Repeated Spirals

[jfields 0]

One of my recently-developed rituals is to do a clear & pull from altitude on my first jump of the day, if the pilot okays it. I'm first on the plane, last out. I get to practice canopy skills and it is a low-pressure, relaxing jump before I start funnelling the day's formations.

On my clear & pulls, I often do spirals, sometimes pretty hard. They are fun. Yesterday, I did lots of spirals. A bunch of them intermittently from about 14000 feet down to about 10000 feet. Then I did one continuous one, burning through about 3000 more feet, ending at 7000. When I finally let my toggle up from about waist level and straightened out, I had a mad head rush and thought, "Man, I feel like shit!" I was kind of woozy and thought, "I could puke to the ground about now." I didn't, but I might have felt better if I had. My chest was kind of tight and I just didn't feel good. I rested my head against my left riser for a bit, then did really mild manuevers until my landing, which was fine.

Other factors on this particular jump:
The temperature was about 90-92, and humid.
We had a go-around after a 3-way took too long in the door.
Then we had 2 more go-arounds after that for aircraft traffic.
I was last to exit the plane.

I was wondering if the prolonged time at altitude in the plane followed by my opening at 14000 had left me a little hypoxic.

Also, what kind of G's might I have pulled in my 3000-foot spiral? I know it is hard to guess, but I am curious. My canopy is a Sabre 190 loaded at about 1.15:1. I had one toggle all the way up, and the other buried below my waist the whole time. Any ideas on airspeed under canopy during the spiral?

After I landed from that jump, I hit the (non-alcoholic) fluids pretty hard and rested in the shade for awhile. I went up for another jump later and was fine.

Thoughts about which aspect(s) of the jump effected me so much? It was kind of spooky.

[mattwhoo 0]

Sounds to me like a case of dizzy sickness Just a few to many spins. I have never done it in the air before but I have done it on the ground spinning my kids around playing. Kinda feels like your going to die for few min. Not sure thats what happened to you. Who knows maybe the lower O2 levels made it more severe.

Matt

Providing ingenious solutions to all of your nonexistent problems! (For a fee)

[freefallin14 0]

I would have to say that hypoxia had a very large role in your feeling dizzy. Being up at 14,000 (I assume AGL which is probably more like 15,000+ MSL depending on where you jump) for 3 go arounds plus the ride up to altitude would put you up there for a pretty good length of time. Also if you smoke or were a little hung over (a fairly good chance since it was the first jump of the day?) that would also increase the effects of hypoxia. Jumping and then opening high would make your heart-rate speed up, leading to more noticed effects, since you are breathing faster but not taking in enough oxygen.

Bret

[jfields 0]

Thanks for the replies, folks.

After I posted this here, I reconsidered and put it in the safety forum as well. We came to similar conclusions there. The combination of Gs and time at altitude probably got to me. Smoking and hangovers were not issues, as I don't smoke and had not had anything to drink the day before.

I learned a lot from the experience though.

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[ltdiver 3]

Don't forget about the inner ear fluids as well. Once they get all screwed up from an abrupt change in gravity force (continuous spiraling), they can react violently with vertigo and resultant nauseousness!

Glad you did this high up! I witnessed a very experienced skydiver, playing this way under canopy until too low. He righted himself in time, but the vertigo (it was determined later) made him unable to judge distance and flare correctly. He's no longer with us.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[jfields 0]

ltdiver,

Thanks for the additional info. I'm sorry to hear about the person that couldn't adjust back and didn't flair.

I wouldn't ever do stuff like that down low. Same with stalls. Doing it between 7,000 and 14,000 is a whole lot different than doing it low. I know that someone died from that at my home DZ years ago. As I get lower, I get more conservative in what I do. I also think I'll be doing standard 3-leg approaches and landings for a long time. I'm nowhere near even thinking about swooping.

[rhino 0]

I do that ALL THE TIME.. 40+ of the 90 I have on my new crossfire2 have been doing exactly that. I love canopy time.. Try spinning in BOTH directions. lol One thing I DIDN'T like about the wffc is I couldn't pull high once , 41 jumps and not one clear and pull.. Oh well.. It was fun!!

[freeflir29 0]

I usually try to be careful about excessive spiraling. I have just read too many accident reports about people spiraling there ass off and then misjudging the landing. Lord knows I like to swoop so I use front riser sashays if I want to lose altitude quickly. Plus...that lets you keep an eye on one piece of airspace instead of just a 360 blur.

[rhino 0]

I like to just add a little front riser input, bury that leg in the harness and start that long, fast steep spiral.. fun fun!!

[AiRpollUtiOn 0]

Not considdering the hypoxia part, try this when spiralling: always keep your eyes focussed on one point, you will be forced to move your head around all the time.
For me this works, it keeps me from becoming dizzy.

"Don't make me come down there" - God.

My site:http://www.skystudio.nl/video.html
Some of my vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/TomSkyStudio

[bobsoutar 0]

Agreed, and immediately throwing a 180 degree turn the other way seems to work well too!

[weid14 0]

immediately? try that on a heavily loaded canopy and see what happens (better do it up high though). you'll get a half a line twist if not more.

[bobsoutar 0]

Sure, but from the profile the guy has 82 jumps and using a Sabre 190 which I assumed wasn't likely to be heavily loaded. Probably should have suggested "as soon as the the canopy has settled down".

[weid14 0]

I have seen individuals under lightly loaded sabres get into line twists doing spirals, granted bury the toggle one way, then bury it immediately the other, settled down is a good option.

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[dterrick 0]

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I have seen individuals under lightly loaded sabres get into line twists doing spirals, granted bury the toggle one way, then bury it immediately the other, settled down is a good option.

Amen to that! Once (and only once thankyouverymuch...) I put my Raven II into 5 full twists doing snap spirals . It's old, it's tired, it's as stable as a 7 cell can be in the air and then... and then...

I was doing my "once a weekend" canopy exercises on a clear sand pull from 9k. The skies were a bit choppy with light turbulence and decent ground winds. After doing riser work I decided to pull alternating 360's with a "Cross-draw" technique - pretty much what "did it" was the 1/4- 1/2 brake application on the inboard side whilst (obviously too quickly) snapping the outer toggle to full drive

With no warning (other than my provoking it) the canopy spun up but "I" maintained a heading. This was now about 4k. I was clear by 2500 (!!) and quite glad that my aggression didn't turn into a chop - as well it could have if I had been lower or if the twists had developped unevenly and sent me into a spin.

Flying aggressively is a leftover from my spors car racing days, but I never had to 'chop' my race car

The Dave

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[bobsoutar 0]

Yep, 7-cells are often more prone to this than 9-cells particularly in turbulence. Well done for trying this stuff up high - this sport is all about having fun safely.