Does Anything Else want to go wrong???

[Chew 0]

Having only 11 jumps, I haven't had the chance to see many things go wrong yet, well, that was until my last jump of the weekend!

There I was, waiting for the last lift of the day when I see two mals in one load. I saw one guy cut away from his main that wouldn't open and another who had two canopy's out. The guy with two canopy's out started to spin into a downplane and for some reason he didn't cut away. He hit the ground with quite a bump but lucky he was ok and walked away a little bruised.

As this was the first mal I had witnessed I was a little shaken but I decided I would still jump as I thought it would be better get this out of my system sooner rather than later.

The ride up was fine until I noticed my Alti was stuck on 10K when we were at 12.5K. Ok not a major problem but as I only have 11 jumps I was a little worried. I told my instructor who told me that it would probably start to work again on the way down. Great I thought, I hope so

I just thought to myself if people on the ground started to look big and my alti was still reading 10K, then I would pull, yes I know what you are thinking, its not rocket science!!

So, the door opens and I am third out, the first two go and then I hear the jump master shout Stop! There was plane underneath us! The pilot radioed down to see what was going on and it was the other jump plane coming into land. It landed and we went around for another pass.

Now remember that I only have 11 jumps under my belt, I have just witnessed my first mal on the ground, my alti is stuck and we are going around for a second pass after a scare with a plane! I am a little nervey and i'm thinking about not jumping while waiting for the next thing to go wrong! And then I see it, the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. The door was open and I was next out, the sun was setting and I could see coast line looking an amazing pinky purpley yellow and I thought to myself, hey this is what its all about! All the fear disapeared and I just wanted to get a closer look at that view! YEEHAAAAWWW Out I go! I just enjoyed that view alllllllll the way down and thankfully, nothing else went wrong.

All in all that was probably my best/worst skydive so far, if that makes any sense! I just wanted to share that experience with you all as I am sure you will have had similar days!

2 Lessons learnt for myself - 1. Mals are a part of the sport, get over it! 2. Skydiving at sunset is REALLY COOL, do more of it!

Chew!!

[skytash 0]

glad you didn't get too freaked out and it did turn out greate in the end!

tash

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

[dterrick 0]

That's quite a day, Matt!

You know why it's all worth it though.

You learned several important things about equipment (check your gear) the Big Sky (ALWAYS check your airspace before exit) and emergency procedures ( practise poractise practise, read S&T forum read S&T forum...)

Had my first and only cutaway on jump #20 and it was the best thing that could have happened to me., After that I KNEW I'd never fear 'the dreaded chop' again. Not that I'd encourage you to go seeking a mal, just know that if you always keep safety procedures in mind before you board the jumpship (...even the ones that 'won't' happen like a horseshoe or a downplane) you'll be just fine.

DOOR!!!!! Now jump dammit
-Dave

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[funks 1]

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That's quite a day, Matt!

Had my first and only cutaway on jump #20

I hope you are knocking on wood right now with that "only cutaway" comment.

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[dterrick 0]

Perhaps I should have written 'only cutaway so far' ...In fact, I've only chopped once in 165 jumps and I know there will be othes in the future... the question is always when. This does not mean I've not come close to a Silver Savior a few times...:

On a freezing cold October day (about jump #115) my hands froze bad enough I lost the handle on try #1 at 2200 ft and had I missed on #2 I'd have been silver.

I had a bridle entanglement (horseshoe) on a hop n pop and wound up as a 'parachutist in tow', headdown, at a similar altitude with a bridle wrapped around my left foot. Was the pin out? I'm not sure but a failure to clear it would have been very bad.

THESE are the things that I refer to when I say 'think often about safety'. After all, we'd 'never' had a bridle entanglement at DZ before mine but I had a plan drilled into my head. The next weekend, an IAD student had an entanglement with her Protec. Sometimes things just come in waves...

-Dave

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)