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Never been grounded but one day I should have been or should have grounded myself.
A friend of mine was scheduled to do a Tandem on a Saturday morning. Normally, I don't go overboard the night before a day of jumping but I did that night. I was out till somewhere around 3am and we wanted to be at the DZ by 7:00 to get on the first load. Well, I was still feeling pretty good from the night before when we got to the DZ and I should have grounded myself. My buddy, the tandem master and I (and several others) got in the plane for the jump and I sat next to the pilot (porter). The pilot turns to me and says "Man, you stink. That is unlike you to be doing this. You gonna be OK" and I said yes (I don't know what I was thinking). The tandem master just laughed and said "You gonna swoop down to geek us" and I said OK even though I had never done it before. Fortunately for everyone, my stupidiy didn't hurt anyone. Following that jump I started feeling ok and I did 6 more before falling asleep on the hangar floor. On a day that I should have been grounded, I did more jumps in a day than ever before.
A friend of mine was scheduled to do a Tandem on a Saturday morning. Normally, I don't go overboard the night before a day of jumping but I did that night. I was out till somewhere around 3am and we wanted to be at the DZ by 7:00 to get on the first load. Well, I was still feeling pretty good from the night before when we got to the DZ and I should have grounded myself. My buddy, the tandem master and I (and several others) got in the plane for the jump and I sat next to the pilot (porter). The pilot turns to me and says "Man, you stink. That is unlike you to be doing this. You gonna be OK" and I said yes (I don't know what I was thinking). The tandem master just laughed and said "You gonna swoop down to geek us" and I said OK even though I had never done it before. Fortunately for everyone, my stupidiy didn't hurt anyone. Following that jump I started feeling ok and I did 6 more before falling asleep on the hangar floor. On a day that I should have been grounded, I did more jumps in a day than ever before.
BIGUN 1,483
Once by Bill Campbell in 1983.
Jumping a paracommander and I pulled at 1000'.
My logic was that if I was getting out of C-130's on military jumps at 800' at night, this was OK.
Yes. It served its purpose - While I was on the ground, Bill explained the difference and timelines between a horizontal deployment @ 800' @ 120mph vs. a vertical deployment @ 1000' @ 120 mph.
Made its point and woke me up at the same time.
Jumping a paracommander and I pulled at 1000'.
My logic was that if I was getting out of C-130's on military jumps at 800' at night, this was OK.
Yes. It served its purpose - While I was on the ground, Bill explained the difference and timelines between a horizontal deployment @ 800' @ 120mph vs. a vertical deployment @ 1000' @ 120 mph.
Made its point and woke me up at the same time.
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.
pincheck 0
never been grounded 
spoke to harshly
CCI voice "yes and that was a down wind landing YOU WONT DO THAT AGAIN"
funnily i haven't done an unintentional downwinder since.
Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun
spoke to harshly
CCI voice "yes and that was a down wind landing YOU WONT DO THAT AGAIN"
funnily i haven't done an unintentional downwinder since.Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun
pchapman 279
While I've been warned an occasional time, I was grounded only once, for one day of the weekend.
It was for exercising poor judgment in being on a load that took off a couple minutes after sunset.
While we could legally jump until 1/2 hour after sunset (Transport Canada regs), the DZ has a rule of exiting the aircraft no later than sunset. A few minutes leeway is tolerated. The rule leaves a little margin for safety and lets the pilots land in time on the unlit grass runway. (They are also legally limited to 1/2 hour after sunset.)
The sunset C-182 load just wasn't getting assembled quickly, so while I was ready to go, others were "almost finished packing" and so on. In the end I just wanted to get that sunset jump I had been anticipating!
When we finally boarded, I felt the situation was safe enough (eg, the skies were clear so it was relatively bright), and we wouldn't break the law. I kept the process going because nobody else said "No", and I figured the DZO wouldn't find out. The pilot was willing to go along with it, as were the other jumpers.
But I got punished largely because I was the senior jumper on the load and was a senior instructor at the DZ too. I had wanted to forget all that, and for that load, just be a jump-hungry fun jumper, willing to push the limits a little. The DZO argued that I couldn't ignore all my experience and had to show some leadership. It was an issue of roles and responsibilities. (The pilot got grounded too.)
Fair enough, I pushed significantly past a well known DZ limit, got caught, and did the time for it.
Did it serve its purpose? Yes. The DZO clearly showed how far is too far at his DZ.
It was for exercising poor judgment in being on a load that took off a couple minutes after sunset.
While we could legally jump until 1/2 hour after sunset (Transport Canada regs), the DZ has a rule of exiting the aircraft no later than sunset. A few minutes leeway is tolerated. The rule leaves a little margin for safety and lets the pilots land in time on the unlit grass runway. (They are also legally limited to 1/2 hour after sunset.)
The sunset C-182 load just wasn't getting assembled quickly, so while I was ready to go, others were "almost finished packing" and so on. In the end I just wanted to get that sunset jump I had been anticipating!
