Aneurysm

There's a DZ in Namibia at the coast - Swakopmund. I've jumped there plenty of times, the climate there tends to be really misty. So it happens from time to time that the mist comes in whilst the plane is on run in, so when you reach about 2000ft (yes, under canopy) you get to see the shadow of yourself on the mist, surrounded by a full halo... it's the coolest

I haven't jumped in over two years now, last year two people were killed at our DZ and it has since closed. last night I heard that all my ex jumping buddies moved town, quit their jobs and are all working at another dz. My dilemma (What's to think about actually???!!!) is whether I should give up my cushy job as a restaurant manager and go join evryone at Swakopmund where I'll have to waiter for a while, pak for a while until I get my jumps up again to start camera flying....eenie meenie minie mo....

I enjoy the feeling of a delta so much I wouldn't want to stand, hands on yer arse and go!!!! Gez

I find it scary to think of someone doing a 17way with less than 100 jumps, although admitedly I closed an 18 way on about 110 jumps. On the world record thing, I feel that to get a 300way together you should have the 300 best skydivers in the world, personally I feel that any triple digit jump should have the same laws as bladerunning. 1000 jumps minimum. Blue skies A poor guy who hasn't jumped in over a year... :(

Hi guys, I'm getting quite scared reading this lot, maybe I'm missing something here.....In South Africa you must have 200 jumps before you may jump an elyptical. And I'm not sure on wingloading recomendations here but I weigh 65kg and intend on jumping my 150ft zp for another 130 jumps till I'm around 350jumps then I'll consider an elyptical 135ft. But judging by the way you talk about chick following double digit canopies I take it you guys are bullshitting!!! Blue skies Gerald b007

For the second time in seven months we've lost a static line student, again one that might have been saved if the reserve procedures had been correctly executed. The first student exited a Caravan at 3500ft agl, this exit is on video, the student was unstable on exit largely due to a bad body position and a propwash that many 100 jump+ skydivers would still struggle to deal with. The bad body position resulted in the student going through his lines and causing a line over. For reasons still unknown the student spiralled down to the ground, he was still concsious throughout the jump at for a while after impact. The second death was from a cessna 206 turbo. The aircraft has a turbo because of the high altitude our dropzone is at. Her exit was from a position standing on the wheel holding onto the strut, she went over backwards and through her lines. The lines became wrapped around her leg and the canopy was spiralling viciously after a second or two, she tried to get out of this for a large part of the way down until at approx. 500ft agl she released her reserve into the mess and then attempted to cut away. She died on impact. Obviously more vigourous measures will have to be taken to be sure a student is ready to handle an emergency situation. Our reserve procedure is as follows: Arch Look Handles Left Right Arch All student harnesses are equipped with reserve static lines, no AAD. Both students were on their third jump, personally I remember my first feeling of complacency kicking in at the same time on my fourth jump. I was grounded for a hook turn because I was not thinking about the rule only where I wanted to land. I feel comfortable with our procedures and equipment and feel that we do make sure that every jump is well planned although now we are going to have to be a lot more strict with more drills and so on. But what is worrying me is the fact that the propwash from these planes make it very challenging for a student to exit well every time. When I did static line the thought of going through my lines and spiralling into the ground never crossed my mind. Is there any evidence to suggest that static line jumps are NOT compatible with such fast planes? Is there any correlation with these two accidents and other similar accidents? What other precautions can we as a club take to prevent this happenng again? Here now, sice the second accident the skies are dark and our moods are blue. Please help. [email protected]

For the second time in seven months we've lost a static line student, again one that might have been saved if the reserve procedures had been correctly executed. The first student exited a Caravan at 3500ft agl, this exit is on video, the student was unstable on exit largely due to a bad body position and a propwash that many 100 jump+ skydivers would still struggle to deal with. The bad body position resulted in the student going through his lines and causing a line over. For reasons still unknown the student spiralled down to the ground, he was still concsious throughout the jump at for a while after impact. The second death was from a cessna 206 turbo. The aircraft has a turbo because of the high altitude our dropzone is at. Her exit was from a position standing on the wheel holding onto the strut, she went over backwards and through her lines. The lines became wrapped around her leg and the canopy was spiralling viciously after a second or two, she tried to get out of this for a large part of the way down until at approx. 500ft agl she released her reserve into the mess and then attempted to cut away. She died on impact. Obviously more vigourous measures will have to be taken to be sure a student is ready to handle an emergency situation. Our reserve procedure is as follows: Arch Look Handles Left Right Arch All student harnesses are equipped with reserve static lines, no AAD. Both students were on their third jump, personally I remember my first feeling of complacency kicking in at the same time on my fourth jump. I was grounded for a hook turn because I was not thinking about the rule only where I wanted to land. I feel comfortable with our procedures and equipment and feel that we do make sure that every jump is well planned although now we are going to have to be a lot more strict with more drills and so on. But what is worrying me is the fact that the propwash from these planes make it very challenging for a student to exit well every time. When I did static line the thought of going through my lines and spiralling into the ground never crossed my mind. Is there any evidence to suggest that static line jumps are NOT compatible with such fast planes? Is there any correlation with these two accidents and other similar accidents? What other precautions can we as a club take to prevent this happenng again? Here now, sice the second accident the skies are dark and our moods are blue. Please help. [email protected]