Ron 7 #1 June 25, 2004 In keeping with on of Bills threads....I thought I would post a few of my really stupid things I have done. Learn from them...Make fun of them....I don't care. Most on here think of me as a saftey nazi...there is a reason for this...I survived my dumb mistakes and have seen others make the same mistake and not live to learn from them. 1. Around jump #34 I climed out to float on a Queen air with my chest strap undone....A guy inside saw it and pulled me back in."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yoink 321 #2 June 25, 2004 good one... as part of this confessional: after a long spot, I was so focused on making the landing area that I didn't realise I was flying down the length of the runway from 1500ft down... Luckily the pilot saw me don't do this - pilots and CCIs get quite angry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ianmdrennan 2 #3 June 25, 2004 Somewhere around jump #200, I had an off field landing. I looked for obstacles and didn't see any. Knowing better I decided to do a big fat 180 hook into the field I was landing in. Didn't see the barb wire fence until I was right on it, good thing I was able to lift my legs and pop over it. HP landings + unknown landing area just isn't a smart thing to do at all. Blues, IanPerformance Designs Factory Team Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ladyskydiver 0 #4 June 25, 2004 Misrouted my chest strap and had it come undone in freefall.Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlmiracle 7 #5 June 25, 2004 Around 250 jumps had a reserve ride cause I didn't check my handles before I left the aiplane and my hacky was shoved all the way in the pocket. Around 350 jumps Had the misrouted chest strap. Luckily another jumper caught it on the plane. (Thank you BA) JudyBe kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DShiznit 0 #6 June 25, 2004 Downwind landing in 20kt winds - thank you, OXYGN. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lifewithoutanet 0 #7 June 25, 2004 Quote1. Around jump #34 I climed out to float on a Queen air with my chest strap undone....A guy inside saw it and pulled me back in. What!?!?! And no one noticed this before!?!? No one should have LET you on the plane, let alone ALLOWED you to climb out before checking that! (It's called sarcasm.) Good post, Ron...goes to show that even you guys w/ 1000s of jumps were once newbies. -C. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CanEHdian 0 #8 June 25, 2004 @100+ jumps, visiting new DZ, long spot, hell bent on making it back, just barely made it by clearing roadside hydro wires and ONLY releasing brakes to flare my landing... anyone care to count all the mistakes? ;-) Cheers, CanEHdianTime's flying, and so am I... (69-way, 108-way and 138/142-way Freefly World Records) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 259 #9 June 25, 2004 Around jump #75 I opened way too close to a friend after a four way. We bumped end cells shortly after each of us had grabbed toggles. We both learned to look around when we were tracking after that. Around jump #100 I pulled at 2500 feet. No big deal, that's about where I usually pulled back then. I was supposed to track away from the camera guy first instead of pulling in front of him though. Around 725 jumps I got a canopy that was just a bit too fast for my skill level. But I knew I'd get it figured out, and I was going to be really careful with it. 60-ish jumps later I was out of the sport for a year because the 58-ish bad landings had helped destroy a couple of discs in my back. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #10 June 25, 2004 Pick the time. 250 jump, hooked towards the clubhouse to swoop someone and got tunnel vision. Never realized there were no outs and forgot about the volleyball pole being there. Hooknswoop had to sew that patch on since I ripped the end cell open as I landed. 350 jumps, downwind landing on a hot air balloon jump onto a gravel drive way. Ended up tumbling through gravel. 550 jumps. Spinning opening with the wingsuit. Other person and I had poor seperation and in the middle of my 360 spins I went right around him. Yeah, in the 50 foot tube that I seemed to be going around he was right in the middle of it. 685 jumps, tried to swoop the gates - Target fixation and realized it at about 160 degrees and 35 feet. Hardest dig I've ever done and since it was'nt an even flare/dig it ended up being a hard ground carve flare.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freakydiver 0 #11 June 25, 2004 Ouch! I had 89 jumps, I was under a Sabre 135. I thought I could fit a 180 hook from abou 70 feet. Needless to say, it didn't work so well. I left a four inch divot where my face hit. I actually walked away with only scratches and a huge appreciation for people who really knew how to swoop a canopy. I slowed my progression down big time after that (-: -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." -- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CanuckInUSA 0 #12 June 25, 2004 I'd have to look at my logbook to figure out what jump this happened on, but somewhere in the 175-250 jump range I came off of a solo head down jump (which was going well) and missed my 4500 break off ProTrack warning. So I misinterpreted the 3000 foot pull warning as my break off warning and found myself hauling ass at 3k. The video shows me doing a 180 and looking at my wrist mount altimeter (it showed 2200), I wave off and pitch. Snivel ... snivel ... snivel and my main canopy opens. But unknown to myself, my Cypres fired as I was deep in the saddle and due to this circumstance (and the fact that the container was considered tight for the reserve) the reserve never came out of the container (the reserve PC was left dangling), and I then executed a 180 front riser carve and landed in the peas and saw this reserve PC flop down in front of me ... thinking ... this isn't right. I easily could have been killed on that jump had my reserve come out of the container and entangled with my main while I was in the middle of my 180 front riser carving turn. Lessons learned ... when I find myself at 2k with nothing over my head, go for my reserve. Some old time belly fliers may be thinking what's wrong with pulling at 2k, but when you are coming off of a head down jump hauling ass in the rarified air of CO, going for one's reserve is a better option. Oh and the 750 foot Cypres altitude we've all been told about is for a "belly to earth" orientation. The Cypres will fire much higher when you are head or foot first towards the planet. