Tandem passanger's reaction?

[deaffreeflyer 0]

Few months ago, a tandem instructor and a passenger was about to landed toward pea gravel pit and I just landed and was in the way. A passenger yelled at me "MOVE MOVE MOVE GET OUT OF THE WAY!" but I didn't hear anything. I picked my canopy up, walked away and noticed a cameraflyer filmed standing in front / left of me - about 4m away. I knew that he was filming a tandem jump then I realised they were about to landed. He didn't warned me at all - no signals at all. I looked around behind me and saw them coming toward to me so quickly. I just managed to jump out of the way and duck but they landed and missed me by 1m away. I got close to them and gave them some helps. I saw this passanger and never saw something like this before. He was so frightened and shaked. His face looked so white / plain with real wide open eyes like he just saw a ghost. He muttered and asked Mark (tandem instructor) "Why didn't he get out of the way?". Mark and a cameraflyer laughed their ass off and said "Because he's deaf!". I felt so sorry for passanger because I don't think he didn't find it very amusing! I don't think he'll jump again.

I heard a story happened at a dropzone in UK, not sure if it's true. When a tandem just landed with reserve canopy and they walked back to packing shed. A passanger told instructor about he enjoyed the ride. Instructor was puzzled and told him "We just had a canopy malfunction, I had to get rid of it and used reserve canopy". Oh bless him he didn't realised he had a canopy malfunction! I can imagine how this passanger felt!

I haven't see a tandem cutaway and reserve ride yet. I wonder if what passanger's like when he/she had their tandem malfunction, cutaway and reserve rides or something like this? Have you see anything like this?

PS - forgive me for my English! Not my first language.

[petur 0]

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Few months ago, a tandem instructor and a passenger was about to landed toward pea gravel pit and I just landed and was in the way.

Where I've been jumping there's a general rule that if there's a tandem on the load, the pea gravel pit is off limits for everyone else!

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I haven't see a tandem cutaway and reserve ride yet. I wonder if what passanger's like when he/she had their tandem malfunction, cutaway and reserve rides or something like this? Have you see anything like this?

Nope, I haven't seen a tandem cutaway but I've heard many stories of passengers who weren't aware of any emergency during the jump and enjoyed it to the fullest.

One tandem master told me that he had a malfunction and before he cut away he yelled in the passengers ear: "Hey, wow that was fun wasn't it, wanna do it again?!?!" - And the student's response was of course "Hell yea!", and the student got his second freefall for the price of one...

---
P.
"It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes -
But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

[PhreeZone 15]

We tend to have about 5 or 6 tandem reserve rides every summer, luckly most are on video. Its amazing sometimes how alert some of the students are, while other times they are oblivious. We had one that was a lineover, the TM called for the student to punch the arch again, they chopped and got a reserve open. The TM said a bit later in the canopy flight the student asked to do the falling things again. I've seen other times where the student does'nt know till the videographer tells them on the ground about it and the TM smiles and turns to show no more main and the reserve is open.I know most TM's don't tell the student, but I know of a few that do while its happening.

Best tandem cutaway was a guy who made 3 static lines and had to chop on 2 of them, first was a line over and I forget the second one, but on his third tandem they had a stable lineover that he was able to look up, told the TM that they needed cutaway and asked where the handels were to chop since he wanted to do it for himself...

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[dragon2 0]

We have a story on our DZ that one passenger asked the intructor: When I fist looked up, I saw a multicolored parachute. Next time I looked up, it was blue. Could you please tell me, how you did that??

He thougth it was some kind of trick......

Couple of weeks ago we had a tandem line over. Instructor asked passenger to help pull the steering lines way down to try and clear it. Didn´t work, had to cut away. I asked the guy later how he felt, he said, Way cool! I even got to help with stuff!!

Mostly I don´t think passengers notice, unless told by their TM. Some are really heads-up tho. Well they got 2 freefalls for the price of one, so I do´t think they should complain

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[riggerrob 558]

As for the student worrying about landing on you: remember that she was terrified before she left the plane and you just provided a convenient focus for her fear. Any tandem instructor worth his salt could gracefully land beside you.

