Rough landings

[trumpetfish 0]

posting this here as it doesn't seem serious enough to put into incidents but i would appreciate anyone else's take or if they have had a similar experience themselves..

First unpleasant skydiving experience.

10th jump on new main. EXE 170. Loaded 1:1. Wearing Helmet.

Un-eventful freefall. Controlled landing approach, on target and heading into a steady 5-8 knot wind at approx 200ft. At perhaps 120ft very gusty wind/turbulence, lost 3 cells from the left hand side of my canopy, turned me crosswind, gave the left brakes a little input in an attempt to rectify the partially collapsed canopy (was this wrong thing to do??). Canopy sorted. Still looking up at the canopy when I hit the ground with no brakes. No plf.

Result: concussion, strained back, bruised nose, chipped teeth. Feeling very stupid.

Obviously I realise this would have been avoided if I had been doing what I was supposed to be doing, looking at my landing spot rather than anywhere else. I think I was so shocked by my canopy problem I lost awareness and must have lost altitude faster than I expected; I thought I had more time before I would be needing to flare. I remember thinking ‘ok, I have enough time to quickly try to correct this, look back to my landing spot and flare’. I got as far as the starting to look back bit.

When I arrived at the DZ I judged the wind conditions to be within my capability as I’d landed in higher winds previously. I watched a few landings and no one seemed to be having problems. I did however fail to properly register any significance of the wind being from a northerly direction rather than the more usual southeasterly. I knew the wind direction was different but didn’t think it would change anything but my landing pattern. After my rough landing I talked to an instructor/rigger who works full time and they stated that they never jump when the winds are from a northerly direction as there is strange turbulence as the wind comes over the clubhouse buildings. Shit. Apparently I wasn’t the only person to have a rough landing, including some much more experienced jumpers.

After the event I feel very lucky not to have sustained worse injuries. In future I will certainly be taking more time before jumping to properly note anything out of the ordinary concerning conditions. And a canopy control lesson sounds like a good idea – what to do when experiencing problems with a canopy at low altitude? I imagine it’s a case of sit there and ride it out. Must admit, the incident has scared me a bit, looking up at that altitude and seeing my canopy not fully inflated was a horrible sensation.

thoughts, comments, solutions, criticisms?

[neilly 0]

well it was nice of the more experienced people at the DZ to be looking out for the less experienced, Do they expect everybody to be fully up to speed?
if there are dogy winds, turbulence etc, why wasnt there a limit on? Ok you might have been p****d off at the lack of jumping, But your teeth would still be OK.
Sounds like you learnt a painful lesson and got off lightly, just seems a shame to me that others didnt forewarn you,

Hope they get smoother in the future, Have fun

Fly like an aardvark

[Cacophony 0]

Quote

gave the left brakes a little input in an attempt to rectify the partially collapsed canopy (was this wrong thing to do??). Canopy sorted. Still looking up at the canopy when I hit the ground with no brakes. No plf.

It seems to me that giving some left brake input wouldn't be the best way to fix the situation. When flying in turbulence you want to fly in full glide because it keeps pressurization in the cells the highest. However, when you are trying to inflate closed end cells, you want to pump your brakes. Maybe a little rear riser might have worked better. Not sure that I know the exact answer to that one. Also be careful not to fixate on your landing spot. Keep an eye out for other traffic. You were very lucky. Try and keep it to skill and not luck. I've been there before though and I know what its like. Take care!

[lazyfrog 0]

from my paraglider experience, would have given some brake on the opposite side (to stop the turn)... what I learnt from this previous activity when you have cells collapsing :
-stay calm
-brake the opposite (to stop turn and not get in autorotation)
-pump the collapsed side
-get away from obstacles

Happened to me to forget the last one and nearly ended in the trees... A big turn and I was away...

Now for our kind of canopies I don't know if the same is applicable... Also depends on the altitude you are.. And you were not very high...

Glad you still can talk about it and others can learn from it

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Fumer tue, péter pue
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ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

[davelepka 4]

Looking at your canopy doesn't help anything. When you are that close to the ground, watch where are going, and work the canopy by feel.

Your canopies are both too small for your experience. 1:1 for a main might be OK, but your reserve is loaded even higher than that,

The "rough landing" you had is one of the "worst case scenarios" you could possibly encounter with your canopy. If you are not prepared to deal with it properly, you are not ready for the size canopy you are jumping. Have you expereinced turbulence before? Were you aware of what the canopy would do, and how to react to that in a timely fashion? It doesn't sound like it. A larger canopy would have slowed down every event leading up to your impact, possibly giving you time to look down, and flare. At the very least it would have lowered your decent rate and maybe lessened your injuries.

This weekend I had a similar problem with my Stiletto 107. At 50 ft, the canopy stopped, than tried to collapse on me. I was able to keep it pressurized, but dropped straight down the last 50 ft, and managed to stand up the lading. Some jumpers said it looked like I was going to break both of my legs, but I managed to minimize the decent rate and keep the canopy inflated. Would you have been ready to sink your canopy in from 50 ft?

You may want to carefully consider your canopy choices. It's no secret that most fatalities and injuries in skydiving are the result of bad landings. It is the one phase of your skydive where you are most likely to get hurt and needs to be approached with those thoughts in mind.

Good choice on the helmet, by the way.