startingout

After reading this post, I couldn't resist not replying. This exactly happened to me (the student) on a recent AFF jump. My instructor was filming the jump and lost her grip on me almost immediately after exiting the aircraft. In fairness, I doubt it had anything to do with the video, and was more of a *&!@ happens kind a thing. I went into a pretty severe flat spin, and everything I tried to do to stop it didn't work (at least, I think I was trying various things. At one point in freefall I started to curl up into a ball, because I heard that works, but I just started to spin faster, so I stopped). I was checking altitude regularly, but I didn't open the parachute because I thought my instructor would come back to me and stabilize me first. Around 4000'-5000' feet she made one last pass to reach me, couldn't grab on, and at this point I realized I was on my own. I remember looking at my altimeter, saw it in the red (want to say ~3000'), thought "s--t, it's now or never" and threw out my pilot chute. From the video, the act of bringing my left hand in front of me and instinctively bringing my legs together during the pilot-chute deployment stopped the spin enough so that the main opened cleanly. I remember looking up at the deploying main just waiting for the line twists to form. I couldn't believe that the main opened cleanly. Anyway, I admit that I am being a big chicken, but I took that as a sign from God to take a break from skydiving for a while (everyone at the drop zone was very encouraging and tried to talk me out of quitting, but I don't want to risk it). I'll probably come back to the sport at some point later in life, but for now I decided to walk away (I also know that I made a mistake in not opening my parachute at 5500'. The rule is 1. PULL 2. PULL STABLE and there's a third one I think). The good news is, because my instructor filmed the jump, I have a DVD of what went from an AFF jump into a solo skydive. So, I can show my whuffo friends (am I a whuffo now? What is a good word for people who *have* skydived, but only a couple times, and with instructors?) my brush with death. It's kinda cool

Yeah, so, my bad I guess . Well, just wanted to ask to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. This is one sport where you can't be too careful. For the record, if any of my instructors from the DZ happen to catch this post, I apologize for causing any offense, it was nothing personal. As everyone can see, I have not named any names, so I was being discreet about the whole situation . And next time, I'll just talk to the people at the DZ directly. I guess being new to the sport I didn't want to come off seeming like a "wuss," or being judgmental out of ignorance.

Dolphins are fine for students. Relay your concerns to the instructors at the DZ, they should take the time to demonstrate the "airworthiness" of the rigs, if they don't talk to the DZO, and inform him why your switching to a different DZ. You never mention how the instructors treat you: Do they take time to explain things thoroughly? - Answer your questions? - Full detailed debrief of your jump? - Treat you as an equal? Follow your gut instinct. It's very important that you are completely confident in your instructors and equipment. Blue Skies And welcome to the place where Angels die in ecstasy.........Freefall. I don't have another DZ to compare to, but everyone at this DZ was friendly and answered all my questions. From what I understand (again, no point of reference) the instructors there are all highly experienced. I had done a tandem there before, so I am on pretty friendly relations with the people there. As for going with my gut instincts, well, from these posts I'm leaning toward simply continuing at this school.

Hi, Okay, thanks for the clarification

I was trained not to make low turns (I forget the exact altitude, I think it's either 300 or 500 ft. I have to check my notes :-)). If you need to make a low turn to avoid a downwind landing, then you make a downwind landing and PLF on touchdown. So obviously this girl screwed up. Part of the reason I didn't consider returning for so long was that, after walking away from the DZ that day, I then ended up travelling for work-related reasons for several weeks. I thought I could bang out the course fairly quickly, but I realized that I need to pace myself and take each jump one at a time. After returning home, I was concerned that too much time had passed, so that I would be better off just starting fresh somewhere else. But since the school is offering to give me the refresher free of charge, then I might simply continue there (though at the very worst I have the very generous backup offer from Skydive the Farm ).

Wow, thanks! Talk about a company that knows how to do business . I still have another week and a half before my next AFF, so I'll think about it. Even if I finish my AFF here, I may come to Skydive the Farm as a regular jumper once I get to Atlanta. We'll see. As for Mirages, all I hear about them on the forums and the gear reviews is that they're top notch rigs, on a level with Vector and Infinity. The only criticism I've heard is that they're more expensive, so for some people it's out of their price range.

