Stupid things I have done

[pirana 0]

Around #69 had my first (and only) reserve ride. Got complacent and grabbed the toggles before looking at anything. Had 4 or 5 twists. Kicked out of the twists, which thoroughly tangled the toggles. Could not clear them so cut away at 1600'. Safe outcome, though the alfalfa out that I found grabbed my feet and slammed me forward pretty good

Around #470 (very recent) got a good lesson on how multiple little things can lead to a big disaster. #1, took the dive too low. Plan was to break at 4K, took it to almost 3K. #2, kept jumping goggles way past the lifetime of the elastic, and of course, on the dive I went low on, they slide up and the bottom edge of the lens digs into my eyes; totally blinding me. (When I turned to look over shoulder the wind hit the side of them and the lack of proper tension allowed them to move way too easily). #3, should have dumped blind (being at 2K) rather than adjusting goggles. But I had fixated on sticking to the routine and HAD to see over the shoulder and wave off. Dumped at about 1600, in saddle at 1200 - thanks to snappy opening Sabre. So 3 lessons in one really - altitude awareness; maintain everything, even goggle straps can be deadly; don't fixate on anything, including bottom of the dive procedures.

Jumps 20 thru 480; I used to spiral a lot. Sometimes to get rid of altitude, but most often simply because I like to. I often did it in or very near the landing pattern. So I got well chewed out, deservedly. The worst part is nobody ever explained the dangers of this until very recently.

Amazing that in almost 500 skydives 2 of my 3 moments of high humility have come in the last month.

BTW, great stories. This is at least as good as a learning opportunity as Incidents - without all the barking.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[dragon2 0]

Not something I did, but very funny:
When one of the FS4 teams was climbing out and getting ready to exit during Nationals this year, there suddenly was an extra hand on the floaters bar and an extra head looking out. While the surprised vidiot was trying to figure out what he was seeing, the team jumped, with him leaving too late.

Turns out, a visiting jumper had wedged himself in between the team, trying to look out to see what was going on during a competition
Or maybe he was helping them to spot

Anyway the team was cool about it, although the vidiot was somewhat embarrased, and the "extra" jumper was so sorry about the whole thing that he paid for a rejump for the entire team!


Another nugget:
The airport is going to make our runway longer. We have a van that picks us up from the other side of the runway, there's a road going around the airport. When the runway is lengthened, that road will have to go. So, how will we get from the landing area to the hangar? The "next" road is much further. Maybe we'll be allowed to drive on the airport instead of around it, maybe not.
Suggestion from one of our chief instructors:
"Why not build an overpass over the runway?"



It took him a loooong time to figure out that that might not be a very good idea, although the stunt planes might enjoy it

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[jacketsdb23 45]

Stupid things I've done:

About jump #100 got out of the plane in ~36mph winds. Now, before takeoff the winds were about 25-28mph and on the rise. This is usually my cut-off. I decided to jump anyway and we were getting updates on wind conditions on the way up. (i guess no need to mention that people with 1000's of jump were willingly staying out of the airplane. As we continued to altitude the updates were 30mph & 32mph. Well the aircraft was full and everyone proceeded to exit. Three of us stayed in the plane for a while longer as we were planning to do a cross country sunset jump.

Turns out that we exited the plane in winds of 36mph with a gust going over 40 while we were in the air for ~12 mintues.

All three of us ended up landing without incident right in the middle of the landing field. However, seeing a well respected friend marching into the landing area on final and myself all ready realizing I'd made a mistake getting out of the plane...I knew I was about to get it. I did. lesson learned the easy way.

Smart things ive done:
50 jumps later, I stayed in the plane (only one to do so) when I looked out and saw a storm coming toward the landing area (8,000ft jump run). Rain & lightening not far away. Everyone beat the initial sheer wind with the storm to the landing area, but it was not a race I wanted to lose. Not sure if the plane ride was worth $23....but the opportunity to jump again later that day sure was.

Be safe all.

Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen
God is Good
Beer is Great
Swoopers are crazy.