When we finally boarded, I felt the situation was safe enough (eg, the skies were clear so it was relatively bright), and we wouldn't break the law. I kept the process going because nobody else said "No", and I figured the DZO wouldn't find out. The pilot was willing to go along with it, as were the other jumpers.
But I got punished largely because I was the senior jumper on the load and was a senior instructor at the DZ too. I had wanted to forget all that, and for that load, just be a jump-hungry fun jumper, willing to push the limits a little. The DZO argued that I couldn't ignore all my experience and had to show some leadership. It was an issue of roles and responsibilities. (The pilot got grounded too.)
Fair enough, I pushed significantly past a well known DZ limit, got caught, and did the time for it.
Did it serve its purpose? Yes. The DZO clearly showed how far is too far at his DZ.
skypuppy 1
I think three times. Once for 30 days for doing rw with a jumper without a licence. I jumped the next weekend at a different dz, then there was an emergency meeting of the club and my grounding was overturned by the general membership.
Once for 30 days for doing a two-way at terminal at 700 feet. We opened low. I didn't fight that one. Dz owner let us jump again after 2 1/2 weekends.
Once for one day after a buddy and I broke a biside coming in downwind, at around 100 feet. I turned my strato-star immediately and landed fine into the wind. For some reason he waited to turn, then hooked too late and sprained an ankle. For some reason they grounded me. What really pissed me off is he said it was my fault too. As far as I'm concerned it was a mutual decision, and his injury was his fault for waiting to turn. We both had to turn exactly the same number of degrees to land into the wind.
I don't think I've talked to him since.
Once for 30 days for doing a two-way at terminal at 700 feet. We opened low. I didn't fight that one. Dz owner let us jump again after 2 1/2 weekends.
Once for one day after a buddy and I broke a biside coming in downwind, at around 100 feet. I turned my strato-star immediately and landed fine into the wind. For some reason he waited to turn, then hooked too late and sprained an ankle. For some reason they grounded me. What really pissed me off is he said it was my fault too. As far as I'm concerned it was a mutual decision, and his injury was his fault for waiting to turn. We both had to turn exactly the same number of degrees to land into the wind.
I don't think I've talked to him since.
If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
Twice. Was kicked off the Long Island DZ (NOT the turbine DZ currently operating at Calverton) for political reasons 20 years ago. I was a new graduate from an upstate DZ; they were helping me out. I asked for a pin check and a guy said that if I was going to jump there I had to learn to "take care of myself." This made me nervous. (In fact, the whole atmosphere was rather intimidating.) I didn't want to cause any trouble so I sent a brief note to USPA describing the situation and asking for advice. I did not identify anyone. Instead of answering me privately, they published my letter in PARACHUTIST. That got me screwed over big time. I'm still paying for it.
During these years in exile I was kicked off the DZ at Woodstock, CT for a low reserve pull. (VERY hard ripcord pull.) The DZO was, in part, nervous about me because I only showed up once in a while instead of every weekend like the other jumpers. That damn three-hour drive really slowed me down. I moved to another state after making 200 jumps in nine years. Things are a little better now.
I learned a valuable lesson: If you send anything to USPA, expect to see it in the magazine unless you specifically ask them not to print it.
Cheers,
Jon
During these years in exile I was kicked off the DZ at Woodstock, CT for a low reserve pull. (VERY hard ripcord pull.) The DZO was, in part, nervous about me because I only showed up once in a while instead of every weekend like the other jumpers. That damn three-hour drive really slowed me down. I moved to another state after making 200 jumps in nine years. Things are a little better now.
I learned a valuable lesson: If you send anything to USPA, expect to see it in the magazine unless you specifically ask them not to print it.
Cheers,
Jon
Once. For the length of time it took me to watch a really crummy English video on canopy control.
I was just off student status (literally; it was my first jump after graduation), and I went to a new dz. Eddie Carroll, being unable to get anyone at my old dz on the phone, decided I should be on radio.
I figured that Eddie was infinitely wise, so I listened to the ground instructor when he told me to turn after I was already on final and aimed for the peas. The last thing I heard from him was "oh shit, oh shit." (The sun was in his eyes, and he thought I was already flying in the direction he turned me into.)
Thereafter, I had the choice of power lines, "New Jersey jungle" (with lots of stickers and other things) or trying to make it over the building next to the hangar so I could land in the back yard.
I chose the latter, which scared the shit out of everyone. They were so relieved I was okay that they immediately started screaming at me.
Eddie and I then had a yelling match in the hangar for the entertainment of everyone watching.
I bought Eddie a case of beer for being such a nice guy about the whole thing. I'm sure he'd say it served it's purpose.
But he didn't put the radio on me for my next jump.
rl
Edited to add: There are going to be some new folks who will think--because of the new prevailing attitudes in the sport--that this wasn't my fault because I was just doing what I was told by an instructor. The rest of you are going to know that I was a complete idiot for doing what I should have known was exactly the wrong thing to do (and did know, even as I proceeded to follow the instructions I received), and you are absolutely correct. It was my fault, and my fault alone, and I richly deserved the verbal beating I received.
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