First Night Jump

[petur 0]

Hi all!

Night Jumps are a pretty rare event in Iceland, I'ld say once every 2-3 years (since it's pretty darn cold in the time of year when the sun actually sets). 10 people have registered for the jumps next weekend, none of them with any night jump experience at all. We'll have someone experienced around to brief us but does anyone here have any useful hints on the subject? Any articles around?

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

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

I've heard of a fatality where someone coming in to land on a night jump saw his shadow approaching, thought it was another canopy, and turned to avoid it only to hit the ground.

____________________
Say no to subliminal messages

[AndyMan 7]

I don't know about safety articles on night jumps...

I will say that it's very easy to get turned around under canopy, so it's really imporant that the landing area is well lit, and that there's good indicators to the jumpers showing wind direction.

One DZ I was at rented diesel powered lighting towers to light the landing area. It literally made the landing area brighter then day. This was overkill, IMHO.

One popular way is to build a very large bonfire, to help see the DZ from jumpun. Secondly, take three cars, and drive them out to the landing area. Point the cars so that their headlights are shining in the direction of the wind - so that the jumpers can see where to land.

In the following diagram, the car on the right is pointed to the left. The two other cars are pointed towards the center. The wind is blowing to the right. Jumpers would make their final approach to the left.

\

wind ->             --     <--final aproach direction

/

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Wouldn't it be easier to have a normal arrow ie.

/
<---
\

____________________
Say no to subliminal messages

[tomblin 0]

Look at the SIM on www.uspa.org, it has a page or two on night jump info...

[Ducky 0]

Umm why complicate things with trying to draw symbols with headlights?? Just get several (no particualr # just enough) cars and poin there head lights INTO the wind. Park the cars at the near end of the landing area so canopies can fly over and land in front of them. Important not to point headligts downwind as to blind landindin canopy pilots!

kwak

Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

[riddler 0]

I've only done three night jumps, so I'm no expert, but I can tell you how we do it at my home DZ (which is the most safety-conscious DZ I've been to).

1. Make sure full moon, minimal weather, and really pay attention to those uppers! I got blown backwards under canopy nearly a mile on one jump, since the wind seems to pick up at night around here.

2. If you normally make one pass, make two passes with the plane to give people more spread.

3. First-time night jumpers go solo.

4. Line up the jumpers and make sure they deploy in 500 foot increments - first at 2,500, second at 3,000, third at 3,500, etc.

5. Everyone has a glowstick on altimiter or helmet to see altitude. Everyone has a strobe light attached to chest strap that gets turned on immediately after deployment. You won't see anyone else when you're under canopy, unless you're lucky. But if you see another strobe, that would be a skydiver under canopy coming toward you. Do not turn on the strobe inside the plane, and cover your glowsticks, with the interior lights off. This will let jumper's eyes adjust in the dark on the way up to altitude.

6. Slow turns under canopy - no spinning or riser dives. You want to maintain vertical separation as much as possible.

7. Line up automobiles in a row near target with all headlights pointed up-wind. Jumpers make final approach OVER cars and land in area lighted up by headlights. No swooping between cars, since ground observers seem to like to stand there

8. You may see your shadow right as you are touching down. It will look like another jumper that is beside you and angling in to crash with you. Trust me - this happened to me on my first night jump. It's the first thing you really see since opening up, and it does look three-dimensional. Do not turn. You will turn right into the ground and feel stupid for running from your shadow. I did this and I still feel stupid.

9. After you land, look up for other strobe lights coming down, since jumpers might not be able to see you on the ground.

10. If you can, take a cell phone or radio and call the DZ if you land off.

11. You may not be able to see trees in the dark until
it's too late, so everyone should already have jumped in the DZ during daylight and know where the trees are.

These are the rules for night jumps at my DZ. I don't make the rules, but we've not had any major accidents on night jumps, so I think they work well.

Also, it's not a rule, but most of us attach a glowstick to a riser in case we have to cut away the main. It's easier to find in the dark if there's a glowstick on it.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Kris 0]

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Everyone has a strobe light attached to chest strap that gets turned on immediately after deployment.

Yikes!!! I would suggest that you move that strobe to the back of your ankle. One flash and your night-vision is gone.

Kris

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[skybytch 259]

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I would suggest that you move that strobe to the back of your ankle. One flash and your night-vision is gone.

