sgt_ludy

funny... last week i took some pics with my digicam during freefall and noticed exactly the same thing... either i´m making a big stupid "o" with my mouth, or i stick my tongue out ...

nice... i was thinking about this one... ...really! http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/5096642/Oakley%20Medusa.jpg

Two fellas from rural Minnesota walked into a pet shop in Minneapolis. They head to the bird section and Sven says to Ole, "Dat's dem." The owner comes over and asks if he can help them. "Yeah, we'll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere," says Sven. The owner puts the budgies in a paper bag. Ole and Sven pay for the birds, leave the shop and get into Sven's pick-up and drive to the top of the big cliffs by a lake. At the cliffs, Sven looks down at the 100-foot drop and says: "Dis looks like a grand place." He takes two birds out of the bag, puts them on his shoulders and jumps off the cliff. Ole watches as Sven falls all the way to the bottom, killing himself stone dead. Looking down at the remains of his best pal, Ole shakes his head and says: "Dis budgie jumping is too dangerous for me." BUT WAIT!!!! There's MORE! PART TWO: Moments later, Knut arrives up at the cliffs. He's been to the pet shop too and walks up to the edge of the cliff carrying another paper bag in one hand and a shotgun in the other. "Hey, Ole. Watch dis," Knut says. He takes a parrot from the bag and throws himself over the edge of the cliff. Ole watches as half way down, Knut takes the gun and shoots the parrot. Knut continues to plummet down and down until he hits the bottom and breaks every bone in his body. Ole shakes his head and says, "And I'm never trying dat parrotshooting either." BUT WAIT!!!! There's MORE! PART THREE: Ole is just getting over the shock of losing two friends when Lars appears. He's also been to the pet shop and is carrying a paper bag out of which he pulls a chicken. Lars grasps the chicken by the legs holds it over his head and hurls himself off the cliff and disappears down and down until he hits a rock and breaks his spine. Once more, Ole shakes his head..... "First der was Sven with his budgie jumping.... den Knut parrotshooting.... and now Lars is hengliding!"

hehe... : L 23 BLANÍK - only one skydiver see attachment for pics...

is it already available? i ordered it in september, but my supplier told me, that they´ll start delivering in january ´06...

awesome! want more...

good news (for me): nothing broken, no surgery. so this leaves me just with some bruises and stuff.

... and by wingload nazis. and i know nazis, when i see/read them. i´m from austria, hehe...

...this one too, hehe. http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/765/jgkdohund029mj.jpg

okay, let´s stop wasting our precious time! let´s use it instead to go jumping (you) or watch some great videos from skydivingmovies.com (me)...

yeah, yeah, may the force be with you or whatever... i already said that i appreciated your comments and i answered your questions the best i could, like anyone else´s. your inability to respond without provoking bad feelings is somehow ... disturbing for me. i got hurt badly doing my "rambo"-jumps (which, in fact, are not more "rambo" than yours in the civilian branch... just another discipline. that´s how i see it), i progressed and i have a certain level now. that´s the way í´m going for swooping now. where´s the problem? i pulled too low, i ate dirt. hey, at least now i know what TOO low means. i don´t just have an idea, i KNOW it. if you feel personally attecked by whatever i wrote ( and i think you do, just read your answer...), maybe you should ask yourself why. whatever, have a good time jumping on weekends, paying lots of money. i´ll think of you, as soon as i´ll start "working" again, getting paid for my jumps...no matter how crappy i land

hm, great i may have only 300 jumps. but from these 300 at least 150 were made in very different conditions. oxygern + lots of stuff hanging in front of me + unknown lz (sometimes in the mountains, sometimes in urban areas) + night and no illumination. when i´m not jumping i´m calculating haho routes or at least preparing lz´s for others. and i´m only at the very beginning. so i know very well the difference between textbook and reality. i accept every opinion, but i will check your profile and make myself an opinion when i know what your background is.... 200+ jumps and loading at 2.4... rain_man: don´t suggest i might be doing something i should not when i´m swooping my 160 at 1.5. i know pretty well what i´m doing when i´m in the air... just ask your british sas buddies (really great guys, i like the brits!), what they think about jumping in the alps... try to stay alive.

uh, and by the way, rain main: what´s wrong with your profile? you´re loading 2.45 with 200andsome jumps? or you just too lazy to change your profile?

... ad 1. i do check my altitude before initiating my turn and i did in this case. i didn´t re-check after i noticed the other canopy. and as a big fan of the 7 P´s (Proper Planing and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance) i always have a plan B. ad 2. what do you mean? outs? ad 3. had my hands in my loops and just wanted to start my swoop when i noticed it. ad 4. i noticed that the altitude was lower than what i was used to, but because i used to get a little to high till now, i went for it. all the things you questioned were not new to me and i´ve read brian germaine´s book more than once. but in my opinion there is a difference beteween theoretical discussions and practical knowledge. deeds, not words! it is normal for me in my progression in this sport to get hurt due to mistakes i make because of my lack of experience. it´s just one of many other sports and activities (due to my profession) i make, and like in every other of these activites i now that sooner or later i will get hurt, because this is nature´s way of telling me: you´re not good enough, get better, then try again. this is how i know where i am in my progression and it´s okay for me, as long as i can stand up again after a certain time and continue with my progression. this turn was not suicidal. it certainly was too deep, AND i was an idiot trying it under these circumstances, but i´m convinced that it advanced my progression a lot, much more than a "normal" nice landing would have done. swooping is dangerous, yes. i´ve been hurt doing things that were less dangerous, but also far more dangerous. so what? learn your lessons, and make it better next time. i´m really astonished about the fuss some people make after an accident like this. i appreciate your "food for thoughts", although i just know, that this experience made me a better skydiver and a better swooper.

