ouch

[fool 0]

Ok, this happened a while ago, and I'm just now getting to posting it for a few reasons, mostly due to negligence, but also because I wanted to make sure I actually knew what was going on at the time.


Abbout a month and a half, two months ago I went up for a jump and was super excited as it was my first 4 way, and also the windsock was touching the ground. I had been getting some nice swoops out of my spectre 135 (about 1:1 wingload) and was looking very much forward to winding it up, and having some fun.

The first part went alright...well, it was fun anyways, I think we got one point. I opened up, and did my control check etc, and started flying my canopy. I had a whole bunch of fun under it as usual, and was lining up beautifully on the bowl. I did about a 90 degree right riser carve, and noticed that I was going much faster than I was used to this low to the ground. I let up on the riser, and realizing I still had some time, decided to grab both risers and pull em down to keep the speed up. I got to the point where I normally open my hands and let the risers up all at once, but because I had done it a few times previously, I was a little more calm about it, and gradually let them up, rather than just letting go like I normally did. I think it was about half a second from the time I realized that I had to flare to the time I met dirt. My left ankle and left knee screamed to me that I was an idiot, I realized I was airborne again, and thought "I hope I have the ability to stand up when I land again." I did land again (of course) and luckily for me it was in the peas as I landed square on my head (according to my girlfriend who was sitting on the other side of the bowl. Anyhow, I laid there for a second, in pain, and actually laughed (don't ask why, I just did.) I mustered the guts to try and stand, not really expecting it to be possible, and although it still hurt like a bastard, everything seemed functional. These are my thoughts about the whole thing, and I will now say that I may be wrong, but I don't think so. I have spoken to some of the more experienced jumpers at the dz, and basically come to a few conclusions.

1) something that you hear all the time, but maybe don't fully realize until something happens...RESPECT YOUR CANOPY. it only takes one mistake, and it could bite you. I got away lucky with a free lesson. (sore foot about two months, but not sore enough to get it checked out.)

2) gradually letting up front risers IS NOT the same as just opening your hands and letting them go up on their own. Just letting go will cause them to return to their natural state very quickly and will basically help level you out faster, where as gradually letting them up takes a longer time to acheive the same attitude, and may require some toggle input to level you out.

3) I was once told that if you injure yourself in this sport due to something stupid you have done (hooking in, front riser flaring, etc...) you don't have the right to piss and moan about it. Actually I wasn't told like that, but that's the basic idea of it, and I personally sort of agree with it. BUT, don't make the same mistake I did, and play it off as no big thing. You have the responsibility to yourself to at least show the other people around that you have learned from your mistakes. (that way they don't think you are being retarded AND careless.)

Well, I am sure there is more that I could put in this, but I can't really think of it for now, just thought I'd share my experience with you all, and see what it brings up. Take care and have fun.

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[fool 0]

Oh yeah! If you're going to do something that could possibly make you look foolish, or hurt yourself, try not to do it right in front of your girlfriend...they tend to get worried.

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I would say that was a lesson learned. I don't know anyone who hasn't balled it up trying to swoop, so don't feel bad. In order to prevent the same thing in the future, simply try the same maneuver at altitude and check your alti for how much height you lose.

Chuck

[RTB 0]

Glad you didn't break anything. My reflection is that, even if it has nothing to do with this incident, close to the ground I would prefer smooth input. That is I'd rather let the risers up gradually but start earlier.

René

[fool 0]

yeah, from what I gather that is actually what you want to do under this canopy, but my advise is realize this before you land. Some of us are just a day late and a buck short as they say.

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[flyhi 24]

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I mustered the guts to try and stand, not really expecting it to be possible, and although it still hurt like a bastard, everything seemed functional.

Saw a video from a previous year's Bridge Day where some guy biffed it in pretty bad. In an effort to tough it out, he bounced up, took a step forward, and crumpled to the ground. They replayed his landing slowly. It appeared that on landing, he broke one of the bones in his leg (tib or fib, not sure which) and probably cracked the other one. As he put his weight on it, the other one broke and, as he fell, his leg bent halfway betwen his knee and his ankle. Really ugly. The lesson may be, if you are down, stay down until you have been looked at by someone in the know.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[ernokaikkonen 0]

> The lesson may be, if you are down, stay down until you have been
>looked at by someone in the know.

Good point.

Not necessarily even that, but don't 'bounce' back up (pun intended). I've landed pretty hard a couple of times(nothing broken though), and I've taken my time to catch my breath before getting up. When I crash land, I want to be sure I'm ok before I signal I'm ok by getting up.

