When have you decided to stay in the plane.

[chileanXaos 0]

This is what it happened , there where clouds from 4000 to 6000, not even a hole in the sky , we went a load of 5 to see if we could jump , while in the sky we were over the clouds , we couldnt see the dz was an amazing view anyway , clouds from the mountain to the see, we didnt have gps and started to try to see if we could find the dz the guy on the groung told the pilot , that he heard the plane over the dz , so my friend decided to jump over the clouds , for his first jump on his vx 79 and me jumping a velocity 90 didnt want to land outside of the dz , I thought this is mad the other guys followed him , but I decided not to jump to a sea of clouds ,without a gps and because the guy on the ground heard the plane it is not really agood device.
they opened over the clouds , my frien on the vx opened with line twists , was a really cool view of the four canopyes diving into the clouds , anyway they landed like 5 milles from the dz and had to take a bus to the dz.
I thought this situations are were you have to say no.

[slotperfect 7]

There was a good thread on this a while back . . . check it out.

Arrive Safely

John

[slug 1]

Hi CX

We said no for the same reason. Cessna took off to catch a sucker hole. we caught the hole then it closed and we had no idea where we were.

Guy spotting (from a different DZ) tells pilot "90 Rt & cut"My friends start following the idiot out the door and I just sit on my butt and shake my head no way!

Everyone climbs back in the plane and we find the DZ 10 minutes later and jump.

Playing follow the leader is easy, knowing when to say no is a little harder.

R.I.P.

[pkasdorf 0]

Well done!

HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

[yoink 321]

Straight after getting qualified I was converting to throw-away. 4 Of us got in the plane to make a llift but the weather caught us - The experienced guys left at 2500... I rode it down. It was a good decision.
New things and low altitude didn't appeal.

[riggerrob 643]

I have landed with the plane when there were too many clouds to spot or manifest radioed up to say that surface winds exceeded 25 knots.

Now that GPS is available, I am more willing to exit when GPS says we are over the DZ, but we still have to keep Transport Canada happy.

[tmontana 0]

Last year i had started suffering a case of vertigo which the doctor couldnt explain, basically everytime i turned my head quickly or looked up or sat up i got dizzy, so i didn't jump for a few weeks, i started feeling better and went out to the dz to do my 20th jump, got with a jumpmaster, feeling ok, got in the plane still feeling ok, as we started climbing to altitude my head just wasn't feeling right, everytime i turned it i started getting a bit dizzy, but didn't say anything to anyone. we were on jump run, the door was open and we were getting ready to start getting out. my jm and i were going to be the 4th or 5th group out, just before the green light came on i turned to him and said i wasn't feeling good and wasn't going to jump.

___________________________________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

[darkwing 5]

I think it is a huge mistake to use the "someone on the ground said they heard the airplane overhead" spotting method. It might not have been your airplane they heard. I would not have jumped.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[freakydiver 0]

Wow - that could've turned so ugly so fast.

-- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

[JohnMitchell 16]

When the engine quit at 500 feet.

[happythoughts 0]

clicky

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We were the first group out. It looked too thick for me. We opted to not go. The rest of the plane emptied. That is their choice. As one guy exited, he yelled back "Chicken".

[dragon2 2]

Stayed in the plane a couple of times when I didn't like the lack of altitude. Although legal (2500 ft and up) I felt it was too low for me at the time. Now, depending on the rest of the conditions, I'd get out.

Shoulda stayed in the plane a couple of times with iffy spots, then again we have lots of outs and I don't really mind an out landing.

Also I stayed in the plane when I did this.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[ManBird 0]

Sky closed and clouds dropped. General practice is to do a low pass under the clouds for experienced jumpers (some students if the base is high enough). There was only one time at Elsinore when the sky closed up and sunk to about 900' when I rode down. Other than that, I've always either avoided sucker loads or was able to hop and pop. I've also avoided "sucker loads" that turned out to be jumpable -- oh, well. 2,000' is my all purpose minimum. I've done lower, but was packed for it.

Edit: I've done a few observer rides. Really damn fun with the right pilot.

"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯"

Click

[FemaleFlyer 0]

I can tell you a story that I wish I had stayed in the plane. I was at a DZ Somewhere, their had been weather all day. Well the weather cleared up and their was a small hole, so we went for it. By the time we went up to alt, we could see a layer of clouds close to the DZ, but figured it was just the layer that was leaving, so we get out.

