possibility of getting killed doing what I love. I avoid it as much as humanly possible, but I accept it and continue.

If we don't have enough power for takeoff, the pilot will usually know this as we're on the roll. If we have enough for takeoff, and gauges look good and in the green, I just put faith in the notion that we'll at least get to a safe exit altitude before anything serious might happen.

OMG I'm an atheist who puts faith in stuff. What the heck's going on?!

-Jeffrey

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[aggie04 0]

Haha, and everyone laughed at me when I said this. The other day I did my first 13,000 hop n pop and my thinking was, dang, these straps are holding me for an awful long time...hope they can handle this. Now of course I knew this was silly thinking but still a thought. I do get the same under 1000 though because I load my canopy so lightly I feel every little bump on the way to the ground but when i took a canopy course he just reassured me that although I feel it, its usually nothing to worry about :) I just concenrate on landing it. Then again like someone else said I think it's good to have that fear because then you can think about what you would do in that situation instead of waiting for one to possibly surprise you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A life without a cause
is a life without an effect

[adamsr 0]

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I sometimes give a thought to the fact that we're too low for bailing out, but I don't let it bug me. I guess I have made a sort of peace about the possibility of getting killed doing what I love. I avoid it as much as humanly possible, but I accept it and continue.

I know it's irrational, but my dad is a private pilot too, and i've been flying with him since i was about 8. I always felt fine in his plane, but since i've taken up skydiving i get a bit nervous coz i'm not wearing my rig, the plane is just too small for me to comfortably wear it!

I just know if i have my rig, and we're high enough anything goes wrong with the plane and i'm out the door!

[darrenspooner 0]

Yeah, I think this is an aspect of the sport that you just have to learn to live with. Shit happens, occasionally. On my first own canopy (ZP170), on a choppy day, I got three end cells fold under at 200ft. Just got it sorted before I landed, but it was hairy, and lucky I think. You just got to accept the risk, and do everything you can to minimise it I think.

[Zoter 0]

I think to differeing extents...everyonethinks about this.
Familiarity ( and associated confidence) in your gear I'm sure helps an awful lot....
This thread may help a little....
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1631568;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread
Making sure your gear is always 'tip top' will also give you that extra boost as well.....

Think about it from a different point of view........you got into this sport and you have to accept the inherent risks......if shit does happen....you can only rely on your own knowledge/training to read and react as best you can.....if you have recognised this and have done whatever you can to address this....then thats all you can do.

I like to think I have....and on two occasions where I have experienced quite nasty turbulance/wind gusts low to the ground......it worked for me......and I am definately one of the 'what if this happens at x feet ' crowd
Recognise potential problems.....learn and then trust yourself to react correctly.....thats what I reckon

I think Ian Brown got it right.....
Forget Everything And Remember.....
For Everything A Reason....

[FrogNog 1]

Sometimes I get this. I call it "lack of faith in the gear" and I find jumping more (and making sure my gear is in good shape) helps.

Also, after I open and perform any initial rear riser dodging and before my controllability check, I check my yellow cables and handles. The yellow cables going through the white loops are at about eye level so it's a quick check. Then I feel my handles in the harness to make sure they're in place. This gives me an additional sense that my canopy connection system is operating 100% connected, and as long as I don't personally do something stupid I should be good to the ground.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[HydroGuy 0]

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i'm the other way round, i get the fear up to 800 feet on the way up, thinking if anything happened to the plane now it'd be too low to jump.

if however something really bad happened, like a wing falling off, at less than 800 feet i'd still jump and take my chances!! but if the plane is still flyable then of course i'd stay in

Totally agree man. I feel WAY better at 1K when I remove my seatbelt and can disembark that Otter if need be!!!

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