Or low on the main lift web, with the bulb toward your back.

On every night jump I've done we turned the strobes on just prior to exit.

[riddler 0]

Sorry - should have clarified - the strobe is pointed down. If you point it up, you will get blinded. Thanks for the tip. Some people do attach to legs or ankles, and no on ecomplains about that. The advantage of everyone doing it the same way is that you know if people are coming toward you or going away.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[riddler 0]

I don't think it hurts to turn it on before free-fall, but I don't think it helps either, other than to make sure you don't forget. I think it was just this year or last that they changed the SIM to say it only needs to be on under canopy. I know it used to be required to have it on for the whole skydive, but I'm pretty sure that's been changed recently.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[freeflir29 0]

Well...I learned something Sunday night. Before you go out and do night jumps practice braked approaches on your canopy in the daylight. See what brake setting gives you sustainable flight. I biffed in really hard because someone was being stupid and ended up forcing me into a part of the landing area that was COMPLETELY dark. I had barely put in a little brakes when my feet and knees IMPACTED the ground. My first thought when I realized where I was going to have to land was.....Military training.....go to half brakes and prepare for a PLF. Finish the flare when your feet hit the ground. Well...my next thought...and probably rightly was....braked approach on Stilletto...Sounds like a REALLY bad idea to me. Well....I was still looking for the ground when my feet and knees impacted. It was painful and taught me a lesson. Practice in the daylight just in case you don't get to the lighted area. By the grace of God I didn't suffer any more injury than bruises and soreness. It probably should and definately could have been much worse.

[Skyrose7 0]

yikes, I am glad this thread is here. I am doing night jumps in about two weeks. Obviously, I have never done any before and am a bit nervous. Everyone keeps on telling me I have enough knowledge to do fine, but, this thread makes me feel a bit more in tune. Thanks.

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The mind is like a parachute--it works better when it is open. JUMP.
MaryRose

[quatorze 1]

Having been sitting in the middle car one night and almost geting smacked by a jumper, we quickly decided to do away with three and just use 2 cars both pointing on angles toward the LZ, so that the jumpers would follow the light away from the vehicles to land into the wind.

I'm not afriad of dying, I'm afraid of never really living- Erin Engle

[Samurai136 0]

Night jumps are easy. Follow the BSR's for night jumps and you'll be fine.

My observations:

1. Be very familiar w/ the DZ, landing area, and outlands during daylight.

2. I prefer no moonlight nights. Light sources screwup your night vision. You will be surprised how much you can see at night once acclimated to the dark.

3. Mount your strobe and test it before you get in the plane. Do not set it up so the strobe blinds you once you turn it on. I mount mine on the back of my left leg and trail that leg behind me once I turn it on under canopy.

4. Landing at night is just like landing during daylight. Use your eyes and read your altimeter. Do a standard downwind, base, final approach.


Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[vidiot 0]

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I mount mine on the back of my left leg

As you hardly get run over from behind when under canopy, I tend to mount it facing forward.

BTW, anyone noticed how everthing seems to be itensified during a night jump? Time seems to pass slower, the wind seems to be much noisier, the wind pressure seems to be much stonger... Maybe because you concentrate more on these sensations as your brain is not flooded by the visuals?

My Logbook

[happythoughts 0]

I do something that I don't see others do. It works for me. I have put one of those little mag-lite flashlights on my cheststrap. People think that it ruins your night vision, but it hasn't bothered me. It does a great job of illuminating your canopy. It's nice to be seen. My mult-colored canopy glows like a floating x-mas tree. It also lets you check your lines/canopy.
Mag-lites come with a little belt-pouch. I run my cheststrap through the belt loop. On the light itself, there is a little hole at the bottom. To keep the light in the pouch, I put the light in the pouch. Then, I put a safety pin through the pouch and through the loop in the bottom of the light. It holds the light in the pouch.
Just something that works for me.

[haleyes 0]

Skyrose7,
Exactly when and where will you be doing your night jumps? I have a friend that needs to get one more night jump for his D license (here in Michigan). Thanks

larry

[steve1 5]

I haven't made a night jump for a very long time. In the old days under rounds it wasn't too dangerous because you could land without even having to flare. I would recommend jumping when there is a full moon with a lot of stars. I remember one time showing up for a night jump out of a twin beech. We all wanted to get our night SCR. There was little moon or stars. I think it was overcast also. You couldn't see much more than ten feet in front of you. It would have been crazy to jump in this situation and luckily someone had since enough to call it off. I've been out on some nights where it is so dark I couldn't even see my feet when walking through heavy timber (when it was overcast and no moon), so I think picking the right night to jump is very important.
Keeping your night vision is important also. If you look at a fairly bright light you will not be able to see well in the dark for several minutes. In the army while doing night jumps, red light was used, which will not ruin your night vision. Even military flash lights have a red lense for this purpose. I'm not a pilot, but I would think their instruments probably are red also.
Recently Rigger Rob talked about going to 3/4 brakes as a last resort for landing. If you aren't sure where the ground is this might be a good plan. But as Clay mentioned, this might not work well on a high performance canopy. So maybe this would be a good thing to discuss here. Steve1

[Deuce 1]

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I've heard of a fatality where someone coming in to land on a night jump saw his shadow approaching, thought it was another canopy, and turned to avoid it only to hit the ground.

I did this at Perris in June (non-fatal). I was about 50 feet up, figured I'd be better hit the stupid bastard than toggle myself in, did a braked turn away, flared on time, biffed into that two foot deep magnetic talcum powder they keep out there to make packing new zero-p easier. Dug myself out of the ground and then figured out what happened.

THE STROBE IS SO THEY CAN FIND YOU WHEN YOU CAN'T GET UP AFTER A BAD LANDING. As well as to let other jumpers know where you are. I gaffer tape mine to the top rear of my helmet and it strobes off my canopy, making me REAL visible in flight, and not wrecking my night vision. On that same Perris jump a jumper broke his back (para for life) and we couldn't find him for quite a while. He was under his dusty parachute. A strobe would have made his recovery faster. We had a really bad spot.

I really enjoy night freefall, but night pattern work is an emergency procedure I'll keep current on, but don't enjoy. Stobe, good flashlight, multiple bright glowsticks, cell phone.

Good luck.

JP

[freeflir29 0]

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I gaffer tape mine to the top rear of my helmet

It certainly doesn't bother me as I jump a camera but......I remember the Air Force had a directive out that said "No Personnel will attach ANY strobe lights or other devices to the helmet for MFF jumps." It is a snag hazard that newbies should be aware of.....

[riddler 0]

I do the same thing. I have a little aluminum maglite that I carry in my inner-jumpsuit pocket. After I open, I whip it out and shine it up on the canopy to see if the canopy's OK. Then I hold it in one hand along with the toggle so that it points forward. It can help light up the ground just as I'm landing.

One thing that bothers me about this - I would feel terrible if I dropped an aluminum flashlight from 3,500 feet

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[174fps 1]

I keep my old protec helmet for night jumps.
attach a mag lite with elastic bands to the top
(those little holes are good for something..)
Attach my visible light to the back of the helmet.
I turn on the mag lite after opening to check canopy.
On my first night jump I landed off and that little circle
of light sure helped let me see the ground.
When I jumped at Eloy last New Year's. Bryan B
said a girl had landed off 2 yrs previous with no flare
and broken femur.
Half brakes are better than no brakes.

Andrew

[riggerrob 558]

Strobe lights, cell phones and whistles all help in locating the wounded.
I have always had good night vision and always wondered why people make such a big fuss over night jumps. It is the people who try to re-invent the wheel who get hurt. They tend to be the idiots who run around shining lights in other people's faces and other stupid stuff.
The next idiot who shines a light in my face during the last half hour before a night jump is going to rudely find himself flat on his back wondering what hit him!
the easiest way to prevent idiotic running around is to collect extra lights (and a roll of duct tape) the day before the jump is scheduled. Also plan a briefing in the middle of the afternoon to get everyone on the same sheet of music. If they don't attend the briefing, they don't jump! It is that simple.
Planning for a night jump should be similar to planning for a demo jump.
i.e. "Bill will open at 2500', fly a left-handed pattern and land first facing to the west. Mary will open at 3,000' and follow Bill. Sue will open at 3500' and follow Mary, etc.".
As long as everyone follows the plan, it will be an easy skydive.

[freeflir29 0]

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As long as everyone follows the plan

That's what almost got me some broken bones last weekend....