Scared myself good on a night jump!

[JJohnson 0]

Forgot about this one, happened in June. Thought I'd relate it to ya'll for general purpose. We were doing some night jumps, which I love. Weather was good. Minor clouds, bright full moon. We had a full otter load and were making two passes and staggering groups in each.
I was second to last out on the second pass. I had two other freefliers behind me. I was planning to dump at 3500 feet and had my protrack set at 4500, 3500 and 2000. I had informed the people behind me where I was dumping and also knew that the guy in front of me was dumping at 3500 as well. I did a simple sit fly, enjoying the spectacular view.
*****At this point I'll interject myself. Close to all of my jumps have been on my first rig, a used Racer. It obviously was made for someone a touch taller than I. It sits lower on my back and a bit wider than my VooDoo. For the last 150 or so jumps, my VooDoo has been my primary rig*********
At 4500, I get my first tone, I roll over to my belly, slow myself down and wait for 3500. At 3500 I get my next warning, wave off and reach back to get my hackey.........and mutha fucker......I miss the bastard. Muscle memory keeps bringing my hand to the spot where my Racer would sit. This has happened about 8 times over the last 100 or so jumps since having my VooDoo.
No biggy, I start searching for the hackey, I got time......Well I must reached or stretched for it and I end up rolling over to my back. I remember thinking "oh this sucks". I laid my hand on the evasive little prick while rolling back to my belly as the flatline started screaming in my ear. I'm thinking now," God I hope I don't go through the previous jumper's canopy."
Now I am not a low puller. Never have been. Even in daylight hours I like to be in the saddle at 2500.
I throw the bastard out, feel the snatch force kick in and pray I ain't got so much as line twist. The demo Cobalt 105 opens fine, I land without further drama. On the ground my Protrack says deployment altitude was 1300, which is about what I figure I was in the saddle by according to my wrist mount.
Lesson:
1) Don't waste time waving off on a solo nignt jump, nobody can see it anyway. I should have grabbed the hackey from the sit, rolled over and dumped.

2) Train your dumbass to find the handles...everytime. I was 2 seconds from going to option B. Complacency can kill.

For the next coupla days, everytime I put my rig on, I keep reaching back to train my mind that this rig still fits differently than my Racer....

JJ

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[drenaline 0]

Quote

For the next coupla days, everytime I put my rig on, I keep reaching back to train my mind that this rig still fits differently than my Racer....

Always do the reaching, everytime you pack you get a different hackey placement, better make sure you took it with you

Have friends that placed theyr hackey inside the BOC.

HISPA 21
www.panamafreefall.com

[freeflir29 0]

Check handles before you get out!!! ESPECIALLY ON A NIGHT JUMP!!! Glad you figured it out.

[JJohnson 0]

Had this occured during the daylight, it wouldn't even be worth honorable mention other than I dumped lower than intended. At night, with shit for ground reference and an audible screaming at me.....well it got my attention. It was a sublte reminder not to anything for granted, keep focused and never get complancent.
I am thankful that every stupid mistake I've made while skydiving have never ended with any serious results.

JJ

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[freeflir29 0]

Quote

I am thankful that every stupid mistake I've made while skydiving have never ended with any serious results.

I'm in that boat too. I hope my streak continues for a very long time!!!

[cliffharris 0]

cypress...

[tigra 0]

Just my .2 here....

First, always wave off, even if you think no one can see you. Its just good procedure and a part of your deployment sequence, not to mention muscle memory, etc. Its never a waste of time.

2nd, 2 tries and go for silver is what I've always been taught. Your first reach at 3500' didn't give you THAT much extra time to mess with it. Sure, it would suck to lose a freebag in the dark (F'ing expensive bag, really) but that situation would have been way better than a low pull and possible cypres fire/ 2 out in the dark situation.

Not trying to criticize, but this is a safety and training forum, right?? A lot of newbies lurk here, and I'd hate for anyone to think it was OK to search for a handle through nearly 2000 feet. Let's try and learn from this!

Blue ones!

maura

[PhreeZone 15]

I agree with every bit of this post... expecially the cost of the freebag system

But there are exceptions to....always wave off, Its never a waste of time.

There are exceptions to waving off like video, where your hand are restricted by the cords. Do something to let other know that you are about to deply, but a big hand wave is'nt always fesible to do. If you look down on a videographer at deployment, most just reach and throw so beaware of this too....

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[goose491 0]

I put my left hand up and grab my hackey with the right (as if pulling) about 3 times on the way to altitude. I say about 3 times but really I mean everytime I wake up... Takes a long time to get to 12,500' in a cessna I follow each of these with looking, grabbing cutaway and silver with practice pulls.

I don't have that many jumps but I've borrowed gear and everytime I do, I do the above about 50times before even getting into the aircraft!

Just a thought, could be valuable if you are using backup gear or something like that, It never hurts to check your handles and make sure there nice and snug for the ride down...

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!