Sangi

The problem here was the design of the homemade camera wing.. It had a huge ass gaping hole between the armpit and the hip connection points and at pull time the guy somehow managed to get his PC through this hole and so the bridle and the bag got stuck around the wing... Dunno how to make a better explanation of this but I hope you get the point.. Edit: attached a pic with an added explanation "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

Well, it's been over two months now that I've been in rehab.. I've got stronger since I arrived here and more self sufficient in daily things.. Besides that I'm still paralyzed and can't feel or move my legs.. I do have all kinds of weird inner feelings, like muscles cramping, shivers running down my legs and similar type of stuff, you can really feel the strain on your legs after the gym.. I don't have any outer feelings though, like touching the skin or any kind of feeling of pain if say you nip it.. One of the worst parts (besides the fact that you can't walk) is that you can piss or shit like a normal person.. In order to pee you have to use a catheter, crapping is a tedious and long task with the aid of medicine.. I've had a magnetic resonance done not long ago and the myelitis (the thing that made me paralyzed) that I had is gone now, my spine looks "great" now as the doctors said.. So still, not enough time has passed to have any conclusions and the myelitis subsided only not long ago, so any real regeneration to the spinal brain should only be starting now (if any will).. Overall it's a long and tedious process and nobody knows what the outcome will be

The bridle somehow cleared after it got snagged and pretty fast as far as I can remember from the vid.. Still, good reason to always have a cutaway helmet. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

Dude, chiiiiiiill Why are you even thinking about transitions now? You have an ideal canopy with a pretty decent WL for your level, enjoy what you've got, don't think about what you'd like to get sometime in the future, because that future is still far away, unless you're super duper rich and can progress in a lightning fast way.. And no I'm not bashing you in any way you're imagining, I'm not saying you don't have the skills or you're going the wrong way because I just don't know and see you in real life.. But from your thread, all I'm saying, don't think about future transitions, again, enjoy what you've got and push it to the limit wisely. Put your mind on the learning curve and not on the transition curve (for now). You'll get there when you'll get there "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

If you're worrying and thinking that much into the future than you're not ready for what you're thinking about. Focus on the NOW and not on the later. If you're only finished perfecting your 90's than you still have A LOT more to perfect which will take a lot of time and learning if you do it the wise way (don't rush). Yes, switching to a smaller, faster, snappier canopy is loads of fun, but failing to control it like it should be controlled is not, specially if it gets your bones broken or worse.. As people say, it's a lot more fun to be slow but good at it, than fast but shit at it

For skydiving - a cutaway helmet, simple. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

There's no decent details on this issue, so judging it by being an R&D failure is too soon "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

Get to know your canopy. Always get to know your canopy and gear in general. One of the things you should've known is when your canopy stalls in deep brakes. Do it at a high altitude, try flying at different configurations and see when your canopy stalls.. Do a CP course and or read Brian Germains book on CP, there's great things you will find out that you didn't know and should've known. Goodluck!

Ok I'll chime in (nooo).. Any canopy can hurt you or kill you. I screwed myself with a "safe" intermediate canopy on a relatively low wingloading.. Just like in the other thread in the swooping subforum, it's not the canopies, but the pilot that is the issue.. Martisan, please do not be ignorant and full of unreasonable hate and fear, just because you lack the knowledge.. The skydiving world has changed a lot since you stopped, so now you just have to accept the way it is or go away from it.. It wont change according to your mindset and wishes.. Please listen to some reasonable people with up to date knowledge and good reason and don't dwell on the past nor live on it.. If you have the question "why would or why do we do what we do, which increases danger" then you don't seem too different from an ignorant wuffo, simply cause he lacks the knowledge and understanding.. Not trying to bash, I'm trying to say, learn and try to understand

http://www.chutingstar.com/companyinfo_en/gopro-low-pro-mount.html http://www.paragear.com/templates/parachutes.asp?group=455&level=1 (look for "skydance quick mount" at the very bottom of the page) "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

Thank you all. Hopefully I won't give up and do my best, I really wanna walk again and most of all get back to flying, damn I miss it so bad and it's been a relatively short time off, not counting the upcoming huge time out.. Oh well, like they say, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get. What I got now is a painful, but a very good lesson. Tbh, looking at all my injuries and complications after that crash I should've died, I dunno how I survived this at all, even the doctors at first weren't sure if I'll survive, but all in all, disregarding the injuries I'm happy to be alive and happy to have a decent chance to get back to my old (physical) self.. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

I'm slowly getting better.. I don't have fevers anymore, my blood tests are decent, but I'm still weak because I've been chained to a bed for a month now.. I can't feel or move anything below my chest. This is due to my spinal brain being swollen. It should subside in 2-3 months or so and then I should start slowly feeling and moving my body, starting from top to bottom, but I'll have to do a lot of work in a special rehab hospital which they are moving me to on monday. I might spend 3 or 6 months there, who knows, depending on how I will be recovering, but it's meant to get me back on my feet, if I work hard enough I'll walk again.. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

Swooping is completely unforgiving when done wrong. Watching someone crash is one thing and it's good it scares you, it makes you be more careful. But if people like me (the way I was before) could also feel (for a while) the immense agony and pain and so many health problems without such crashes then they would be really scared off to even touch the front or yank the toggles close to the ground. Only now I can appreciate my realization, I regret that I was so stupid and cocky all this time to learn this lesson the hard way.. simply put peeps, crashing sucks bad, so bad that you never wanna experience it, believe the stupid Sangi this time, no bullshit this time for real.. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

You're spot on, on this one. I agree completely, only now I see that my crash was only a matter of time with my type of flying.. But there still was a chance to save myself, if only I would've let go of the front just right after my canopy turned and yanked the toggles I probably would've saved my ass, but as you said only for a short amount of time until the next try to do the same stupid shit.. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

Yes, you're probably right. I believe my turn was too slow and too hard (meaning I made the canopy dive faster and longer than I was used to and didn't realize that at that moment..). Most likely seeing from the side in reality someone bounce like me would have scared me off and made me rethink how I'm approaching everything, but that's probably the only thing. If I ever notice someone like me doing something similar to what I did I'll defo will try to save them by telling my story of pain and showing the visuals.. "Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean