skyhpp

28 ft Diameter round - openings at terminal were brutal, to say the least - I used to reach for the ripcord very reluctantly on every jump, knowing what was about to happen........ Two jumps on a day was all I could take - then I needed a few days for the stiffness in my back to go away....

I did my static line course in the S A Army in 1974 (I still remember the dinosaurs watching as we trained.... For a week we practiced everything over and over, including PLF's in every conceivable direction - left, right, forwards, backwards, then from a platform, then from a ladder etc.) It NEVER leaves you, and a good PLF has on at least one occasion saved me from serious injury. (Nothing like arriving in a spectacular cloud of dust on an unmodified round, standing up and saying "that was a good jump!" to the amazed onlookers....

Dave has hit the nail on the head - concentrate on maintaining a stable body position throughout the opening sequence - this will become even more important as your delays increase and you reach higher freefall speeds (i.e. the effects of a bad body position - going unstable, will be greater). Ask your instructors for advice on this matter. Good luck!

It takes +/10 seconds to reach terminal - even if you only get 3 500ft, you can comfortably take a five second delay, and still be at +/- 3000 ft when you deploy - you won't be anywhere near terminal velocity yet, but your vertical speed will be sufficient to ensure a positive opening. Throwing out the pilot chute any sooner may result in a sluggish, slower than normal opening. As mentioned by someone else, the complete silence that you start with on exit, followed by the steady build up of speed as you accelerate makes every balloon jump truly unique - enjoy!!

Many moons ago, in the days when dinosaurs were still roaming and we were all on rounds, I watched a friend cut away a perfectly functioning Para-Commander and land his reserve. When we asked him why he had cut away, he replied that he got really scared when looked up and saw all the HOLES (normal modifications / cut-outs) in the canopy!!!!.....

Aahhhh.....the sweet memories of opening in a track - the delightful S-L-A-M-M-E-R opening, the three broken lines, followed by the (wait for it) auspicious decision NOT to chop, but to rather land in the peas - where it would be soft.... Thanks to my "canopy's" new improved sink rate, I didn't make it to the peas, and landed on a hard gravel road instead - I managed to pull off one of the the best PLF's ever seen, and "walked" away with a massively bruised thigh (we are talking deep purple in colour and the size of a side plate) - it could just as well have been a broken femur or spine. Darwin award stuff.....

Congrats - you assessed the situation, realised what needed to be done and acted decisively. 1300ft can get eaten up very quickly if your canopy starts turning or spinning. Reminds me of a recent jump where I had severe line twists and elected to fight out of them - by the time I got them untwisted, I was at 500 ft ! - just enough time to turn and land. Luckily the canopy flew straight the whole time and the brakes were stowed - in retrospect I should have chopped.

After obtaining advice on the same matter, I cleaned dust off canopies a few times by just wiping the material gently with a cloth soaked in clean water (no detergents or soap), rinsing the cloth regularly. The damp cloth pics up a LOT of dirt / dust. After drying the canopy out, I noticed no difference in the feel of the material, nor any difference in performance on subsequent skydives. I wouldn't do it too often though, as repeated washes might eventually affect the porosity of the material.

Tonto - the sincerity of these posts and the large number of them say a lot about the many lives you touched and the massive contribution you made as a skydiver and as a caring, compassionate human being. Thank you for that - we will all be the poorer for your passing. Condolences to Taya, your children and all who knew you. Ron

Here’s my recent experience for what it’s worth – I broke my left femur in the same place as yours, and the surgeon installed a steel plate on the outside of the bone. I used crutches for five weeks and gradually placed more weight on the leg without being stupid about it. I felt I was making good progress and was looking forward to getting rid of the crutches – at that stage I had not tried running or anything more strenuous than going up and down stairs using crutches, and I had no major pain. One day all hell broke loose when I sat down at the office – excruciating pain – I thought I had snapped a hamstring. Turns out that the 4mm thick steel plate had BROKEN, and that it had been under repeated stress, resulting in “metal fatigue”. End result – another operation to remove the plate, and to install a pin down the centre of the femur (apparently a much stronger solution). I then had to wait a year before the pin was removed – I was quite active in that time, eventually running up to 10km and going to gym – I knew I was strong enough to jump again, but decided against it when I was warned that in the event of another break on the same bone whilst the pin was still in, the results would be catastrophic (inflexible steel next to a bone results in a shattered bone). After the pin was removed I resumed jumping with no ill effects. Regular check-up X-rays showed that some of the steel screws fixed to the pin broke - I felt no pain or discomfort, but it demonstrated just how much force is applied to a large bone such as a femur. My (conservative) choice was to opt for a full recovery and to wait it out before jumping again – frustrating while you are going through it, but a small price to pay compared to the possibly life-long consequences of another severe break. Good luck with your recovery

