davidcjansen

I'm the guy who jumped with the wrong canopy and I'd like to reply and talk briefly about what happened. First of all I'd like to admit what a stupid and dumb thing I did. There is no excuse for it and I won't bother making one. I had my head up my ass and it could have cost me my life. I made a terrible mistake that could have gotten me hurt or worse. I'd also like to say that I'm thankful I didn't endanger anybody else around me. I'm very glad to have lived through this incident to jump another day. Now with that aside I would like to discuss what was going through my mind. I don't know why I put on that canopy and didn't notice it was different. It was right next to my rig that I rented and it looked somewhat similar. I'm sure there are all kinds of thing that could have been done to avoid this. But in the end it was up to me to notice. If I had of been paying more attention to what I was putting on my back this wouldn't have happened. I got in a rush to get ready for my next jump and I got complacent. Even though I'm a novice jumper I still got in to much of a hurry and didn't pay close enough attention; which resulted in the above experience. I realized I was wearing the wrong chute after deployment of the canopy. It's a good thing i deployed kind of high (4500 feet) because it gave me some time to deal with this canopy. It scared the living hell out of me by the way. Right now I'm jumping 190's and that's as small as I have gotten so far. I rode this canopy for about a thousand feet; steering, flaring, just sizing it up as best as I could. I made the decision to dump at around three-thousand feet and actually cut away at 2,500. The main canopy was way too much for me and I was pretty sure I was going to get hurt either way. I felt maybe I could increase my odds under the reserve. I have read through all of the replys and boths sides have valid points. Ultimately it was up to me to decide if I could land safely or not. There usually isn't much time between deployment and hard deck and I didn't want to spend too much time second guessing myself. I'm a novice jumper and this sport isn't very forgiving to anybody; newbies or veterans. I made the decision to dump because it felt like the right thing for me to do. If I could go back and relive the whole thing I wouldn't have put on the wrong canopy in the first place. Unfortunately I can't do that so I'll use this as a learning experience. I wouldn't wish this kind of thing on any newbie. If you do find yourself in my shoes my advice to you is to stay cool and keep your head. Do what you feel is right and see it through. Keeping my head has saved my ass twice now. If somebody is watching over me "thank you." One last thing. I would like to extend my apologies to Skydive Deland and my sincerest gratitude. You guys have been very kind to me about this and I look forward to jumping at your dropzone on many more occasions. Regards, David Jansen