I've been thinking about Yoshi's incident.

[Muenkel 0]

First I want to say that I admire the shit out of him for having the guts to get back in the air. And I thank God he can.

It made me think about the rest of you. Have any of you had a really hairy incident that should have been fatal or could have been fatal? If so, how long was it before you returned to the sky? Did you consider quitting after the incident? What went through your minds?

I remember my AFF C-1 jump. As soon as my instructors released me, I went into a very quick spin. I was not body aware at all, because nothing I tried could stop it. I was going so fast that my instructors could not re-dock with me. I became unaware of my altitude. I finally pulled somewhere between 2500 and 3000 (not good for an inexperienced student). While under canopy I stupidly did not concentrate on the task at hand. All I could think about was wtf happened in freefall. This resulted in me abandoning my flare before landing. I had a somewhat hard landing, luckily with only bruises. I really wanted to call it a day. But inside I kept thinking that I didn't want that to be my last jump for the weekend and have it haunt me all week. Somehow, I got the balls to put my name back on manifest and I re-did the jump 1 hour later. This jump was perfect. The feeling was pure elation and pride. I learned more on my first C-1 than any other jump.

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Chris

[AggieDave 6]

I've had a couple.

I was in a plane "crash" aka off field landing, I was pissed off we couldn't get an extra plane in that afternoon to jump! I jumped the next day.

I had a spinning linetwists that I lost altitude awareness in and got out of at 500ft, then had to perform the landing of a lifetime...which involved so much luck that I actually went and bought lottery scratch offs that day (won over $100 too). I went up 2 loads after that (enough time for me to get back to the DZ, get my rig packed by a packer and smoke nearly a pack of cigerettes, to calm my nerves).

I've also had a tandem side spin almost a year ago, I went up again on the very next load.


All 3 of those could have been deaths, none of them made me think about quitting the sport, all of them resolved myself to learn more and become a better skydiver (and learn more about aircraft).

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[cocheese 0]

yep . Close calls just make the good jumps that much better. i've been riding the bicycle that i broke my shoulder on (a month ago.)
I told them to throw that damn bike in the dumpster, but they kept riding it... and now i do .. with extreame caution. Ha
Can't wait to skydive..drool drool.
Yoshi is a lucky one, but aren't we all ?
Only the lucky ones ..get to steal the show......(sorry about the 80's flashback)

[freeflir29 0]

I just got done reading a book the other day. It's "A Ranger Born" by LtCol Black. He was an enlisted Ranger in Korea and also served as an officer in Vietnam. A MACV advisor for those of you that know what that is. Quite a few times throughout the book he says "That was a close one.....but I never sweat the close ones." Kinda my philosophy too. When your number is up.....it's up. You'll die when you are supposed to. I've certainly had my share of days when I said "Wow....I sure thought I was gonna buy the farm." But I didn't............ I'll go when it's MY time.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

I'll go when it's MY time

Plus we as jumpers really need to come grips with our mortality. If someone hasn't accepted theirs and informed their loved ones of the possibilities, then I feel they shouldn't be jumping.

I don't want to take stupid chances, but I can't ever go back to being a whuffo.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[airdweller 0]

My first 2 way, I think jump #16, I lost altitude awareness and pulled way too low. The student cyprus activated my round reserve as my main was inflating. My main kicked out in front of me and my reserve fell backwards to the point that I couldn't see it over my head. Landed with both parachutes out in a kind of slow downplane. I made the decision that with a good plf I could land it and did. PLF'ed but felt a sharp sting in the middle of my back. For the rest of the day I couldn't bend over. When I got back to the DZ, I also landed out, I felt that the people looking at me were looking at a ghost.

I jumped the next day. Other then pulling high, the jump was uneventful.

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"From the mightiest pharaoh to the lowliest peasant,
who doesn't enjoy a good sit?" C. Montgomery Burns

[towerrat 0]

as a very low time jumper I once had a very weak pull, and my pilot chute and bridle got wrapped around my arm. The highly experienced jumper I was with watched the whole thing, and he thought for sure I was going in. I also deployed under my arm on a H+P.
I now ride the go-cart that broke my wrist and bounced my head off the pavement.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[Yoshi 0]

I was talking to a friend yesterday and this topic kind of came up. She asked me how my wife reacted when I told her what had happened and when she saw me and when she saw the video taken of the accident. Many people think that my wife would say I am not allowed to skydive anymore... this I dont really get. People get in bicycle accidents, car accidents, football accidents, tennis accidents, all kinds of things and you rarely hear of someone who just fell of thier bicycle nevery wanting to try to ride it again or to be told by someone to never ride it again. They usually learn from it and try to be more cautious in similar situations from then on out. Our sport is extreme, but the common injuries that we encounter are as little if not less than a basketball player twisting his or her ankle. All I am getting at is we should not have the mentality that once something happens to us in this sport to quit. We are all in this sport for various reasons, but we all have an amazing attachment to the sport and those who participate in it with us. Lets not take that for granted.... It took me one week to feel physically ready to make another jump. While that was amazingly quick considering my incident, I was ready even faster in my mind. Dont get me wrong, I was cheking my gear about 100 times before I got in the plane and had a couple people check out my gear before exiting, but I was ready to jump.

just thought I would throw in my thoughts..

-yoshi

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