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,396 #13 June 25, 2004 Other things - Landed next to a row of trees on a windy day; canopy stalled at 25 feet. Broken foot, torn ACL (in different legs unfortunately.) Spent $250 (total) on my first main and container. In retrospect that was a big mistake; I never got a good landing out of that thing (a Pursuit 215.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FrogNog 1 #14 June 25, 2004 Early on (~100 jumps?) when working on accuracy, I tried too hard to hit the "X" and was not in control when I touched down. The late Winter ground was very soft and I PLFed the heck out of this but I was sore for a week all over. Probably 50 jumps later, on a double-front-riser approach I kept trying to "get down to glide" all the way down to about 10 feet. I gouged the ground right through the target. Luckily all the stains were green and the limp went away in about a week. My failure here was not admitting the approach had problems and going to "safe landing mode" by an appropriate altitude. I may have avoided contact with the ground by yanking my toggles harder, but that wasn't the core screwup here. We were hotloading a 182 on the taxiway once - me (normal jumper) and 3 wingsuits. - when a plane showed up behind us. I got nervous about being in their way and when I got in last, I was in a hurry. One of the other guys pointed out that loading in a hurry is very bad. (Pulled handles or worse.) I confused the pilot with the fuel truck operator once. -=-=-=-=- Pull. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 7 #15 June 25, 2004 Around jump # 40 I was in a 4way...I floated bad....So I quite skydiving on that jump and did freestyle... Man was that stupid."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuckbrown 0 #16 June 25, 2004 Didn't PLF when trying to land a canopy that got damaged in a CRW wrap. OK, that's 2 stupid things. Now I have lots of metal in my ankle and have refined my PLF to a fine art. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freakydiver 0 #17 June 25, 2004 LMAO -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." -- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 7 #18 June 25, 2004 Oh, it gets better.... Around jump # 370 I downsized from a Raven II to a Stiletto 120...I hooked that fucker in on my 3rd jump on it. I had jumped several other canopies first, including a ST97, but I really did go from owning a 220 sq ft 7 cell F-111 to a 1.4 loaded Stiletto 120. And like I said I hooked that fucker right in."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,121 #19 June 25, 2004 I did a lot of DIY pilot chute experimentation with 2 reserve rides as the penalty. Jumped in winds so high that even with the truly excellent PLF, I still hurt my shoulder because that's where I ended up. So I went jumping the next day anyway, even though I couldn't lift my hand to the top of my head . Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WrongWay 0 #20 June 25, 2004 I had off-dz landings for about 20 jumps off student status. Hence, WrongWay. I was a horrible canopy pilot. Wrong Way D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451 The wiser wolf prevails. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeffD 0 #21 June 25, 2004 Jump # 8. 280sqft Nav. winds 5-10 Zhills http://dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=760302; Downwinded it because I was thinking to myself (yeah I can hit the peas) and I didn't realize the Arrow pointed in the landing direction and not the wind direction. At about 150' I realized I was moving along pretty good (ground speed) and so I just stayed calm and kept it level and flared, got about 2 steps and tumbled. I landed maybe 100 feet from the boarding area and about 20 feet from the taxiway (no airplanes though) I got talked to. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OnYourBack 0 #22 June 25, 2004 Took a sunrise 3 way to about 1500 before the camera man dumped and clued us to look at our altimeters. I was in the saddle at about 800. Luckily I had forgotten to turn on the cypress in the student rig I had borrowed. I had a couple hundred jumps and the other 2 and camera guy had a thousand or better each. They figured I would be keeping track, and I thought they would be. Many lessons learned by all that morning. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #23 June 25, 2004 Left a plane with all my wings on my wingsuit unzipped, just to see what would happen. Nasty mal ensued due to some instability and bizarre entanglements between my lines, my suit, and my limbs."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crutch 0 #24 June 25, 2004 QuoteAround jump # 40 I was in a 4way...I floated bad....So I quite skydiving on that jump and did freestyle... Your not the guy I chewed out in front of his girlfriend, are you?blue skies, art Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crutch 0 #25 June 25, 2004 I have got so many that I believe the man upstairs just doesn't want me! The guy downstairs just thinks I am too stupid to take the time and come and get me! If some of ya'll are in Palatka for the Hog Flop, just let Bobby start celebrating my birthday, a few drinks later ya'll will hear some really good ones!blue skies, art Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
