night jump do's and don'ts

[pds 0]

do: fly a conservative and predictable landing pattern.

don't: turn base in front of the lights and fly across the ENTIRE landing area before turning a way too low final.... jeremy.


new years jump, eloy. flying a conservative pattern turning base at least 150 feet behind the lights - straight in approach - looking fine - laying on the fronts - just as i am about to pass over the cars (lights) i find myself looking into the eyes of a guy less than 20 feet away from me, on level, who had just turned base directly across the lz - cutting off all approaches. if i would have been 1 or 2 seconds later we would have had a serious t-bone at 60 feet. i had time to do nothing except holler at him. don't remember but i think it was something like 'fuck you very much, you fuckin fuck, you fuckin suck.'

on the ground the guy acted like nothing serious had happened. grrrrrrr. aside from almost killing us both i am baffled at why he thought it was a good idea to make such low turns on a night jump.

i have to attribute this pattern issue to a rather perfunctory briefing. i would like to see more attention paid to landing patterns in night jump briefings. i have attended several, hosted by a variety of people, and they are not always the same. landing is where you are going to get killed on a night jump (IMHO) and even if everyone says that they have night experience GO OVER IT IN DETAIL. i am not qualified or experienced enough to enumerate night jump best practices, i hope someone here is and will.

thanks.

namaste, motherfucker.

[Amazon 7]

I am so glad I was on my huge Triathalon skybarge that made for a nice soft slow landing just 50 ft from the Beer trailer I had yet to visit that night.

[elfanie 0]

As a relative newbie who had never even contemplated doing a night jump...quick question..

do ya'll wear lights ON you? Like...those light-up necklaces or bracelets or glo-sticks or anything..so you guys can see each other?

i've never even seen anyone do a night jump before...so I'm genuinely curious..

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Elfanie
My Skydiving Page
Fly Safe - Soft Landings

[caress 0]

When i asked that question of someone, They said yes they wear a glow stick. I actually asked how they read their altimeter in the dark. I guess the stick is on their altimeter wrist.-Caress

I've learned.... That being kind is more important than being
right.

[elfanie 0]

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When i asked that question of someone, They said yes they wear a glow stick. I actually asked how they read their altimeter in the dark. I guess the stick is on their altimeter wrist.-Caress

My altimeter has a light on it...so for those with a digital alti, I'm sure they just use the alti-light for that..

but I was thinking that it wouldn't be too difficult to add anklettes (you can call them "ankle bands" if you want to ) and bracelets and kind of "light" yourself up so others flying around you can see you..at least a little...

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Elfanie
My Skydiving Page
Fly Safe - Soft Landings

[Amazon 7]

I put a small glow stick on my alti.. but its a glow in the dark alti.. and I put duct tape over it so it would only light the face.
I put a light stick on my near my foot on the front and one on my container on my back. I also had a strobe light that flashed to the front of me and lit my canopy a bit.

[kyros1 0]

I was wearing a glow stick on the front of my helmet (so I could ready my altimeter everytime I was bringing it close to my face) and a flash light (it was a head mounded) that was fixed on the top of the helmet and was lightining the parachute. So the higher jumper could see lower's parachute.

Good helmet to stick all that staff is Pro-tek due to the holes/openings that it has.

[nbblood 0]

Lights?, Oh yes. First of all the Regs require that you wear a light visible for at least a mile. Personally I wear lights everywhere I can put one. I look like the Electric Horseman when I do night jumps. As far as the alti, taping a chem light to the alti works very well, if you don't have an alti with a light. A flashlight on the top of your helmet allows you to check your canopy simply by looking up. A couple things I found useful.
Nathan

Blues,
Nathan

If you wait 'til the last minute, it'll only take a minute.

[skydivingfool 0]

Tape a glow stick to your front riser. In case of a chop you will be able to see you main in the dark. (Feel free to discuss the possiblity of a snag hazzard). Do not follow your main down! The glow stick will help you minimize the possible risk of collision with your main and will help you find it later in the dark.

[crutch 0]

Lights, your suppose to wear lights? I have made about a hundred night jumps over the years, very few of them we wore lights on, then again, few of them were done with much preparation. Me personally, I usaully wear a glow stick strapped to the outside of my leg, more so other people can see me other than anything else. If you prepare your eyes in the plane, there is almost always enough light at night to read most of the large face altimeters. As far as lights on the ground, most of the time they end up getting people confused, plan the landings as if a normal jump day, pick a direction on the way up and stick to it!

blue skies,

art

[Bolas 5]

Having a cel phone on you isn't a bad idea in case you land off or are hurt. Just make sure you have the DZ number programmed in the phone (preferably as the the last number dialed) and the night jump organizer has your phone # as well.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[panzwami 0]

DO:

Pull.
Flare.

DON'T:

Bonk.