As for her being so scared she never makes another skydive, don't feel bad. The vast majority of tandem students will only make one jump in their lifetimes.

I have had 14 tandem reserve rides and landed more damaged tandem mains than I care to remember.
Most of the time, students are clueless until you tell them, especially if it is a high speed mal.

I knew I was getting bored when I pointed out a broken line to a tandem level 2 student, told him to pull the red handle and arch some more!

[billvon 2,407]

> "We just had a canopy malfunction, I had to get rid of it and used reserve canopy".

I had a tandem mal a while back that was tension knots in the brake lines. I tried to clear it, but it didn't clear, so I told the passenger to arch and I chopped it. Reserve opened with no problems.

"What was that?" the passenger asked.

"I'll explain when we land," I said. Then the passenger saw the main floating around above us.

"What's that thing up there? Is that my friend's tandem?"

"No, your friend is over there. I'll explain when we land."

After we landed, I told him we had had a malfunction and had used the reserve. He didn't believe me.

"No, really," I said. "See? Here's the main container, and the reserve container, and they're both empty, and this is the reserve."

"So you're telling me, like, the parachute didn't open and we could have died?"

"Well, the main parachute didn't open correctly, but that's why we have a reserve. The main parachute is the thing you saw floating around up there."

The bus came to pick us up (we had to land out.) Once on the bus he started asking people "Is my instructor shitting me? Are you guys just trying to get me going?" He seemed to think he had been the victim of some elaborate prank.

[rmcvey 0]

tandem students throwing up in freefall is good, closely followed by students throwing up under canopy.

[sunshine 2]

My 2nd jump was a tandem. I was doing it with the same TM that did my first tandem 2 weeks prior. I kinda knew what to expect and wasn't as scared as the first time. After a rather painful opening, i went to put my hands in my part of the toggles and there was nowhere to put them. I asked the TM why there wasn't a spot for my hands, when he informed me we were under the reserve. After hearing that, i just wanted to get down on the ground. The canopy ride was not fun for me at all cause i was freakin out so bad.

Apparently we had a total and he pulled the reserve. A tandem reserve ride at terminal. Ouch!! I had some major bruises from that jump, but started student training a week later anyway!!

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[skycop 0]

I was on a load where this chick was doing her first tandem and first ever ride in an airplane. Well, you guessed it, a reserve ride! Now THATS what I call getting the most bang for your buck!

I watched another tandem malfunction from the ground. I just happened to be watching this particular tandem in freefall. They got a streamer and they cut away. Once on the ground. this big muscle bound, macho man type student was high-fiving his buddies and generally talking smack about how cool it (and he) was. The instructor pointed to the reserve collapsed on the ground and said, "Ya see that bud, that's plan B, we had a malfunction."
This guy said "WWWWWW....HHH.....AAA....TTTT?"
He proceeded to turn white as a sheep, his knees buckled, and he almost passed out!.
All his buddies and the rest of us almost passed out from laughing so hard!

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[lewmonst 0]

yeah, i videoed one of those tandem cutaways... unfortunately it was a lineover with most of the canopy out, so i fell far far away from it to get any good video, but i saw the bowtie and just thought "wow, is that a lineover? i've never seen one live yet... is he going to cut it away or what? damn i wish i was closer on video, oh there it goes...". He told the student when he landed, and the student was still kinda in shock of the whole jump, didn't frazzle him any more than he already was. he would come back and jump. i thought it was cool, of course only after all landed well and everything was fine. but i hadn't had a cutaway, so it was a new experience for me to watch it in the air. i still haven't had one... but i like it like that.

http://www.exitshot.com

[danvan 0]

While still doing my AFF a few months ago, I was sitting next to this girl who was getting her 'debrief' from the first ever tandem jump she'd just done.

I wasn't eavesdropping, and had no interest in the conversation, until I as clear as day heard "I especially like the second freefall - it was like getting two jumps for the price of one". I was drop-jawed when I heard that she had come in under a reserve not 10 minutes before this and she was cool as a cucumber about it. The canopy opened fine but had some serious line twists from what the TM described. He was obviously reluctant to cut away so was getting her to help him kick out the twists, but it didn't work so he chopped and rode the reserve in safely.

