matthias

I agree with the sign. A woman isn't a decoration.....a facial is.

Cut-away.

I would again like to thank everyone for their input on this post. It definitely helps me understand the situation I was in a little bit more clearly, and will help in the occurrence that it happens again.

While it is interesting to note, as I only wanted to focus on the flat spin, I did infact have a spinning mal/reserve ride on this same jump. In short--a brake had either came unstowed during my opening...which was astable one, or had failed to stow the toggle properly during packing.

My first thought was to cutaway the wings and check the toggles, although...since both toggles looked perfectly stowed, I focused my efforts on cutting away before I got below my hard-deck.

Heh...I know I owe beer for this jump. A flat-spin and a spinning mal. Not too mention being very dizzy under the reserve. ... And luckily got all of my gear back lol.

I waited to mention this part of it as it was the flat-spin I wanted the attention focused on. Canopy/cut-away wise I feel I made the best decisions based on what information I had at the time with the low altitude. -- Stay focused, stay calm, stay safe.

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Hi Matt,

That jump was almost your 300th jump, right?

Purple Mike

Almost

Lou I greatly appreciate you taking the time to write your response, and wish to thank everyone else for their input. The gap in my memory of the jump comes during the the Step 2 of the 3-step process. I do not know if I sub-consciously made an effort to regain stability after the spin stopped or if I tumbled into a belly-to-earth position and succeeding in flying out of it. I was still seeing stars after I landed...which may explain why I couldn't recognize the unstowed toggle before cutting away lol.

I love wingsuit flying and it is my wish to continue with it. I've always dreamt of flying and this is the only sub-discipline that gives me that sensation. :)

Before I begin, I apologize for the length of this post. It's in my nature to over-explain things to not be misunderstood. Since the events on this jump nearly cost me my life, I am doing a personal fact-finding analysis that will not only better myself, but save someone else's life as well.

The wingsuit in question is a Phantom2 in which I have 24 jumps. Prior was a borrowed Prodigy with 3 jumps.


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Hi. I mostly lurk on these forums and don't post often, but wanted to share the details of my past jump. This is not going to be easy for me to write because the content I will be discussing openly and honestly may reflect judgment upon me. I fear that I will be seen as reckless or otherwise unsafe. Its not hard to imagine how someone with hundreds or thousands of wingsuit jumps would feel about an inexperienced newbie potentially tarnishing their sport. I feel the same way about newly A-licensed jumpers who think the BSRs no longer apply to them. -- I could easily hold my piece all together and avoid scrutiny of any kind. Or I can do what I am doing now...and explore an near-incident that could have taken my life, that may benefit more people than just myself.

I will break this post up into sections to try to make it easier to read, and try to stick to the relevant facts as I am aware of them. Before I post the details of my jump...I will point out 2 facts that I didn't take into consideration before this jump..as hard as they may be to admit:

1. I was uncurrent by 2 months with only 27 wingsuit flights.
2. I do not have 200 jumps within the past 18 months.

I make no excuses for these 2, even though my previous 27 wingsuit flights went without incident. Onto the jump:


It was safety day at skydive houston (of all days) and I had gotten my reserve repack. A minor surgery on my wrist had kept me from jumping until I was 100% sure I had the strength to flare and cutaway if I needed to. Due to the previous flights, I was confident in my ability to exit, fly, and pull stable.

I was invited by other wingsuiters to follow them last out the door. Due to my low jump numbers I made it clear I was not going to approach the group but focus on flying smooth and stable while keeping everyone in view. No problem.

Fast forward to the exit. I feel this is what mainly led to the events that happened next. Instead of making the basic, into the wind exit I was taught and had used the other jumps, I simply followed everyone out the door...diving out. Immediately I tumbled and ended up on my back, and glance saw everyone else in the flock tracking toward the horizon. I had flown on my back many times, and had no trouble flipping back over to my stomach and regaining stability. This time, my roll out of bed techniques were not working.

I do not recall very clearly how I entered the flat spin, except that I felt myself no longer tracking on my back to spinning in place as if a tornado caught hold of me, it was that violent and very scary. What saved me is the fact I learned to recognize a flat spin and how to correct it. If I had not done this before putting on my first wingsuit, I would have died from it. - Immediately I attempted to ball up, and as I read..this is not an easy task. The centrifugal force was keeping my body pinned down and my legs didn't quite have the strength to collapse my leg wing. I did not give up. I fought off all thoughts about passing out, dying, life flashing before my eyes, vision turning to grey, all of it. I did feel myself quickly losing consciousness and in a last ditch effort leaned forward and clamped my arms/wings around the backs of my kneecaps and forced them into my chest with my head tucked in. -- This is where my memory fails me. -- I open my eyes as the sound of the 6K' dytter alarm and saw I was positioned belly to earth. I instantly went to full wings and felt myself moving forward vs downward. Calming my nerves I made sure I remained stable, checked my airspace, waved off and went to deploy as I knew how. .... As my luck would happened, my main had a unstowed toggle camouflaged like a stowed one, so I cutaway not knowing for sure what was going on... and then landing safe. Quite a jump no doubt.