[travisjones 0]

The stupidest thing I have ever done:

Jump # 105
Did a back layout on a hop-n-pop. Thats not the stupid part. While i was upside down looking at the plane I decided to dump. My pilot chute inflated between my legs and the parachute also deployed between my legs. It was a very uneventful jump, but it could have gone way fucking wrong. It looks really badass on video, but im pretty sure thats the last time I will try anything that stupid for a while. It didnt help that the S&TA was setting right next to the door watching me leave. I got grounded for that one.

[HeatherB 0]

A few stupid things I've done that could have turned out badly:

1. After a 5 or 6 month layoff at around 70 jumps, I did my re-currency jump with a friend who also had about 70 jumps (and was not very current). No official review of mals or anything either. Probably not the best idea.

2. I jumped with a stuffed animal tucked under my chest strap. (I have photos somewhere). If I had needed to cutaway or go for my reserve that animal could easily have gotten in the way. I think I had about 100 jumps at the time. I may have done it twice in a row now that I think about it.

3. I *almost* jumped with uncocked PC b/c I allowed myself to get distracted while packing. (this was a couple months ago). I suddenly thought "I don't remember cocking it" while doing my gear check before putting the rig on. I usually double-triple check it during the packing process; I don't know what I was thinking that time, but I do remember getting up, searching around for my manifest card, giving it to someone and then returning to my pack job.
Lesson: Keep my steps the same, remember where I left off, double-check things, don't let distractions distract me, keep doing those gear checks.

4. And 2 or 3 ill-planned raft/inflatable dives that I probably could have easily gotten knocked unconconsious on. I did get clocked very hard on one way back when by someone who was rather uncurrent. I saw stars. I stopped doing those kind of dives a long time ago.
Lesson: Don't do "crazy" dives with people you don't know well. (my own personal rule: don't do "crazy" dives)

5. Oh, and I had a bit of a low-pull phase a long time ago too. Not low like 800 feet low, but lower than I realized (Hi Oren!). I'd spend too much time coming out of the track, waving around, looking around, etc. Thankfully I remedied all of that before I started my chops-a-lot phase.

This is probably all run-of-the-mill stuff, but if it can help one person that's cool.

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Somewhere around 200ish jumps... after a 5-Way, poor break-off / hesitation on track translating into loss of altitude awareness resulted in throwing out a pilot chute around 1200 feet, got saddled around 700ish feet. Didn't have a Cypres then; I'm sure it would have been a Cypres fire if I had.


Somewhere around 800ish jumps... Took 15 seconds off of a balloon at 3K. Got saddled at something slightly over / 1K... figure I was within a second, no more then two, of a Cypres fire and 2-out.

[brabzzz 0]

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4. And 2 or 3 ill-planned raft/inflatable dives that I probably could have easily gotten knocked unconconsious on. I did get clocked very hard on one way back when by someone who was rather uncurrent. I saw stars. I stopped doing those kind of dives a long time ago.
Lesson: Don't do "crazy" dives with people you don't know well. (my own personal rule: don't do "crazy" dives)

Along a similar topic, a mate did an inflatable dive where he held onto a penguin. A big inflatabe one - probably half his height and four times wider. We'd made a ducktape handle on the bottom (literally) so he could hold it one handed in a sit.

Lessons:

1) If the plan is to sit with it (and it + jumper have unknown combined fallrate and characteristics), make sure everyone on the dive can sit (and really 'move') if need be...a group of sub 100 jump FS peeps are not the ideal load the first time round.

2) Expect the totally f*cking unexpected! The dive was incident free. Except at pull height, which he took a little lower to ensure the FS guys with him were not on a collision course with the inflatable. Upon going flat, he let go of the inflatable....which, instead of rocketing skywards, chose to plant itself squarely in the middle of his burble and was going nowhere. A few twists and turns later, he'd persuaded it to move, but what if he'd been lower or less experienced?

---------------------------------------
Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[AndyMan 7]

I did a pretty dumb thing on friday.

