Injury stories

[bkoch 0]

There is a lot of talk in magazines, online and such about fatalities that happen in skydiving because we can learn so much about safety through knowledge of how people die in skydiving... but I read that a little over a thousand skydivers have an injury every year that requires a visit to a doc...

I bet there is a lot to be learned from people's injury stories as well - what to do and what not to do. So for anyone interested in posting, I'd like to hear about anytime you have been injured in skydiving, what caused it, what was injured, and what could be done to prevent it?

Thanks for taking the time to tell me.
Brad
PS 252 jumps and no injuries for me so far...knock on wood...

[jdfreefly 1]

my injury

Methane Freefly - got stink?

[Maxx 1]

Ok now here is my little dumb injury stories.. let me introduce it that I never got hurt before in skydiving and I hope this is my only injury this year *knock on wood*

I did a frontriser-turn for my final approach and and aimed for a landing right next to the pond (along the pond).. But i misjudged my last few degrees of the turn and also didn't notice that the wind was crosswind to my landing direction and so my line of flight headed INTO the pond.. Not a big deal, if there had been water in the pond.. But in my case the pond was empty and I ended up flying into the empty pond and then hitting the inner border of the pond with my left hand merely before I finished my flare. The result was a broken middle hand bone.

Things learned: Learn to carve your landings for emergency outs

I could laugh about it directly after it, because I felt so damn stupid..

Feet up!,
Max

[Icon134 0]

I didn't read the flag (EAT THE F'ing CARROT) correctly and ended up landing downwind on a hill and broke a couple of bones in my hand... I think it happend when the hand mount altimeter got caught up in the tall grass...

I didn't land particularly hard but I did learn to keep my hands up off the ground and Roll out instead of trying to catch myself.

Edited to add: it was Jump 12... the day I returned for jump 13 (recurrency dive...) someone died doing something stupid... "Don't do Stupid Sh*t!"

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[firstime 0]

jump# 13..flared with my hands to the side hence
broke the left hand.

Jump#97 Went to Arizona for a week of jumping.
The 1st jump was not aware that 1800' ASL and no wind turned my sabre 190 into a 84 velocity (well
not really that drastic) . Way too fast for me. The
dirt in the desert is some pretty hard stuff. Broke a
rib and ankle. This sport is LEARN & LIVE. Both of my
injuries could have been prevented easily had I opened my ears and listened. I do now because the
Arizona landing could have crippled or killed me.

[NickDG 23]

>>a little over a thousand skydivers have an injury every year that requires a visit to a doc...<<

If getting that figure from the USPA membership renewal form where they ask if you've had any hospital visits in the last 12 months I'd doubt it's accurate.

I'm a little ashamed to say I never gave up that info, and I'm sure many others do the same. It also wouldn't count those who are injured and leave the sport and never renew their memberships.

NickD BASE 194

[Randy_H 0]

Jump #81 (in March of this year) on a no wind day, on final, winds gusted 120 degrees off line, I came in fast, dragged my feet on the ground, the ground dipped away from my left foot and then came back up and broke my tib and fib. Lots of other people biffed on this load as well but I was the only surgical candidate.

In hind sight I wish I had bent my legs instead of dragging them on the ground.

010010010110010101100001011101000111000001110101011100110111001101111001

[bkoch 0]

So far it seems, as is from the stories I heard at the DZ, that landing by far in a way leads the pack in terms of injury...

I've heard around the DZ about some narly freefall collision stuff too, but I'm not surprised that landing takes the cake. Makes sense to me.
B

"What kind of man would live a life without daring? Is life so sweet that we should criticize men that seek adventure? Is there a better way to die?"
- Charles Lindberg August 26th, 1938

[jumpjunkie2004 0]

September 1st - Jump #7

At the time, our DZ was under construction. I fixated on some wooden stakes in the landing area. Flared fast and hard at 25 feet. Fell straight down. PLF landing, but still broke my right ankle and sprained my left (see attached photo).

I managed to land about four feet away from one of the wooden stakes. I couldn't have landed closer if I tried.

For the complete story:

http://x.mcintyres.net/jumpblog/?sectionid=19

Jump, Land, Pack, Repeat...

[skydude2000 3]

On my 34th jump, I'd been jumping off and on for the last 2 years. Been 8 months since my last jump, cuz of work, did my retrain and all that jazz. 1st Load on Mother's Day. Apparently the winds were wonky. Some kind of upper-lower dogleg or something, I was told. Still up on radio in case I screw up, I was getting commands like 'head east more' 'now turn into the northwest' and as a student, that was pretty confusing. Came down behind a big barn and flared at about 20 feet. Landed on my heels and fell back on my butt. Compression fracture of the L2 and L3. 1st ambulance ride. I owed beer for that one, lol. But I was back almost a year later.

PULL!! or DIE!!

[Zep 0]

What am I doing wrong, Over 3000 jumps an I've never broken anything

I did fracture my wrist one time, After landing on the walk back to the hanger
my son came running out to greet me, droped his football I trod on it, fell backwards
an ended up with the fractured wrist, But I guess that does'nt count

I've jumped with my leg in a cast from the knee down,Non skydiving related injury)
got some funny looks from the others in the plane

Gone fishing

[mark135 0]

Ok here is my only skydiving related injury.

I was sitting by the fire drinking and went in the hanger to take a leak. on they way out i stepped in a hole and turned my ankle.

5 years later and it has never fully healed.

_______________


"It seemed like a good idea at the time"

[Airman1270 0]

September 30, 1982. First jump, static-line T-10. All was going well, then I had a brain fart on the PLF. Landed wrong & broke my ankle. My only skydiving injury to date.

Funny thing, several years earlier I broke my other ankle in an outfield collision during a high school softball game. The same doctor treated both injuries. He ventured away from his area of expertise and suggested I should not be jumping out of airplanes. I asked "Why didn't you tell me to give up baseball?..."

Cheers,
Jon S.

[DanglesOZQld 0]

When a student (12 plus years ago) was landing one of the student canopies onto hard dry grass and the canopy did not flare well. Lack of experience certainly a factor also and I ended up flaring fully with a fair amount of forward speed and my hands forming fists on either side with the toggles.

Punched the ground and heard a loud click from the left fist and knew I had broken something straight away. Turned out that the two knuckles were fractured on the third knuckle/join closest to the hand on the same angle I punched mother earth with.

It happened due to an awkward landing on a canopy that wasnt that great for its flaring capabilities but there was a lot of pilot error and inexperience as well.

Did a hooky and hit the ground three times harder some time later and walked away as I had a better idea of how to hit!

Had a half cast (removeable) on my left arm for some time. Came down to an unfortunate landing involving things being where they should not have been and in a position (fist!) that caused the first and weakest contact point to take the full force and give way.

Then there was the incident I walked away from due to nothing more than the heroic efforts of our jump pilot......another time lol! BSBD! -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

[DanglesOZQld 0]

- And for the record I personally know about 100 jumpers enough to form the opinion that being bored/unable to jump/doing other things (ie- Skateboarding etc) causes a lot more injury than leaping out of an aircraft!! ;) BSBD! -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"