Stupid things I have done

[winsor 186]

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Put a ParaFoil into a full stall at about thirty feet from the ground trying to land right next to the hanger. That bought me a steel plate and eleven screws in my ankle. Luckily those things are so damn big they have some drag even when stalled, could have been a lot worse.

I buried the toggles, trying to flare a 7-TU.

Except for breaking a cute little bone in my foot, it worked okay.

Okay, so I forgot that RISERS are the hot tip if you have to yank down on something before landing a round. Toggles put you into a sink....


Blue skies,

Winsor

[darkwing 4]

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This is an AWESOME post! There are things that I have done that I still beat myself up for (2 years later).... in fact one of them has kept me from going back to a favorite DZ out of embarrassment. This post might just help me move beyond that!!!!

Anyone who hasn't embarrassed themselves at a DZ hasn't been jumping enough. You are obviously qualified. If I let embarrassment keep me from a DZ I'd have to find a new DZ about 6 times a year.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[hongkongluna 0]

Absolutely.

I landed in the swoop pond on my aff level 5 jump. After asking my instructor how deep it was on the way out to the boarding area. His response: Its deep, don't land there.

:)

The best/worst part was just the grins & nodding heads as I walked past vultures row by the old Great hall. (This was at the ranch). No one said anything, they just smiled and nodded as i walked past, water dripping from me all over, coming out of the shoes & mud all over me too....

classic moments :)

-Rainier

Sparks Brother #1 // "I vaguely heard someone yell "wait!" but by that point i was out the door." Quote from dz.com somewhere

[Baksteen 84]

I must say, I'm mightily curious now..

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[Squeak 17]

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This is an AWESOME post! There are things that I have done that I still beat myself up for (2 years later).... in fact one of them has kept me from going back to a favorite DZ out of embarrassment. This post might just help me move beyond that!!!!

I'll help ya get beyond it, I'll drag ya there

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[mamajumps 0]

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This is an AWESOME post! There are things that I have done that I still beat myself up for (2 years later).... in fact one of them has kept me from going back to a favorite DZ out of embarrassment. This post might just help me move beyond that!!!!

I'll help ya get beyond it, I'll drag ya there

I guess come the end of the year, I will have to face it and go...something tells me your not going to take no for an answer....

[Jumpah 0]

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This is an AWESOME post! There are things that I have done that I still beat myself up for (2 years later).... in fact one of them has kept me from going back to a favorite DZ out of embarrassment. This post might just help me move beyond that!!!!

I'll help ya get beyond it, I'll drag ya there

I guess come the end of the year, I will have to face it and go...something tells me your not going to take no for an answer....

OH Dear GOD...just tell us...we won't tell...or laugh!

[Andy_Copland 0]

Got your water training done early

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[hongkongluna 0]

My instructor signed me off for the water training....live action exercises count !

-Rainier

Sparks Brother #1 // "I vaguely heard someone yell "wait!" but by that point i was out the door." Quote from dz.com somewhere

[Andy_Copland 0]

I would of loved to see that, congrats

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[bnacrazywoman 0]

Okay, time for me to 'fess up. Let's start by saying don't try this at home, kids. Mr Jim, SGC DZO and chief pilot and a co-pilot were on their way to Cincinnati to support a demo jump down there and offered everyone at the DZ a free fly-away jump from about 9000 feet. There were 10 of us and since I planned on doing some style training I positioned myself to be the last out of the plane. As we were on our way up to jump altitude, I thought to myself that it might get a little cold in the airplane with that big jump door open, sooo, why don't I close it on the way out? So, that's what I attempted to do. After everyone else jumped out, I slid the door about 1/3 of the way down and eased myself under the door. I grabbed the float bar with my right hand making sure that I had one foot directly under the door so if it slid shut, it wouldn't hit hard and damage the door. As luck would have it my hand slipped off the float bar and the door slid down the rest of the way catching my foot and preventing my departure. So there I am surfing the breeze, banging my head on the under side of the Otter and thinking "it's a long way to Cincinnati and this is a stupid way to die!" I tried yanking my foot out, but it was caught pretty tightly. I then realized that the camera step was right next to me, so I grabbed it trying to get a better angle on the door when suddenly my foot slips out from under the door and I fall away free. Woo-hoo! I did a full style set and opened a bit high to make it back to the DZ. I did a nice standup landing in the middle of the pea pit and walked into the packing area like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Turns out Mr Jim saw the whole thing and had the co-pilot take the plane while he ran back and opened the door a few inches releasing me. I didn't get hurt in the process, just ended up with a huge bruise on the back of my right leg. When people asked me how I hurt myself, I just told them that I got my foot caught in a door.

Yeah, kinda dumb. For you SGC types, yes, I am the official winner of the 2007 Findleson Award.

BN

[Lastchance 0]

That would be a wild ride. Would like to see the video if there was one.
Ok, my turn. Doing a 4 point 4 way from 9000 ft. Break off alt. of 4000 ft. I relied on the other jumpers for the break off and never looked at my alti. It took longer than expected on the last point. We break off and I turn and track hard and long. Still didn't look at my alti. Reach for my pud and miss it . Reach again and miss it again. Reach the third time and get it out there. Open with my audible screaming in my ear. !800 ft and I'm not going to make it back to the DZ. We have a shotgun range right next to the airport and thats where I'm going. There is a small field right next to the range so I set up for my landing there. I make my landing listening to the pop, pop, pop of shotguns 200 feet away. Lots of lessons learned on that one.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[AFFI 0]

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Lots of lessons learned on that one.

