freeflydeeva 0 #1 July 8, 2002 I just wanted to mention this because what could have happened. I almost had a canopy collision and/or very bad landing this weekend. Let's just say it scared the **** out of me. First off, I am fairly conservative with my approaches and landings. I do a standard downwind, base and final approach and I am turned in on final usually around 200ft. I also look around for canopies quite a bit. I was on final yesterday when another jumper, coming from the right, cuts right in front of me. He flew so close to me that I ended up flying right through his burble. I was less than 100ft above the ground at the time. My canopy "danced" around quite a bit. And that is putting it mildly. By the time it started flying right again, I had just enough time to flare for landing. I went up to him and asked what was up? He replied that he had gotten a long spot and was trying to make it back to the main landing area. He had been unable to do a left hand pattern and hadn't been able to turn into the wind sooner because of the hanger and trailers. He had been flying towards me from high and behind my right shoulder. The side note is that on the other side of the hanger is the alternate landing area. Because the jumper was so intent on making it back to the main landing area, he flew right over the alternate landing area, several other outs and created a situation that could have turned out a lot worse than it did. Another several feet closer and we could have a collision or if my canopy had decided to take longer to restablize, I could have had a very nasty landing. Please don't be so focused on a specific landing area that you jeopardize yourself and others in the process. Take the out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimbo 0 #2 July 9, 2002 QuoteBecause the jumper was so intent on making it back to the main landing area, he flew right over the alternate landing area, several other outs and created a situation that could have turned out a lot worse than it did. Another several feet closer and we could have a collision or if my canopy had decided to take longer to restablize, I could have had a very nasty landing. When I think I'm going to land off I ask myself a few questions: * Can I make it back and get into the pattern? * Can I make it back and land away from everyone else? * Can I make it back without skimming the treetops? If I can make it back and get into the pattern that's great. If I can make it back and cut the pattern short or modify the pattern but do it at the far end of the landing area away from everyone else I'll consider it. If I'm not certain I can make it back without skimming the treetops I'll land off, every time. There's nothing wrong with landing off if you have the outs, landing off safely is always better than landing on at the expense of your or your fellow jumpers safety. - Jim"Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
polarbear 1 #3 July 9, 2002 I've always found that by around 1000' you should know if you are going to make it back or not, and you have to remember to leave enough altitude to mesh in with traffic and get pointed into the wind. If by 1000' things don't look good, I find an out and use it. We did 2-plane formation loads this past weekend...one of them gave a long spot, 5 out of 8 of us made it back. The other 3 all landed downwind because they didn't leave altitude to get turned into the wind. All 3 of them tumbled, got real dirty, and still had to walk back anyway. A key ingredient to a good landing is finding a good landing area with enough altitude to plan and execute a landing normally. "Holy s*** that was f***in' cold!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ifallout 0 #4 July 9, 2002 i completely agree, there is nothing wrong with landing off. And looking for your outs at 1000 feet, even higher is just good thinking... I am pretty sure that is the cause of many near DZ accidents... and death is just the end result of a bad choice most of the time... think well, think early, live to tell us what you think... bill Bill have fun, love life, be nice to the humans Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #5 July 9, 2002 Hell, landing off can even be fun, think of it as a demo... I hope you had a good long talk with that jumper, you got lucky. If he/she blew you off after talking to them, you might want to talk to the S&TA about it. I know that if someone did that to me and *knew* they were doing it, as it seems he did, I would be very very pissed. If they didn't realize what happened, I would still have a good talk with them, but would be much calmer.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflydeeva 0 #6 July 9, 2002 Ya know, the thing is that, I knew it was close, really close, but I didn't realize just how close. I was just focusing on landing safely. As I walked into the hanger, I had several people comment on it. When I talked to the guy, he really kinda laughed it off as a long spot. Let me tell you, I wasn't a happy jumper. Dee Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