Hi, I started an AFF course about a month and a half ago, at a dropzone that I'd prefer not to name (to avoid badmouthing in case I'm the one with the problem). The AFF 1 jump went just fine, and I was cleared for the next level. The following day, the winds were somewhat stronger, so I wasn't allowed to jump at that point in the day. Another girl was, however, so I'm not sure if she was a student, or just off student status. Anyway, the pilot may have not accounted for the winds properly and let the jumpers off at a bad spot. This girl couldn't quite make it back to the landing area, or at least she would have had to make a downwind landing to do so. To avoid this, she made a low turn, crashed, and apparently broke her leg, at the very least. Nobody at the dropzone seemed to care too much. They got an ambulance for her, but nobody from the dropzone went with her. The owner simply said he would talk to her later and ask her why she did that. Anyway, this got me a bit spooked, and so I walked away. Now, about a month later, the fear has subsided, and I want to continue the course. Because it will be more than a month since I jumped, I have to do a refresher ground school, which the school is kindly letting me do free of charge, though I won't have to repeat the AFF 1 jump. What I wanted to ask is, if any of you were in my position, would you continue at this dropzone, or go somewhere else? I should add that this school uses Dolphin for the student container, which I know a lot of people don't like. I'm moving to Atlanta later this year, and Skydive the Farm for example uses the Mirage RTS (I know this DZ has gotten fantastic reviews). Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to get the context down.

Just to add one more point to my last post: Okay, so I accept the criticism of the "cutaway" Cypres. It would create more problems than solve. I do want to stress, however, that I never intended to suggest that such a device should serve as a replacement for pulling one's own handles. It was simply meant as an improvement to the existing Cypres, but with the same basic purpose: To save a jumper's life at the last possible moment, if he/she either won't or can't save themselves.

Yeah, like I said before, on my AFF 1 jump, knowing that the Cypres was there didn't alleviate my fear that much. From 12,000', knowing that it's only supposed to fire at 750' is not that comforting.

Hi, Well, like I said before, I am new to this sport, so I will have to defer to the opinions of the more experienced skydivers here. I didn't know about AAD misfires, for example. Just for the record, though, I do want to emphasize that I *am* prepared to work all of my handles myself :-). Even with the current Cypres, knowing from 12,000' above the ground that it is only supposed to fire at 750' does not mitigate the instinctive fear that much :-). So it didn't affect my practice of the dive flow. Thanks for the input!

Has anyone read the latest fatality report on dz.com? Despite my lack of experience in this sport, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the posters who thought my idea of a combination cutaway and reserve deploy AAD is a bad one. I understand that this concept was previously abandoned by the designer of the Cypres because of technical difficulties. I also understand the points brought up by the various posters regarding potential hazards with such a system. But I don't think that this suggests there is something wrong with the idea itself. Rather, it seems that AAD is still a fairly young technology, and like all other technologies, this one will change and improve with time. Maybe this guy who recently died has only himself to blame for not executing emergency procedures properly. Imagine telling that to his family at the funeral! We are human after all, we *all* make mistakes, but that doesn't mean that you deserve to pay for such mistakes with your life. Maybe an improved AAD, that could cutaway and fire the reserve, and respond not only to altitude and speed but also to G-forces say, would have saved this person's life. If he was really at fault, then the DZO could simply ground him at the DZ, and make him undergo retraining before allowing him to jump again. Sounds like a better alternative to me.

Hi guys, I just want to emphasize that no one needs to apologize to me for their criticisms of my question. I am not taking any of this personally. I realize that I am just starting out in this sport, and still have a lot to learn. As I said before, I was simply asking a question about what I thought could be an improvement to the equipment, and was curious to hear what other people thought about it. If anyone wants to jump in with additional thoughts, I'd be glad to hear 'em

I didn't know that people have had similar ideas in the past. Though I guess I'm not surprised. I also didn't think about the possibility of a misfire. How common are those? Regarding altitude, I think 750' would be way too low for such a Super-Cypress. At the ground school I was taught that my decision altitude for cutting away or not is 2500'. So, I figure the Cypress would have to automatically cut-away and then activate the reserve by 1500' or something like that. Does that make sense? As for a misfire under an HP canopy, well, at the very worst the startled jumper would simply land the reserve instead of the main. Obviously I'm just starting out, so I will defer to the more experienced skydivers on this. It was simply a potentially useful gear modification that crossed my mind when I was taught how the parachute system works.

Hi, I am fairly new to skydiving. I've done three tandems and an AFF 1 jump. During the ground school we learned about the AAD and cutting away, etc. I was shown that the Cypress works by cutting the closing loop of the reserve container. I also noticed that the cutaway cables hold the main to the harness by running through two loops as well, and cutting away amounts to pulling these cables out through these loops. What I wanted to know is whether it would be possible to create a "Super-Cypress" that cuts away first and then activates the reserve? It seems that the same mechanism on which the Cypress is based could also be used for a computer-activated cutaway as well. Do anyone know of any plans by AAD manufacturers to improve their design in this way. Seems like the next logical advance in skydiving safety to me.