IsleOfAvalon

I was actually referring to the fact that you think it's beurocracy that people are conscious about the appropriateness of canopy sizes and weather conditions. This to me shows a total lack of understanding of what is important in skydiving (i.e. doing everything you can to reduce the risk & stay alive, therefore keeping it fun) I know that skydiving is meant to be a release from the everyday strains of work etc. However, there are some fundamental things that you have to stop and consider in order to stay in one piece. Given the nature of the sport, we all have responsibility to each other (not just ourselves) so unfortunatley individuals aren't in the position to decide "I'll pay my money and take the chance". Enjoying the freedom of less restricted rules in other countries is fine (I do it too ) but just make sure you have an understanding of why the rules are there in the first place. (no-one wants to see a fellow jumper get hurt)

I don't mean to sound harsh but you've demonstrated in your post that you don't have sufficient knowledge or understanding to actually do this! With the insurance situation, skydiving in the UK is hanging in the balance. Fatalities/accidents that occur because people "pay their money, take their chances and jump" will only make the insurance situation worse.

Hmm to be honest I haven't a clue! It's possible I guess but I don't know enough about the technical aspects of gear or physics-related stuff to know!

The same thing happened to me today...collapsable pilot shoot was caught around my brake lines. It spooked me for a sec but it was completley controllable so all was good. Alas I spent too long staring at the canopy instead of heading back to the DZ and ended up landing off According to an instructor, if the canopy is rocking on opening it can give the hackey momentum & throw it to where it shoudn't be. Not sure if this was a factor here but it's interesting all the same.

Everyday's a school day! Seems the dust-devil theory has hit the nail on the head. I sent a link to this thread to a friend who was on the same lift as me on wednesday...he replied with the following info: "It must have been a dust devil cos I saw one at the kit up area that morning. It went from the bench at the outside of the creeper pad, to where I was stood at the bottom of the ramp to the day room. Was just like a very tiny twister. Didn't know what it was at the time" I've naively read threads about dust-devils in the past and assumed it only happens in humid countries, certainly never thought it could happen in the UK! (never was that big on physics!!) Just goes to show that you should never rule anything out as a possibilty in this sport. Everything that has happened to someone else could just as easily happen to you today, tomorrow or 5 years down the road. Learn as much as you can about as many things as you can & practice them till you can do it in your sleep. One day it might just save your skin. EDITED TO ADD: what are the implications of dust-devils then? Should we be staying on the ground on days where they're about?

This is something I am definately planning to work on as soon as I get back in the sky. I'm gutted that my opportunity to benefit from some of the UK's best canopy coaching was called to such an abrupt end! I'll just have to smile sweetly to my instructors to get feedback on my future landings so I can nip this early flare in the bud asap. This seems to make sense to me...can anyone else confirm that this would have been the case? Believe me, your English is a whole lot better than my German

I too was baffled by that because it was definately a nil to very low wind day. I've looked back through other footage from landings on the same lift & the windsock was pretty much hanging vertically! It may be something to do with an over-sensitive mic or due to the positioning of the mic or something, I don't know!! You're right, it definately wasn't prop wash as the plane was still in the air (going up to 15,000ft whereas I exited at 5,000ft) Thanks dude, the outcome coulda definately been a lot lot worse!

I've read a few threads talking about dust devils in the past but don't really know what they are Does anyone have a simple explanation of what they are & what causes them? Also with an awareness of the fact that they are an existing phenomena is there anything you can feature in your flight plan to avoid being effected by them? Everything seemed to happen very quickly; I kinda went into panic mode & wasn't able to maintain my focus on "flying the canopy all the way to the ground" which could have been lethal. I'm dissapointed in myself that I didn't think fast enough to PLF. I'm wondering if it would be possible to practice adopting the PLF position at altitude? It's just I've remembered to PLF in the past on fast landings but it just seemed that because this landing was so out-of-the-ordinary it was not the 1st thing that came to mind (and I'd like to remedy that) Could I simulate this situation (at altitude) by turning canopy to the right using toggles then practice the PLF position whilst simultaneously counteracting the canopy dive using opposite toggle input (and not reaching out with my right hand!!!) Would this be a useful exercise or is it complete madness??? (obviously I'd check for traffic & ensure I had enough altitude & all the other necessary checks before carrying it out!!) Ironically the jump before this was spent learning how to avoid the tendency to "reach out" to break your fall by practicing at altitude (as part of the canopy control course I was doing). I will definately be putting in a lot more practice of this skill when I'm brave enough to get back in the air (and when it no longer hurts to even breathe dammit!!) Thanks for all your input so far everyone, it's all been really helpful. I really didn't wanna walk away from this without seeing it as a valuable learning experience.