I had a pin and screws removed from my femur after 13 months - two of the screws had broken, but luckily had not caused any additional problems.(Maybe something similar has happened to you, causing the pain and discomfort that you are experiencing) The operation to remove the steelwork was easy and the recovery quick - I felt a lot better for it. Other people who have had similar injuries advised me to have the steelwork removed as soon as possible after the healing process had completed, and I agree with them from a comfort point of view, as well as removing the risk of catastrophic damage in the event of another break. Given your liking for outdoor activities, I would think that the sooner you have the steelwork removed the better.

Welcome to the school of hard landings and broken femurs.... I was on back at work and getting around on crutches after 3 weeks - bearing weight on the leg resumed gradually, without much pain or discomfort. I was on crutches for a total of +/- three months, but was using them less and less as the leg got stronger. I would recommend physio as early as possible, as without it you lose a lot of muscle flexibility. The forced inactivity causes muscle loss, and you have to build your muscle strength up again. After six months I started running and going to gym. Pretty soon I felt strong enough to jump again, but elected to wait until the pin was removed -I knew I could easily handle a normal jump, but in the event of another break on the same leg, the results would be catastrophic if the pin was still in. So, +/- 13 months later and after the pin was removed I resumed jumping again - getting back into it was easy and there were absolutely no problems with the leg. Waiting those extra few months before jumping was frustrating, but I was reminded of major problems experienced by other jumpers who had resumed jumping too soon after a major injury. Good luck with your recovery - the body heals amazingly well if given enough time - the biggest problem is being patient and waiting it out.....

From the incidents forum - serious injury after a jumper elected to land a canopy with a broken brake line - I think another case of beers is in order.... Briefly, an experienced jumper under a blue and white square canopy around 190 sq ft had a broken brake line at the cascade and elected to land the canopy. Eye witnesses differ as to whether it was a one toggle/one rear riser or double rear flare, and whether or not there was a turn at landing, but the jumper was injured, mainly ankles, it seems.

Congrats on carrying out your emergency procedures successfully - and buy a case of beers for the jumper who shouted at you to chop!! I had the exact experience in the 1980's - followed by a stupid decision that could just as well have resulted in serious injury. I got carried away with RW, broke off and tracked, then during the track noticed my altimeter going through 2000ft I dumped instantly (without de-arching first), and had an opening from hell, resulting in three broken lines. I then did the unthinkable and decided to land the mess - I also had to keep one brake line pulled down just to keep the canopy flying straight. I somehow convinced myself that landing this mess in the peas where it would be soft was preferable to cutting away... The canopy descent rate was very fast and I couldn't make it back to the peas - I ended up thundering in on a hard gravel road. Thanks to the best PLF I ever did, I limped away with "only" a massively bruised thigh - could just as well have been a broken femur or spine! Not my finest moment.....

I bought a (very used) Viking Superlite 7 cell - did a total of 10 jumps on it, featuring ONE stand-up landing, one spiralling malfunction resulting in a cutaway, and a torn centre cell on my last jump with it. Test jumped a Pursuit 230 and fell in love with it immediately, for obvious reasons....

May the force be with you.... Check out the reply below posted a while back following a comment similar to yours Buy the canopy you want. Buy the container you want (perhaps even one that is designed to be a little tight for your first canopy so you can downsize in a year or two)... Then learn how to pack... I had a canopy that was explosive. So much so, I put it in a cardboard box and overnight it "hatched" by pushing off the strapping tape and came out of the box and covered my coffee table. But after a few pack jobs I learned a few techniques. Now I can pack anything and I am not afraid of a brand new canopy... The point... DON'T WORRY... You will be a-ok packing with whatever canopy you choose. And learning on a brand new slippery canopy is perhaps a good thing.

