nikaru

Do what makes you happy and follow your dreams...this is the best advice you can give to your kids and being also example is even better.

Dont give up, never! And keep jumping (more tunnel time would also help)! This comes from a person who got stuck on level 5 for 1 year.

Hi, I have experienced similar problem, although not that harsh lost of stability. While tracking upon separation with my instructor, I will not go straight but making visible turn which ultimately positioned me on 90 degree with my instructor. After seeing the video almost a hundred times afterwards I noticed that my rig is more to the right and not centered to by body. During the next jump I made it sure to properly fasten all belts, both legs straps and side belts until the rig fitted like a custom made (of course with the supervision and subsequent check by a instructor). Needless to say, during that jump everything was smooth and funny, the turns were 100% controlled, the tracking was perfect and everything was entirely under my own control. During my AFF I had difficulties to control my turns which now I think was due to the poorly fitting rig on my back. The conclusion I reached for myself is when using students rig, to dedicate more time to try, fasten harness belts on the side, try again the rig until if feels OK. If you feel the rig a bit loosely fit or bigger than usual, this would inevitably result in reduced maneuverability and harder control in free fall.You can find some videos on youtube published from harness manufacturers where they explain how to put your rig. It may sound trivial but there is a bit more story here than just fasten your leg straps even and put the chest strap. Ultimately, ask your instructor. Put the rig with sufficient time before the load call and ask him what you should do to make it fit better to your body. If the harness is resizable and the yoke is not too big or small, you should be able to make if feel almost custom size.

Dont know if you are trying to be funny or mean, but after being said that I wont be able to jump for 8 months, Im not in a mood for the type of stupidity that is coming out of you. Hope you can understand at least that.

Lets clear this up very simply. There is not a magic orthopedic device or pair of shoes that will make up for crappy landing technique. The best action is to learn proper landing technique and learn to do a really good PLF for a plan B. Any device/shoes have minimal benefit and can be of detriment as they can distribute a impact to another location and break/stress that. You can keep asking the same question and the answer will be the same irrespective of how many times you ask. I think that I explained myself perfectly and yet you seems to ignore my point. I’m pretty much aware what caused my injury and would definitely make everything necessary to perfect my landing technique in order to avoid future traumas. HOWEVER, what I was looking for was a solution to deal with the consequences of the injury I currently have, not what I should be doing to avoid broken bones in the future (although I appreciate very much every advice on that matter from more experienced jumpers). I don’t try to make up for my crappy landing by putting some magical shoes or device. This is completely separate thing and has nothing to do with how good or bad my landing is or will be on my next jump.

Thank you very much for your comments. I'm aware that the lack of good landing technique is my main problem and there is no gear that could potentially help me in this regard. I will for sure practice PLF extensively and repeatedly until I get it the necessary muscle memory. However, what I was looking for is some form of orthopedic solution for my knee to reduce the stress and pressure on the knee joint. I will for sure consult my doctor and instructor to see if there is something they could recommend. Thank again.

I completely agree and I would definitely pass through some coaching with my instructor for this particular part of the jump. However, I also look for additional measures until I gain enough confidence.

Hi there, several weeks ago I broke my fibula (just below the knee joint) on landing. Long story short, with a wing load of 0.74 and decent Navigator 240 (you can start laughing) above my head something strange happen the moment I touched the ground (late flare or twisted the leg in some way, I'm still not really sure how I managed to brake a leg with such a huge canopy). The doctor said I wont be able to jump for 6-8 months and I will need rehabilitation during several months. That said, I'm searching the Internet for protective gear that could potentially absorb some part of the force when touching the ground and make the landing softer and more forgiving. I did not found any paragliding or skydiving shoes or other suitable equipment. There is only tunnel specific accessories such as the G-Form, but they seems to be unsuitable for my purpose (except if I land on my knees). Maybe there are some nice BASE gear that could give me a softer first touch with the ground? What I'm looking for is support for both my ankle and my knees (that is both places where the fibula is connected) together with suitable shoes for this kind of activity or similar. Thanks!

If this is indeed a student rig that was in service, the name of the dropzone must be disclosed in order to avoid jumping there (its a shame, complete lack of responsibility and ignorance towards any safety standards).

Every time you master a new technique or move in the tunnel, you should go to re-master it again in the sky. I would usually make 10 jumps after every 30 minutes of tunnel time.

Updated service bulletin is expected today, so more details would be available soon...

I agree you have to be mentally prepared every time to chop and go to the reserve. I don't agree with the split second thing. It's often taken me a few seconds (that I knew I had) to troubleshoot some of my slower malfunctions. But, correct, don't waste a lot of time with a streamer or spinner. Remember, please, too, that as you jump with larger groups of people, avoiding collisions during opening takes precedence over checking canopy immediately. I dont see how you can avoid collisions when you have uncontrollable canopy above your head and you are losing altitude relatively fast or really fast. During malfunction you are dangerous, for you and for the rest of the people around you, because you normally would have very limited or zero control over where you go and how fast you would go there. The only way to reduce the risk for you and for the rest of the jumpers around you is to take control of your flight direction and fall rate as soon as possible. Ofc this is my humble opinion based on how Im instructed to react in these type of situations.

My instructor once told me "You have to recognise a bad canopy in a split of a second. Be mentally prepared to cut away every time you reach your pilot chute for deployment. The moment you wave for deployment, your canopy is number one priority and you have to focus, look, assess and execute your EP if necessary with cold blood."

If you can afford it, SD Empuriabrava is a world class dropzone. It is also a summer resort so you can go with friends and family for a vacation and let them play on the beach, while you play in the air. You are also a couple of hours drive from Barcelona and Girona which are nice to visit for one day trip or a relaxing weekend if the weather conditions are bad for jumping. You also have a wind tunnel at the dropzone so if you have any problem with the AFF you can solve it in the tunnel right away (my AFF took me one year and 13 jumps since I had to travel 800km to visit Empuriabrava and take these 30 minutes of wind tunnel time and gain confidence. If I had a wind tunnel next door I would have probably finished my AFF in a weekend or two). So, considering that an AFF may be complicated for some people, having a wind tunnel at the back yard may be a huge advantage. At the dropzone you would also have very experienced instructors, master riggers, a couple of airplanes, many other students so share the experience, gear store, world-class pro flyers, jumps next to the beach, great weather all year long, great parties and the end of the day, many restaurants to taste the Spanish cuisine since the dropzone is actually within the town and much more. You may or may not have some of these things at your local dropzone. If you go for 2-3 weeks you can actually get your USPA A license so when you came back home you can start jumping without any problem. You would eventually get to know the jumpers at your local dropzone and find your mentor and friends when you come back. I would totally recommend SD Empuriabrava. If you have the time and money, this place is dream for jumping and has to offer things that no other dropzone may offer you. Anothe dropzone I would totally recommend in Spain is Skydive Madrid. There are tons of students both local and foreign. Also great international and local instructors and riggers, wind tunnel 50km aways from the dropzone, nice jumping conditions almost all year, big city with international airport next by. Its worth the money and the travel.

I would not jump on dropzone that cheats its customers...