Everything listed above are the facts as I distinctly remember them. There are unclear grey areas that occurred around the time I believe that I came close to blacking out from the spin...but I tried to give as much detail as possible so that everything can be analyzed to help other jumpers should they experience this.

My two uncertainties:
1. What caused the flat spin?
2. How did I get belly-to-earth after my final attempt to arrest the spin?

Answers to these two would no doubt help learn from what happened. Despite the 2 honest mistakes I listed at the top, I do wish to say the following in my defense. I understand that I am drawing scrutiny from some of the best wingsuit pilots in the world who post on this forum and expect to hear alot of harsh opinions...but I am posting this on my own accord. Should I have been killed, much of this would have been left to speculation as the other wingsuit pilots left my airspace and couldn't witness.

What I believe saved my life despite the top 2 mistakes, what my learning as much about wingsuit flying as I could before I started. Jenn Hinson, aka Moonglo, was someone I learned alot from. She's been a tough critic of mine as well as a mentor, and urged me to read every last wingsuit incident, particularly regarding flat-spins. To keep this short, This is what I did for two years before I started flying.

And of course...this is where the numbers come in. I had 270 jumps more or less when I flew a prodigy. It's safe to say that if I had half the number of jumps I do now, and half the experience, I wouldn't be here. All I knew at the point before the above jump, was that all 27 previous jumps went very well and I had alot of fun. .. I do realize that if I did have 200 jumps within 18 months or 500 jumps total, that I could have learned wingsuit flying much more rapidly....but I am also aware that incidents have to everyone regardless of their jump number.


The only solid conclusions I can draw as far as what caused the mishaps on the jump from the time of the exit was being uncurrent. This is my honest mistake, assuming that I could competently fly my wingsuit as I was able when I was making 5 flights per week. Instead of following a flock I should have gotten with Jen or another wingsuit coach and went back to the very basics of my first wingsuit flight....or I should have left the wingsuit off of the newly repacked rig and made a few tracking dives to get recurrent period.


I cannot undo what happened, but I can learn from it. Since I am alive to speak of the dive, I am doing so in hopes that someone reads and learns of a flat-spin, so that should one happen to them, they do find themselves unsure of how to get out of it. It is a grim reminder to myself, as well as those hoping to get into the discipline at 200 jumps, that the 18 month/200 jump rule was recommended as a reason. I singled Jen out because she was the only wingsuit pilot who actively got on my ass about education ever since I mentioned an interest. I pushed myself to get knowledgeable to prove to her I wasn't reckless about it.


This is getting long than I intended. Before I close these are my considerations for corrective action: I could either shift my focus to another discipline until jump 500 (despite the only skydiving interests I have is flying a wingsuit), or I can work with a wingsuit coach on tracking dives until they are convinced I can fly my suit again. Either way, it is my interest to fly in a manner that doesn't reflect negatively on me or the discipline I've chosen.

With all of this said, if there are any details you wish for me to elaborate on, or any questions for me at all...I will be happy to try to answer them at best I can. Thank you for reading this.

I won't steal anyone else's thunder on the inherent risks and not trying to downplay the to loving parents. The sport can kill. Period.

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The problem is that I'm not fully independent from my parents. I'm a college student without my own transportation, and still rely on them financially. They're able to see my bank account and my card charges, etc...

I suggest paying CASH.

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I've been open with them about everything my entire life, and don't want to break their confidence and trust.

Were you open about any late-night drinking parties? One night stands? I'm pretty up front with my folks.. but there's alot in my life that remains my business.

I'm not going to tell you to do anything behind their backs. If you are an adult, and want to skydive..then go make a skydive.

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Who else is still in Houston?

Still here.

Its been a while since I've had any skydiving dreams. I've had alot of dreams lately of being at the dropzone, that never had to do with jumping lol.

I had a bounce dream while spending the night at skydive houston, woke up sunday morning and made a jump, went back to sleep after I got back down. No more bad dreams *shrug* :)

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Do the nerves ever give way?

This answer varies from person to person. I have 2 years in sport with 175 jumps, and during this time I've had have some nerves go away, and some come back. After two cutaways and a few rough landings, I mainly get nervous when I pull and while on final if I'm doing solos. If I'm with other people it depends on what were doing and what my experience level is.

Being nervous is a good thing tho, it keeps you focused and ready, rather than complacent. If I don't feel nervous during gear-up up to jump run...I start debated whether I should be jumping or not.