POWERLINES

[skymama 35]

Quote

BTW. Is the person you know Mad Dog?

I just talked to Mad Dog a couple weeks ago. He is recovering and moves around the dz pretty well with a walker. He is out there a lot teaching the ground school. I heard from someone else that he is hoping to jump again later in the year.
Andrea
"Up high, I feel like I'm alive for the very first time"

[ClayFowler 0]

Have you ever seen anyone that got zapped by power lines? I have at Raeford DZ last year. I was on the scene almost as he hit the ground. The guy was dead (and on fire) when We rolled him over. He came back for us and is fine as far as I know now. It wasnt a pretty sight. I cant think of any good excuse for going into power lines. Hit a tree, building, fly into traffic, whatever it takes but dont fly into power lines. The flat turn suggestion was very good advice. BTW, he only went into power lines because of a main reserve entanglement. OK so there is one good excuse.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Clay is correct about that last Raeford incident; it was ugly. Though not nearly as ugly as the girl that flew straight into the wires and had both lower arms, one lower leg, and a breast blown clean off. This was a beautiful, blonde haired, blue eyed, E5 Army girl with everything to look forward to. This girl had, just on the previous jump, come VERY close to hitting the same wires. She was told in no uncertain terms that one foot closer and she would have fried. The VERY next jump, she caught herself downwind again and tried to make it over the wires. No such luck. She could have landed safely in EVERY other direction, but felt she just HAD to land "in". DON'T HIT POWERLINES!
Conversely, one of my best skydiving buddies at the time hooked it right over the road, wasn't going to make it over the same powerlines, then hooked back left and right into the road. He died later that night of internal injuries. The moral of THAT story is, of course, don't HOOK yourself into the ground to avoid powerlines. Especially when a flat turn would have worked.
As a result of that last incident the powerlines were buried along the stretch of road right next to the landing area. It was LONG overdue, but was completed around eight years ago. The last incident with the guy that was hung upside down in his risers and fired his reserve right into the mess was very unfortunate. Cutting away the main while it was still providing lift did not help matters and he spiraled down into the wires behind the neighborhood across the street. That is the first example I can remember where powerlines might have actually saved someone. He hit them and caught on fire, but they actually slowed his very-fast descent right before impact. That guy ended up recovering with only skin grafts to his neck/chest.
Chuck

[froggie 0]

brandon,
this is definitally a serious situation. one thing that you might not have thought about... what hazards do you fly over when riding up to altitude? From riding near the door so many times i tend to look out the door the entire skydive. I know that theres some major powerlines (the kind that are about 40 feet wide, line after line, runing long distances, connecting lots of area together, in jersey they run thru breaks in the trees more often than not) that we fly over. and to add some more, their surrounded by woods. for the entire ride to alti im constantly trying to figure out where i would land if we had to do an emergency exit before reaching jump run. there is massive amounts of power lines and woods, not to mention reservoirs around my DZ.. its a lot to think about. but im glad their there. if they werent it might not have occured to me to look out for those kinds of hazards. What im getting at is this: being aware of where to land if an emergency occurs might let you see that option you might otherwise miss, it could possibly reduce your chances of having to land in/ near those powerlines. Id take (in this order): into the wind, cross wind, downwind, between objects, water, trees,ontop of something, and if i had to (which i shouldnt because one of the above would have already been an option first) the powerlines. If i forgot something, feel free to add it on. In what order would you guys land?
kel

[Helipilot 0]

I fly helicopters around powerlines for a living and let me add that you dont EVER want to land in them or on the towers that support them.You dont even have to touch two phazes(conductors)or a phaze to ground to be electrocuted you only have to be close,how close depends on the voltage.YOU WILL DIE,or at least wish that you had.i have seen the results of a bad shock and most of the time the electricity will travel through the body and basically boil what ever is in its path,resulting in the lost of the limb.It is extremely nasty,so is im ever faced with the situation i will do anything to avoid it.Just my 2c worth