I think I was more freaked about it than her!

I'd be interested to know what the "probability" of a reserve ride on a tandem is - does anyone know? Also, I'd love to know how many there are on AFF stage 1 jumps - I think I would have given up if I got a reserve ride on my first jump!

[BPO 0]

There's a discussion Here

[Liemberg 0]

Got to jump in with one of my funniest (happened a couple of years ago)
A guy came to my place after he was diagnosed with A.L.S.
Like most of you, I had never heard of that (rare) disease, but apparently this is The Big One: The jackpot nobody wants because what the doctor tells you is that your life expectancy has diminished to less than a year and "sorry to inform you but there is no known cure at the time..."
Because of the disease and the fact that it was rapidly deteriorating his muscular control my passenger informed me beforehand ("One of the things I want to do before I go but do you think I'll still be able to etc...") In fact we had several conversations over the phone before he arrived at the DZ. He was extremely nervous about the jump and I am sure he never would have done it if not for the bad news the doctor gave him. (Hard to grasp for the bunch over here, but some people think about parachuting this way...)
I worked out how to get him out of the door and how to land him safely, saw no problem and up we went. Didn't pay much attention to all the normal stuff you would say about the way passengers are attached to the parachutes, since we were merely focused on the physical constraints and how to struggle ourselves out of the door of the Cessna 182. (He was 85 kg...)

All went well (we came out, I was able to control him in freefall, I pulled.)

Of course, as luck would have it, there was a beautiful malfunction above our heads: slider up, three outer cells "gone" and pumping the steering toggles didn't work at all.

A mess.

While struggling with it I unconsciously uttered a swearword or two - rather loud I'm afraid, then I accepted the unavoidable and chopped it.

First reaction of my passenger: "When I heard you cursing and then felt myself falling again, I thought you had cut away ME and that my life was gonna end right here and right now...boy am I glad you're still with me!"

I guess we both walked away with a whole new perception of time...

"Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci
A thousand words...

[SPY 0]

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There's a discussion Here

Thanks for advertising my subject

A short story about a friend TM who had a mal some years ago: when he realised that he had no choice but to cut away, he wanted the student not to be scared about the situation so he told to the student that he didn't like the color of the canopy and he will change it. Right, left, and -surprise!-: a reserve canopy exactly the same color than the main!!!

S-P
===========================

[scl 0]

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I just managed to jump out of the way and duck but they landed and missed me by 1m away.

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. Any tandem instructor worth his salt could gracefully land beside you.

It's the tandem instructor's responsibility to steer around you, since you're in front of him. He probably was totally aware of you and planning to land right next to you, which is why the cameraman didn't say anything. I think a lot of students aren't aware of how much control we have over the canopy, like we just pull a magic handle and the rest is out of our hands. (hence questions like "what if it doesn't open?")
Good thing we do have that nifty thing called steering, otherwise the entire landing area would be filled with jumpers yelling like that student: "Look out! Incommiiiiing!!!"

[riggerrob 558]

When another skydiver is on short final to land close to you, the best thing you can do is stand still.
He has already figured out which open area he wants to land in. If you fill that open area, you force him to pick a new landing area with only a few seconds to turn.

[fudd 0]

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pick a new landing area with only a few seconds to turn.

Would that not be a bad thing to do a low turn. I thought that was when the tandem master tells the student to do as they have practised.
- "Now put both your legs in front of you and aim for that bastards head"

There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

[pilotdave 0]

Great tandem after-jump reaction HERE. (right click, save target as...)

Dave

[hooked 0]

Okay, I right clicked, saved target....but all I got was audio.

J

--------------------------------------
Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings.

[pilotdave 0]

probably just missing a codec. You can download the Ace Mega Codecs pack in the /codecs/ folder which will probably solve your problem. (install at your own risk, blah blah blah, but i installed it with no problems).

Dave