I was flying video for a 4way team training for nationals. For whatever reason, the pilot gave us a terrible spot. He blamed a misconfiguration of the GPS, but the result was that he was flying a perfect jumprun with a 4 mile offset south of the DZ, on a northwest jumprun. So, even if we waited - the spot wouldn't get any better unless the pilot changed course. He never looked out the window, so the jumprun sucked badly.

Our group was first out. When he hit the yellow light I looked out the door, noticed the jumprun wasn't even close, and pointed that out to the team. When the light went green, I didn't really want to jump, and told the group after us that the spot sucked, badly.

The group behind us would have nothing of my complaints, and started harassing us to go so we wouldn't hose everyone else. One of the team members immediately started climbing out, so the rest of us shrugged, climbed out, and went.

The entire load landed off, my group was a good 3 miles from the nearest road. I was the only one who was smart enough to fly towards that road, the rest had a good long walk through a plowed cornfield.

So - I climbed out on a spot that I knew sucked, I succumed to "green-light-itis" even though I knew the entire load would land off.

I've always been the one telling people "Check the spot before you jump!", and well - I did that! I knew exactly what the spot was, and I went anyways. I think I need to start telling people "check the spot before you jump, and don't go if it sucks!". Maybe I'll listen to myself.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[dragon2 0]

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So - I climbed out on a spot that I knew sucked, I succumed to "green-light-itis" even though I knew the entire load would land off.

I did the same thing once, and I'm still kicking myself for it. But you are not responsible for the rest of the load landing off, they should check for themselves.

After my own green-light-itis I was doubly careful when spotting for a scramble FS3 comp with newbies + coach. Got kicked for it later by another experienced jumper because the last 1 or 2 teams landed off after my spot. I still think that we didn't get out too late; we were still short so no "perfect" spot for us just a safe one, and if the other teams take forever in the door (well, newbies...) then their video and/or their coach should ask for a turnaround instead of blaming the first team. And even the newbies could/should take a look...

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Ron 7]

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So - I climbed out on a spot that I knew sucked, I succumed to "green-light-itis" even though I knew the entire load would land off.

I've always been the one telling people "Check the spot before you jump!", and well - I did that! I knew exactly what the spot was, and I went anyways. I think I need to start telling people "check the spot before you jump, and don't go if it sucks!". Maybe I'll listen to myself.

Doesn't it suck when you bite yourself?

Just goes to show that even people that *know* better can be coerced into doing something stupid.

Thanks for sharing it.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[tetra316 0]

Around jump #40 I went up on a hop and pop load with three others who had several hundred jumps each if not more. We ended up being only able to get about 1800 due to low clouds. As we did a go around they were debating whether or not to get out. They decided to go for it, (pacific nw weather sucks in the winter). So watching them go I thought, well if they can do it so can I and I jumped. Of course I waited a few seconds to get stable before pulling like I had been taught for my clear and pulls . Boy did I get an earful once I landed for that one. Lesson learned: even if others with a lot more experience are jumping but seriously debating it before hand there's probably a damned good reason.

[Elisha 1]

Here's a couple from this weekend:

1) skydivexxl told me I was flying over the landing area. I don't remember, but I guess I did. Must've been not too long after opening then. Bad me.

2) Practically tracked over the guy who was rather low on breakoff. He was at least 100 feet lower and it was difficult to asses his direction so I could get between him and the next guy near me. It was a little close for comfort, but otherwise ended up fine. Tracked longer to make sure I was NOT over him. Ended up in the saddle by around 1800. which again, I would prefer higher.

3) I keep not giving myself enough height on final when it is windy (like 15+ mph), just making it across the road (so I don't have to buy beer).

[NWFlyer 2]

Lately I'll add "stupid rigging mistakes" to the list. I will admit I've been one of those jumpers who doesn't know enough about my gear. I'm working to change that.

So, when I demoed a canopy that was for sale in the classifieds, I borrowed a set of risers, and had a rigger friend hook it up for me while I watched. Decided to buy the canopy, so I put it back on my original risers.

I did that myself, but asked a rigger to watch me and make sure I wasn't screwing up. I guess we both got distracted because I managed to wrap one steering line around some of the suspension lines. Wondered for a couple of jumps why there was so much tension on one side. Fortunately, just had a few off-kilter landings, and nothing really nasty like a tension knot.