Way back in the days of the dinosaurs (when men were men and women were glad of it....) I broke my arm in a landing incident on my very first jump with a square, having started on rounds. The bad landing was all my fault, thanks to my inexperience at the time. Two months later I was back and really keen to get in the air again

Old story / urban legend: A guy went along with his friend's suggestion of a "nekkid" jump - only his buddies organised a detour and threw him out over town so that he would have to hitchhike back to the DZ "inappropriately dressed" The only place he could find to land was a primary school sports field - problem was that is was break time and +/- 1000 kids were on the field to see him land!! The kids were really excited about the impropmtu demo and as he landed they all ran towards him. He was understandably not keen to be seen in his natural state, and grabbed his chute and started running away from the kids towards an exit point. This only excited the kids even more, and they ran after him! His friends in the plane were breaking themselves laughing as they watched the naked "pied piper" leading the kids off the field and onto a road!! Don't know how the story ended but considering he still had to find his way back to the club naked, I would imagine that there was a severe sense of humour failure on his part!!

At a boogie in the mid 80's I saw that I wasn't going to make the designated landing area, and carefully picked out a spot in a rather tight camping area just next to the main landing field. Pulled off a super stand up landing, and was feeling pretty good about my canopy skills. Turned round to pick up my canopy, but there was nothing there!! Did a full 360 and could still not find any trace of the canopy! Just when I was convinced I was losing it, I looked up to see the canopy neatly draped over a telephone cable that I had not noticed until that very moment!!

Don't go there - when you are jumping at a public venue your primary responsibility is to present our sport in a safe, responsible manner such that spectators are made to feel that "I could do that!" The average member of the public is incapable of appreciating the skill required to carry out a high risk, high performance landing - never mind one into a restricted area like a football stadium. If it does go wrong, the consequences to the sport will be devastating - and that is not worth it. I have just lost a long term relationship with a stadium due to one jumper who (without prior agreement) flew himself and his canopy through the football poles - it was a very high risk, highly skilled manouver carried out to perfection by an experienced demo jumper. The stadium manager was totally unimpressed however, citing the risk to spectators as well as potential claims against the stadium in the event of a mishap - not to mention negative publicity. So at the risk of coming across as an old fart, keep it simple, keep it safe and enjoy the satisfaction when you are asked to do another demo at the same venue - you can add special effects such as flags, streamers, smoke , etc. which will also generate a nice reaction.

I broke only my femur - there was no injury to either my knees, ankles or back. For good measure I slammed my head into the ground as well and was badly concussed. The usual jokes followed about how I should have taken the full impact on my head and therefore wouldn't have been injured at all......

Something has obviously not healed properly or may be out of alignment - and your body is constantly trying to correct the problem, hence the persistent pain. A chiropractor / physio should be able to identify the problems and their intervention in my experience halves the recovery time. Good luck

I broke my femur in February , got mobile quite quickly on crutches, and pushed myself within reason (I thought) - then after 5 weeks a 4mm thick steel plate next to the femur broke due to "metal fatigue" and I had to have the whole operation again!! This time they put a pin down the centre of the bone - a much stronger solution. Four months later the femur itself has healed well, but the muscle rehabilitation around the pelvis area is taking forever - the operation is not kind to the muscles they have to cut through to get to the bone. So, my advice is to take it easy and allow a complete healing process - if you push too hard too soon, you may end up with twice the problem!

Two demo jumps where the loadmasters chose to do a deep spot come to mind: On the first one, I ended up landing in a park in front of an audience of four "well oiled" vagrants chilling out under a tree - they couldn't work out whether I was real or one of their alcohol-induced visions! The second one was really scary - a night jump over a very built up area - our loadmaster spotted deep according to the smoke inside the stadium - only to find out that the upper winds were blowing exactly 180 degrees the other way! It was really weird under canopy, looking at the smoke inside the stadium blowing away from you (i.e. you appear to be upwind), yet having no penetration because of the upper winds blowing against you! Had to land on a road between two rows of buildings - thankfully no wires crossing the road, and very little traffic. Just to make it interesting, I was in fancy dress!! A taxi driver was the first to stop - he gave me a lift back to the stadium at no cost - the only free taxi ride I have ever had! Most of our demos are 2 500 ft and under - learnt the hard way to spot close to the LZ and stay there during the canopy ride.

I had LASIK surgery /- 8 years ago, went to work the next day and jumped within two weeks - no problems at all. I took the normal precautions during the initial healing period, and always made sure my goggles fitted tightly. The benefits were immediate and lasting - perfect vision day or night, near or far - what a joy after wearing prescription glasses for 20 years! Best money I ever spent