Matt
-----

[FrogNog 1]

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Lights?, Oh yes. First of all the Regs require that you wear a light visible for at least a mile. Personally I wear lights everywhere I can put one. I look like the Electric Horseman when I do night jumps. As far as the alti, taping a chem light to the alti works very well, if you don't have an alti with a light. A flashlight on the top of your helmet allows you to check your canopy simply by looking up. A couple things I found useful.
Nathan

I thought that FAR 105.33 said the light skydivers have to wear when under canopy had to be visible for 3 miles...

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[tonyhays 86]

You are correct. I believe that is also in the SIM.

At night, it's better to go with more light on you then less. Personally, I wear a strobe and two glow sticks, the glow sticks being the kind that are super bright and only last 5 minutes. Duck tape 'em to the sides of my leg.

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

[riggerrob 558]

Preparing for night jumps is a long, involved process, best started days ahead of time, purchasing glow-sticks, etc.
On the day of the event, everyone should do a jump or two onto the DZ for familiarization.
About an hour after sunset, everyone should be packed and ready for the briefing. The most important thing in the briefing is agreeing on a landing pattern. Everyone flies tame approaches, everyone does a left hand pattern, everyone completes their last turn by 200 feet, everyone lands to the west, yada, yada .....
Then we get to the mass confusion of taping on lights, etc. It is important to have an extra instructor - who has done a few night jumps - to run around with duct tape and clear tape and give equipment the last once-over.
Then everyone sits quietly for 20 minutes ... in the dark ... without smoking ...
At the end of the process, everyone reports back to manifest BEFORE any beer is consumed.

[JohnRich 4]

Here's an item I haven't seen mentioned yet: Your shadow. (Assuming you are jumping with a bright moon.)

As you come into land, the moon will cast your shadow onto the ground next to you. If you're not expecting it, you might glimpse the shadow in your peripheral vision, and it can seem like another jumper flying right at you! As you get closer to the ground, your shadow will merge with you, so the phantom flyer seems to be on a collision course. This can cause one to react instinctively with a sharp turn to avoid a collision. However, you can't escape your own shadow, and we all know that sharp turns near the ground are dangerous.

So, be aware of where the moon is when you are on final approach, and from that, which side of your body your shadow will appear upon (the opposite side from the moon). Then expect the shadow to appear, don't be alarmed if you see it, and don't make any hasty low hook turns.

The shadow will usually only appear when you are within 10 feet or so of the ground, so you're almost down safely already.

[Mad47 0]

It is also a god idea to turn it off before you board on the plane and to put it into place where the phone will not interfere with emergency procedures. For example, cell phone put into right pocket of my RW suite will be way to close to the soft cutaway handle. The phone and the handle are of the similar size, so I do not really want to pull the phone instead of the handle in case of emergency.
One more trick I have learned last year is to wear sun glasses during briefing and jump preparation - protects your vision from bright light

[ltdiver 3]

Hey Electric Horseman...and anyone else using glow sticks...!

Just make sure they're strapped on securely! It sucks to see one fall off and plummet towards earth! It -really- looks like someone's going in!

So, hang on to those little green puppies!

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[DBCOOPER 1]

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Then everyone sits quietly for 20 minutes ... in the dark ... without smoking ...

Effects of carbon monoxide......

"The symptoms are similar to hypoxia.Especially important to aviators is the loss of visual acuity.Even under carbon monoxide concentrations as low as 10 percent saturation,peripheral vision,and more importantly,night vision acuity will decrease.
The danger associated with carbon monoxide rises sharply at altitudes above sea level.When experienced separately,a mild degree of hypoxia(caused by altitude increase) or an exposure to small amounts of carbon monoxide may be harmless.When experienced at the same time they cause serious impairment of efficiency because of the additive hypoxic effect.
For practical purposes,the elimination rate for carbon monoxide depends on respiratory volume and the percentage of oxygen in the air.Smoking three cigarettes in rapid succession or one and a half packs per day can raise an individuals carbon monoxide-hemoglobin saturation to 10 percent.At sea level,it may take a full day to eliminate that small percentage of carbon monoxide because the carbon monoxide gas is reduced by a factor of only 0.5 about every four hours.".....
I could go on but you get the message.

Reference: FM 1-300 Aeromedical Training For Flight Personnel

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[FrogNog 1]

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Effects of carbon monoxide......

Bonus points for whomever knows the reason CO causes hypoxic-like issues.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[DBCOOPER 1]

Hypemic hypoxia.

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[nbblood 0]

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I thought that FAR 105.33 said the light skydivers have to wear when under canopy had to be visible for 3 miles...

Oops, my bad....shoulda studied more.

Quote

Hey Electric Horseman...and anyone else using glow sticks...!

Just make sure they're strapped on securely! It sucks to see one fall off and plummet towards earth! It -really- looks like someone's going in!

True dat!!

Blues.
Nathan

Blues,
Nathan

If you wait 'til the last minute, it'll only take a minute.