Erno

[fool 0]

oh beleive me, I didn't exactly spring to my feet. hehehe, it was more of a 95 year old man getting out of a chair he's been sitting in for the last three hours and his arthritis is bugging him kind of speed.

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[dterrick 0]

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oh beleive me, I didn't exactly spring to my feet. hehehe, it was more of a 95 year old man getting out of a chair he's been sitting in for the last three hours and his arthritis is bugging him kind of speed.

...Oh, c'mon James, you KNOW you were just 'Chill'n' . And that speed, well, I've seen you move slower before mostly before Noon on Sunday.

The Dave

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

[billvon 2,435]

>The lesson may be, if you are down, stay down until you have been
> looked at by someone in the know.


Yep. I stalled my canopy (PD190) about eight years ago on final; fell 20 feet and tried to stand it up. When I woke up I was lying on the ground. I stood up and walked into the trailer with a broken foot and a torn ACL. I am convinced I did even more damage walking to the trailer, but I couldn't let anyone see I was hurt. As I ended up in a wheelchair for a month that probably wasn't the best idea.

[fool 0]

doesn't sunday start at noon?

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[crazy 0]

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2) gradually letting up front risers IS NOT the same as just opening your hands and letting them go up on their own. Just letting go will cause them to return to their natural state very quickly and will basically help level you out faster, where as gradually letting them up takes a longer time to acheive the same attitude, and may require some toggle input to level you out.

This depends very much on the canopy, the wingloading and the initial speed and attitude. It's true that all things being equal, if you release the front risers slowly, you induce less pendulum effect and the canopy takes more time to flatten out (including the time to let the risers go). However, it seems that you did a different manoeuver, so the dive and the speed were probably different from what you usually do.

Maybe, to prevent this type of incident, it might be a good idea to abort the manoeuver. When there are unexpected circumstances, abort the swoop. If you did, rather than pulling both risers again, you would have saved lots of worries to your girlfriend. Of course, this means that you have to plan the manoeuver so that it's safe to abort it at any time.

The second important thing is to learn to recover nicely from an aborted (or planned too high) swoop. If you release your risers too early, your canopy flattens out and slows down 10 feet above the ground. It can make the landing tricky. To avoid this, keep your hands on the front risers and push a little bit (around 1-2 inch). It requires much less strength that pulling the risers down. The canopy will not completely flaten out and will keep enough speed for a normal flare. If you can do it properly, you won't be worried about starting your turn too high or releasing your risers too early.

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3) I was once told that if you injure yourself in this sport due to something stupid you have done (hooking in, front riser flaring, etc...) you don't have the right to piss and moan about it.

If you had proper instruction, you would know that the the point is not about moaning but about paying beer for "gross safety violations not resulting in serious injury or death". Just a kind reminder.

Come

[fool 0]

[

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However, it seems that you did a different manoeuver, so the dive and the speed were probably different from what you usually do.

true, but the only thing different was that the carve was a little lower than I had tried, but I still let up too high...way to high. I had lots of time left to get on the front risers, so I did. the only thing I mis judged was that point where I should've let go and flared.

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[fool 0]

I also remembered one other thing....

Given the fact that a canopies speed is relative to it's decent rate, or vise versa, if you increase the speed, you also increase the descent rate as well. i.e. if your canopy flies at a rate of 4ft forward to 1ft down, and you double the forward speed, you will also double the downward speed, and therefore need to react twice as fast.,

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".

[Samurai136 0]

In concept you are right but but speeds aren't doubled.

If your glide path is 4'/sec forward to 1'/sec down the vector of forward speed (forward speed of the canopy) is 4.12'/sec at an angle of 14 degrees from the horizontal. (the hypotenuse of the right triangle) A fairly flat glide.

As you get on the front risers you change the angle of glide (angle of attack) and increase the forward speed of the canopy. So if you double the forward speed of the canopy (8.24'/sec) by changing its angle of glide to 65 degrees from the horizontal (using double front risers) your downward speed would be 7.46'/sec.

This example uses only basic trig to illustrate that if you "double the forward speed" you actually More Than double your downward speed. The actual force diagram (physics) are beyond me right now as I just worked 14 hrs and am way to burned out to key it all in...


Glad to hear you're alright, tho.

Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[fool 0]

When I posted the bit about doubling your forward speed I meant with no front risering...I just mean that if you use a series of turns to wind up your canopy, and for the brief time after you come out of it with extra speed. I used doubling your speed as an easy measurement. That is to say that for the brief time after you turn and are back at full glide with the extra speed, not only is your forward speed increased, but also your descent rate, although when compared as a ratio, i.e. 4/1, they would be the same i.e. 8/2.

S.E.X. party #1

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "f*#k, what a ride".