How did this experience improve your foundation of safe skydiving practices?

Which lessons did you learn?

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[Jwelborn 0]

Since I'm not jumping for another week or so due to a car accident and want to keep my head in the game, let me see what lessons I can get from that. Please tell me the ones I miss. I know I have much to learn and would rather learn from others experience than by hurting myself.

1. You are always responsible for your own safety no matter how many people you are jumping with.

2. ALWAYS be altitude aware. An audible doesn't help if you are concentrating on something else hard enough to tune it out.

3. After 2 unsuccessful attempts at deploying main, pull your reserve.

4. Find out in advance what hazards each jump run will have you flying over, then make a plan to avoid them. (With my very limited experience, this might mean staying on the ground till the wind shifts)

What didn't I see?

The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.
Robert A. Heinlein

[Lastchance 0]

Biggest lesson was not to rely on others for the break off. I have to be aware of my own altitude. 2nd, I didn't need to track so far. I lost more altitude doing that. 3rd, Iwas relying on my audible and did not hear my fiirst 2 warnings. Again, I have to be aware of my altitude. Last after 2 tries trying to find my throw out I was below my decision altitude. I should have gone for my reserve rather than wasting time trying to find my handle. Bottom line is I lost altitude awareness. Altitude is my friend. I normally open high just cause I love to fly my parachute. Not that time. That was my lowest opening ever. I did forget to mention that the winds had picked up considerably from the time we to off to the time we jumped. When I tracked I was tracking with the wind.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[chrismgtis 0]

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Yeah, kinda dumb. For you SGC types, yes, I am the official winner of the 2007 Findleson Award.

BN

LMAO. Sorry. I just always wondered if anyone ever tried that.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[p_mckenna 0]

Perfect, nobody is perfect. Great action from one fellow skydiver

[lippy 771]

When I had a little more then 200 jumps we went up in a 182 looking for a hole in solid clouds from 4K up to 7K. We were at 9000' and the guy spotting looked at us, pointed east and said "the DZ's 2 miles THAT way boys, we're going tracking!" and he bailed. I didn't think twice and chased him out, followed him into the clouds tracking my ass off.

Came out of the clouds on the bottom end and the first thing I see is his parachute coming out in what seemed like the exact location I was heading for.

After tracking balls-out for over 5000' I pitched in half a second. Bruised my ribs up pretty bad. Just because somebody has 5000 jumps doesn't mean you should chase them out of a plane without a second thought

My "Really" stupid thing I've done is best shared over a beer and a showing of the video

I got nuthin

[siddacious 0]

Most recently:
3 point 4-way from ~4.3k . In the saddle by 1200ft. Lesson learned? Don't due 4way from 4k. What scares me is that it didn't scare me as much as:

Tucking in to close ~50ft of vertical distance to another jumper who was flying on his back, and then narrowly avoiding another jumper that I didn't see until the last minute by doing a track into a front loop. Very stupid. Lesson learned: Don't get so excited that you loose track of the people around you.

and more regularly;
Loosing altitude awareness due to relying on my audible. I should be checking my alti regularly, regardless of how many audibles I have. Fortunately I've never pulled low due to this. Lesson learned: I need to reduce my "arousal level" to the point that I can take not of my altitude more regularly.

A dolor netus non dui aliquet, sagittis felis sodales, dolor sociis mauris, vel eu libero cras. Interdum at. Eget habitasse elementum est.

[in2jumping 0]

Doing some back flying and decided that I would start my pull as I was rolling out of it, thought I could stable before letting go of my PC. Deployed head low and to the left and the dbag clipped my right heal sending it spinning, thought for sure that I was going to have to cut away the Stiletto I was flying, but it opened with 5 line twist but flew it self out of them.

pull
pull at altitude
pull STABLE

[FLJB 0]

Dude:

Not to be a dick, but i am pretty sure it is

Pull.
Pull at the correct altitude.
pull while stable.

You may understand this, but what about someone who does not know any better...

[billvon 2,400]

>pull
>pull STABLE
>pull at altitude

If you get stable at 200 feet and pull then, it doesn't matter whether you are stable or not; you will still die. That's why "pull at altitude" comes before "pull stable."

Of course, if you have the altitude, being stable is a good idea.

[in2jumping 0]

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Dude:

Not to be a dick, but i am pretty sure it is

Pull.
Pull at the correct altitude.
pull while stable.

You may understand this, but what about someone who does not know any better...

I was just testing you guys.

[azureriders 0]

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LMAO. Sorry. I just always wondered if anyone ever tried that.

I have closed an otter door on a couple of departure flight jump runs. Like most things it is not that hard with some planing and thought. I can ease it down, no slamming, no snagging, and free to fall if I were to drop it. Just takes a little effort.

[skyhpp 0]

Aahhhh.....the sweet memories of opening in a track - the delightful S-L-A-M-M-E-R opening, the three broken lines, followed by the (wait for it) auspicious decision NOT to chop, but to rather land in the peas - where it would be soft....

Thanks to my "canopy's" new improved sink rate, I didn't make it to the peas, and landed on a hard gravel road instead - I managed to pull off one of the the best PLF's ever seen, and "walked" away with a massively bruised thigh (we are talking deep purple in colour and the size of a side plate) - it could just as well have been a broken femur or spine. Darwin award stuff.....