That was a few weeks ago. Flash forward to this weekend, and I have brand new shorter risers and need to hook the canopy up to the risers.

Fail to put the left steering line through the ring. Still manage to stow the toggle correctly (without noticing my mistake!!!), and thanks to very tight new spandex on the toggle keepers, I don't have anything nasty like a brake fire on opening. It passed my controllability checks and I managed to fly and land it well enough, but it was a definite wake-up call to double and triple check my work, and that getting a second set of eyes is never a bad idea.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[okalb 78]

This is just one of the MANY stupid things I have done over the years.

It was at the WFFC, I had about 300 jumps, enough to know better. I was staying at a hotel down the street. Since the weather that day was aweful, I just went to the DZ to hang out, didn't bring my gear. Of course the weather cleared up and 2 friends wanted to go make a jump. I didn't have gear and a friend said, here take my extra rig another gave me a jumpsuit and altimeter, another a helmet. The rig had a stiletto in it and at the time I had never jumped anything but a Sabre.

So here I am on the plane thinking about how many incident reports I had read that started with unfamiliar dz, borrowed gear, different type of canopy than he was used to. I freaked knowing that this was one of the stupidest things I had done to date in the sport. Unfortunately I let pride get in the way and didn't tell them that I didn't feel comfortable. I made the jump and didn't even break off high or any of the normal things that I should have done in that situation. All ended up just fine, but it was still not one of my better moments. I could very easily have been in the next month's incident reports.

The moral: Don't let anyone talk you into doing something that you don't feel comfortable with and don't let pride keep you from saying no.

Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

[Stevetaylor 0]

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...don't let pride keep you from saying no.

I've managed to "finally" keep that adage in my head. Was a bit windy at the DZ today, but we weren't on a hold for A licenses (yet). I'm really itching to do my last coach jump and be ready for my A license checkout dive.

I was all set to go, and we were just over the 20 minute call, when I took a long hard look at the conditions. Between the wind, the gusts, and that the wind was moving around more than I was comfortable with, I took a third look at the situation. I was going to be doing a tracking dive, and realized that there was a good possibility of getting to an opening spot that my abilities (or lack thereof) would not let me make it back to the DZ, risking an off landing.

All things considered, and that I had nearly landed in trees a few weeks back because of winds and stupidity, I tucked my tail between my legs and drove home without jumping. Still believe that I made the right choice, and didn't want to have another entry for "stupid things I've done", but I'm starting to wonder if I'll "ever" finish my A license...

Steve

The definition of insanity is to keep doing things the same way, but then to expect different results. -Einstein

[NWFlyer 2]

Good call, Steve... and remember, it's not a race. You'll get your A.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[georgerussia 0]

A few weeks ago received an old rig for my friend overseas. He asked me to check it. Put the container on the floor in a living room. Got a phone call. Picked up the phone, talked for a while, and decided to move the container to the room corner while still talking. Having a phone in one hand, started drawing the container on carpet by a leg strap. During this big move something (a nail head, as was confirmed later) caught the reserve ricord, and released reserve pilot chute hit me into face

* Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

[caspar 0]

thats fucking comical. awesome.

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."

[iluvtofly 0]

Thought this one deserved a bump back to the top. As a newbie I've definitely learned alot by reading this. However, even only having 31 jumps, I myself have something to add.


Jump #9 - I was anxious to get off radio (you know, the whole pride thing). My DZO still had me wear one but said that he wouldn't talk to me unless I was putting myself and/or his gear in danger. Well, went to turn into my final leg of my landing pattern. About 10 seconds after doing so I realized that I was going to horribly overshoot the landing area. After hearing me scream several obscenities the DZO got on the radio and directed me past the park cars, the dumpster and his trailer. Unfortunately, the only place I had to land was in a corner between a fence and some trees. Well, in that corner were some metal industrial pipes. Managed to land on those shins first while putting my canopy in a tree. Somehow I got lucky enough not to break any bones.