oh yes... thanks for this re-post! this is so true! thanks.

thats how i went for it. on my first jump that day i was a little too high, so that i had to go for double front riser. still was too high, already had much better 180 landings, so i decided to go lower, and -WHAM-. i wanted to initiate the turn after hcecking the altitude, saw another canopy i hadn´t seen before, waited to see where it would go, and than decided to initiate my turn. may have been 3to 4 secs later than i originally wanted. blue skies, ludy

just called the hospital, and the dr. told me that they would strongly recommend it. right now i´m trying to get at least another opinion, and the name of a good surgeon.

well, that´s exactly how i feel! i think i used the wrong words. i surely wasn´t sitting back and waiting. if i had been, i know could say "it happened". instead i was actively pulling my left front riser knowing what the results could be. it didn´t happen to me, i DID it.

Your profile states you have a Tempo reserve. The 150 Tempo, closest to what you have listed, has a max. Suspended weight of 165 lb. You are right about the Techno reserve, it has a weight range of 60 kg. (132 lb.) to 100 kg. (220 lb.) max suspended weight for the 155 size. That makes it only about 10 pounds over. Sparky yep. made a mistake in my profile. i do have a TECHNO 155.

i think i had something between 20 to 25 jumps on which i really focused on 90° before switching to 180. doesen´t meen, that i just did 180 from then on, but when it felt right i went for it. i really had some good 180 that felt right and went far. no corner, no toggles, just the rear riser to flare out. for me last weekend was just a mess up on various different point, startng with the fact that i just wasn´t focused enough on the task, mainly because of my lack of sleep due to my nightshift the night before. won´t do that again...

It means his reserve is loaded almost 60 lbs. above the max rating, it is a F-111 7 cell and he is having problems with a lighter loaded main. Draw any conclusions you wish. Sparky hm. thats not accurate. the techno reserve has max. exit weight 100kg. my exit weight is/was 105kg. for me personally thats okay. oh, and i already demoed my reserve (MY reserve canopy), and had no problems what so ever... i appreciate your experience and your concerns, but i´m stil gonna jump my rig with this main and this reserve and with the priceless experience i´ve made this weekend.

that somehow just opened my eyes. really, and i just realized, that every jump i ´ve made with this canopy i tried to hook or swoop my landing... time to change some habits...

hm. i don´t think i´m gonna do daring front riser turns on a reserve ride... , or would u?

i also posted this in the swooping-thread. moderator please delete if u feel so. yeah, it finally happened. saturday, second jump. wanted to do a 180° front riser turn for landing. got distracted by another canopy in my peripheral vision. initiated the turn too low / too late. it happened so fast, i clouldn´t even think of giving a quick strong pull on the steering lines. impacted on my shins, felt a pain in my back, made a front flip and landed on my back. i didn´t want to look at my legs, cause i was pretty sure that i would see some bones sticking out somewhere... but apart of some blood and superficial wounds everything was allright. stood up fast to show everyone that i´m allright (which wasn´t true). after i stopped shaking i went to work on my nightshift. pain got worse, went to hospital. crappy doctors, went to another hospital in vienna where i live. they found out i fractured my spine / vertebrae l4. tomorrow they´ll tell me if i should undertake a surgery or not. damn, i think i was really lucky. i´m still walking and the pain is no problem. my lesson learned is, that when i´m swooping i have to be focused at least a 100% on my final approach. i should have waited for all the other canopies to land, and than start my swoop. the impact was harder than anything i´ve ever experienced. next week ´ll find out, if someone has taped it by accident... for me it´s no more jumping till january. but somehow i´m really thankful and happy for this experience and for the lack of much worse injuries... blue skies! sgt_ludy

yeah, it finally happened. saturday, second jump. wanted to do a 180° front riser turn for landing. got distracted by another canopy in my peripheral vision. initiated the turn too low / too late. it happened so fast, i clouldn´t even think of giving a quick strong pull on the steering lines. impacted on my shins, felt a pain in my back, made a front flip and landed on my back. i didn´t want to look at my legs, cause i was pretty sure that i would see some bones sticking out somewhere... but apart of some blood and superficial wounds everything was allright. stood up fast to show everyone that i´m allright (which wasn´t true). after i stopped shaking i went to work on my nightshift. pain got worse, went to hospital. crappy doctors, went to another hospital in vienna where i live. they found out i fractured my spine / vertebrae l4. tomorrow they´ll tell me if i should undertake a surgery or not. damn, i think i was really lucky. i´m still walking and the pain is no problem. my lesson learned is, that when i´m swooping i have to be focused at least a 100% on my final approach. i should have waited for all the other canopies to land, and than start my swoop. the impact was harder than anything i´ve ever experienced. next week ´ll find out, if someone has taped it by accident... for me it´s no more jumping till january. but somehow i´m really thankful and happy for this experience and for the lack of much worse injuries... blue skies! sgt_ludy