Had a great skydive, but then I went to track off and the clouds were below us, but the edge was soo close. I pulled about 3 grand and the clouds were still below me. I had no clue were I was. Did not get out of the thin layer of clouds tell well under what I would like to be. I really didn't like it expecially being under a small canopy and couldn't see the ground right away. Doesn't leave a lot of time to figure things out and where to land if the spot was bad.

Thank you Mr/Ms Pilot man/woman for the great spot. That is for sure the jump I wish I was on the ground and not in the air. I should have used my head and stayed in the plane, but thankfully everything was ok for everyone.

______________________________________________________________________

[jimbarry 0]

I've got two for you. Maybe safety related (in a way), but mostly just funny. Not to me, but two other jumpers in my stick.

Jump #1 of the day: 10am. We get the JM call to stand up, hook up, equip checks. Only had 5 instead of 6. Look down to see the guy who was sitting behind me was still there - - asleep. We all went out the door. He got to land (in that 'perfectly good airplane' I keep hearing about incessantly.)

Jump #2 of the day: 2:30pm. Again, stand up, hook up. The dude sitting in front of me stays seated. I'm thinking what does he know that I don't. Hey, you going or what? (british guy) Naow, not this toim mate. Oi jest shat meself." Experienced jumper, just let it go. Too much time between JMPI and jump time I guess. He "decided to stay in the plane". Yeah, cheers for that, mate.

[ScratchTX 0]

Stayed in the plane on an unplanned hop and pop a few weeks ago -- radio problems prevented us from going to altitude as planned. Offered chance to exit at 2500. I felt uncurrent (would have been my third jump that day after a nine-month layoff from semi-currency), had only done two jumps on my new canopy and no subterminal openings yet on it, wasn't entirely sure I'd solved the intermittent PC hesitation problem I'd been having months before, and hadn't practiced poised head-high exits from this plane much, usually just dove from it.

The other two up jumpers ended up getting to 3000 anyway, but I had already decided not to go and rode the plane down with the student and JM and felt dumb. Was an okay decision, but I could have gotten out had I stayed more current, had I pushed my comfort zone on different exits, etc. You reap what you sow. (Good thing it wasn't an emergency -- although I believe I would have exited just fine, it was mostly a confidence issue.)

[billvon 3,080]

Years back we were jumping at Brown and there was a thin layer of haze that we could see through with no problem. We had a tandem and an AFF on the load. On jump run it was a bit thicker, but still no problem seeing the DZ. We exited, did the AFF, and made sure he deployed. When I looked down we had a solid overcast. In less than two minutes it had gone from haze to solid - and I mean solid; you couldn't see a thing but a white sheet as far as you looked. The spot was good so we had no problem, and fortunately the student did as instructed and landed with no problems.

[friflaj 0]

I was in Empuriabrava on a coaching dive with Babylon (who rock, BTW), with all of 202 jumps on me IIRC. When the Porter took off we were at a 100 jump limit, while nearing jumprun it was radioed that the limit had been upped to 200.

My coach (hya Lupo!) asked me what I wanted to do... i figured a coaching dive would add enough stress, I'd rather not put myself in a situation that I would not have been allowed to jump just 3 jumps earlier. So we rode the plane down.

After we landed, Wolf told me he was merely curious about what I would choose, and that he'd have pulled me back in were I stupid enough to attempt to exit.

I went back to the manifest to get my ticket back, and the sign read "400 jump limit".

[JohnMitchell 16]

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When the Porter took off we were at a 100 jump limit, while nearing jumprun it was radioed that the limit had been upped to 200.
I went back to the manifest to get my ticket back, and the sign read "400 jump limit".

Was the problem low clouds or high winds? In Spain, are you allowed to jump through clouds? I'm glad you got your ticket back. A lot of the DZ's in the U.S. don't give refunds if you don't jump. Makes you really try to judge conditions before you go up.

[friflaj 0]

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Was the problem low clouds or high winds?

Winds (blasted Tramuntana)

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In Spain, are you allowed to jump through clouds?

I don't know if it's allowed, but I know it happens. Had one jump where we had clouds from 14k to 6k. That wasn't much fun (and thoroughly stoopid).

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I'm glad you got your ticket back. A lot of the DZ's in the U.S. don't give refunds if you don't jump. Makes you really try to judge conditions before you go up.

Some DZs I visit do, some don't... but in Empuria the winds can change very fast, and my guess is that they rather take the loss and keep people happy and coming back. That, and people might be less inclined to try dangerous stuff on account of losing 20 euros. I've heard say that Empuria has a pretty good safety record.

Wolf did say that he'd not have refunded my ticket if he had needed to pull me back though