Jump 15ish - it was a somewhat windy day, nothing to horrible, just with the setup of our landing area it meant that I had to land on the other side of the fence alongside the runway. Once again I horribly misjudged my landing pattern. Ended up making my one and only (so far) low hook turn. Only thing that saved me from breaking any bones was the fact that I landed in some nice soft mud. Also, managed to put my canopy on top of the fence. Got a very long talking to from the DZO once I made the long walk back.

Needless to say, after those two incidents, for the next several jumps people would always ask me object I was going to land on that time. Oh well, all part of the learning process.

[Unstable 8]

Once we did a Mr. Bill that went wrong and a bud of mine and we almost hung ourselves. Rope burn on his neck.
I jumped a round paracommander at FFC some 3 years ago. I've jumped them before, but always in Kansas where I have the entire state as my landing area. I missed the loading tent by about 10 feet and that is ONLY because I was able to almost dive the stupid thing into the wind (it was a later model with the steering slits-If you call that steering) That was luck that I missed the tent. Anywho the Army Guys with the golden knights gave me a high-five for the PLF - Glad I practiced those puppies.

=========Shaun ==========

[sraja 0]

My stupid stunt came on jump #27 - tired of walking across a huge landing area, I decided to land close on my third jump of the trip. I was the last canopy in air since I normally pull high - neverthless, there were a lot of people in the landing area picking up their gear and I had never before landed in a crowded area. In trying to be careful and avoid people, I missed the ground. My flare was too late - my tailbone is bruised and so is my ego. I will never forget Golden rule #2 - Land Safe, not close.

[prana185 0]

I work in a different state than I live, so this time around I thought I'd take my rig along and actually enjoy my weekends for once. So It's jump #51 for me, at a DZ I've never been to before. Thought I was being safe, asked everyone around what the landing conditons are like, where is your aerial map, anemometer, etc. One guy told me that the whole field was flat and very very muddy/wet (I guess it used to be a rice paddy?), but "there's a little spot right over there that's a little bit higher than the rest, and usually stays dry." So of course I go for it, because I don't want to slip and get my new rig (and as-of-yet clean ego) all muddy. I pull high and do a controlability check. The winds are blowing around 16-18, but I've taken that into account in my slow landing pattern. While focusing on trying to land in one perfect spot in a gigantic field, my canopy starts to shake and bounce at about 70 feet. "Ah, it's just a little gust. What I wasn't realizing was that nobody else was attempting to land in this spot because of the obvious: the burble of the hangar. The lower I got, the worse the turbulence got. At about 8 feet the canopy just died and I dropped short of that "perfect" dry spot. Skidding through the mud and getting everything nicely re-colored.

Upon closer inspection, the dry spot was just as muddy.

I got tunnel vision over something stupid, and luckily only paid for it with mud and embarrassment. I won't let that happen again.

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[monte 0]

About 100 Js:
We exited @ 1,500, raining out, and I had just had my brake lines adjusted shorter. Plus the pilot had to turn as ask the spotter, "Are you still here?"

Worse, the spotter slipped when he put his hand on the strut, tumbled for a 5 sec delay, and watched his canopy open that usually snivels for about 1000 ft.



But we all landed safe and wet.

--------------
The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect

[rasmack 0]

Last weekend:

A C-206 load of jumpers going up. We passed through a thin layer of clouds around 6k, but could most of the time see a little through them. Little did we know that shortly before exit a heavy layer of low clouds as well as a lot of wind had moved in below the layer we could see...

I didn't feel too proud of myself spiraling down inside a cloud @ 2k. Especially since we had a student on that load. Everyone made it safely to the ground, though.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[tomleone 0]

On jump 4 I ended up over a parking lot bc I was following instructions over the radio that were meant for another student. I turned back to the landing area, but I didn't have enough altitude to make it to the landing area.

I hit a post and rail fence and got the worst bruise of my life, but I ended up ok.

I made a huge mistake in following instructions that seemed ridiculous to me even at that time. I learned from that experience, that on every skydive you are responsible for your own safety and the safety of those around you. I always take that responsibility very seriously.

Take risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping ~ Author Unknown (but I wish I knew)

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