As requested here are a few pics...if anyone's offended by the brusing you can blame Kath, lol!!!

Apologies if this is in the wrong place, I’m new to posting & won’t be offended if it gets moved! Had a bit of a nasty experience on Wednesday, still in a lot of pain & dosed up on codeine so if I seem a little incoherent please forgive me! Just thought I would share my experience so I can hopefully learn from it & will know what to do if the same thing happens again in the future. I was coming into land after a hop & pop (from 5,000ft), on final approach, flying over the grass landing area. I initiated my flare (slightly early I reckon) so decided to hold it there for a second or two. Looking at the video both toggle inputs were pretty much even but suddenly my canopy dived right & I hit the ground hard, pretty much at the same time as the canopy. I was doing a 2 day canopy control course so my landings were being filmed & debriefed. Both the course instructor (who has 11,500+ jumps) and the CCI watched the video & reportedly could not put the incident down to pilot error. Apparently they have not seen anything like it before & wondered if it could have been due to turbulence gusting over the concrete road which runs parallel to the landing area. (I had not crossed this at any point below 1000ft though). It was a nil-wind landing & it was unusually hot for UK weather at this time of year! (Could this be a factor?) I felt slightly relieved that it seemingly didn’t reflect massive error on my part but I am keen to learn as much as I can from the incident, i.e. 1) is there anything I can do to prevent the same thing happening again in the future? 2) is there anything I could have done to prevent the outcome being so painful? Factors I have considered so far: - I didn't PLF, should I have done? (would this be possible given that I landed shoulder 1st, legs last?) - Should I have tried to complete more of a flare? - It looks like I leant towards the right & looked right once the dive had initiated - did this worsen the problem? Here is a link to the video (DivX codec required), let me know if it doesn’t work & I will talk nicely to my boyfriend & get him to upload it again! http://freeside.dcs.hull.ac.uk/~jono/Em-Nasty%20Landing.avi Any opinions or advice will be gratefully received! (feel free to ask questions if I’ve missed anything!) JUMP NUMBER: 111 CANOPY: Spectre 190 WINGLOADING: 0.96 WINDS: nil winds

It took me ages to get my A-license doing RAPS in the UK (55 jumps to be precise!). Many people get stuck at one stage in their training....I got stuck on seemingly all of them! I guess many people in my situation would have decided "skydiving isn't for me" and given up long ago. But I'm totally addicted to the sport & don't think I could ever quit even if I wanted to! If you feel as passionate as me, why let a few obstacles get in your way? (as long as you're not a danger to yourself or others!) I think to begin with the instructors were a bit sceptical about me but eventually came to admire my determination & worked their arses off to help me progress! (either that or i just provided good entertainment for them, doh!) The day I REALLY started enjoying skydiving was the day I stopped comparing myself to other people & remembered why I do it in the first place...cos it rocks! It all depends what you consider to be a "waste of money". In my book jumping out of a plane is never a waste of money, even if you fail a level you're sure to have learnt SOMETHING and hopefully had some fun in the process! Find yourself an instructor you really trust. Share your insecurities about your rate of progression and be prepared to give it time...most of all, relax and let yourself have fun! (And if you do ultimately decide that skydiving isn't for you, keep hold of all those wicked memories that'll stay with you forever!)

I've only been to this DZ twice. The first time I was on student status and turned up to do a static-line jump. They were very friendly and welcoming, despite the fact that I usually jumped elsewhere and had swung by for a one-off visit. It is a small DZ with a cosy vibe...I think you'd be made very welcome if you turned up to jump. All I can say is phone them the day before you turn up. I drove 45 miles to this DZ to do some fun-jumping a few weeks ago & was told they'd lent the plane to another dropzone at the last minute (so I couldn't jump). This happened despite the fact I had emailed them earlier in the week to arrange a good day to turn up (and they had reccommended this date to me as they had work booked in) :-( I would definately consider going back to this DZ in the future because it's in a convenient location when I'm visiting family & my previous experience there was so positive. However, I learnt the lesson the hard way about how different the operation of small DZs is to that of larger DZs...I have been spoilt!