Night jump and no flare landing

[gus 1]

I don't think this really belongs in Incidents so I'll post it here.

I did a night jump a few weekends ago, nice jump, no problems finding the airfield, the landing area or figuring out the landing direction. BIG problem with my depth perception. I simply did not flare. My canopy is moderately loaded and in nil winds it moves quite fast, I was saved from serious injury by the fact that my feet and knees were together and my legs were relaxed. I pounded in, I took a real beating, I bit through the end of my tounge and was spitting blood (what facial expression was I pulling at the time?! ) and I think I must have given myself concussion. The next day I felt like someone had giving me a real good kicking. I don't remember getting back from the landing area, I wandered around in the packing area for a while (I don't know how long) before I 'woke up' and realised that I didn't know what was going on. There were a few minutes where I couldn't remember where I was. The weird thing is that the next day people were telling me that I was quite lucid and talking normally so if I had concussion it wasn't immediately obvious.

What did this little lesson teach me? Night jumps can hurt! Wear a helmet (I nearly didn't). Don't underestimate how much your depth perception can be effected.

Thank you to everyone that helped me, even if I don't remember it!

Hear endith the lesson,

Gus

OutpatientsOnline.com

[macey 0]

Where did you do your night jump?
I fancied doing one (I think Hib are planning some).
You have put me off as I don't have anywhere near
the number of jumps you have!

[velo90 0]

Quote

Where did you do your night jump?
I fancied doing one (I think Hib are planning some).
You have put me off as I don't have any where near
the number of jumps you have!

I have done one night jump, I may do another, but I am certainly not in any hurry.
Your depth perception really does suffer dramatically.
Just rumour, but I heard that they did a night jump here in Germany no so long ago and something went wrong with the spotting. A whole bunch of very experienced jumpers got hurt on landing. No light, nothing to see that would indicate wind direction and then small high performance canopies

[vt1977 0]

Just wondering where you did the night jumps and how well lit the landing area was?

I have done a few night jumps now – most recently at Nethers which is not only blessed with a HUGE landing area but they also have good lighting around the pit and so far I haven't had a problem judging flare height - mainly due to the good lighting around the pit I think.

Glad to hear you’re ok now though and that it wasn’t any worse.

Vicki

[gus 1]

Quote

Where did you do your night jump?
I fancied doing one (I think Hib are planning some).
You have put me off as I don't have anywhere near
the number of jumps you have!

I was out in Zephrhills in Florida.

If you're on a larger, slower canopy your chances of a nice landing are probably better. Or at least your chances of walking away from a bad landing are probably better. With the provisor that I don't know you I would say go for it, just be careful and take advice from the experienced people on the load. If you're going to a new dz to do it definately jump there in daylight to familiarise yourself with the landing area and all the hazards. If, on the night, it doesn't feel right then don't be afraid to take yourself off the load, the worst that will happen is that you'll lose your ticket. And don't forget to flare!

Gus

OutpatientsOnline.com

[michaelflying 0]

owch

www.skydivekzn.co.za

[akarunway 1]

LOL

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[kallend 2,150]

I have two friends, both experienced jumpers, who got busted up pretty badly on a recent night jump when surface wind conditions changed abruptly after they were in the air. Another broke his foot on an unseen obstacle, and another landed in a tree that he didn't see.

Night jumps are not just another skydive, they involve significantly more risk, especially under the kind of canopies most people jump these days.

Since the learning potential from night jumps is minimal, I wonder why they remain a requirement for the "D" license.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[towerrat 0]

***Since the learning potential from night jumps is minimal, I wonder why they remain a requirement for the "D" license.
------------------
I have taken off on a "sunset" load and ended up landing in the dark
On another note, Gus didn't exaggerate at all.He hit extremely hard and those of us there thought it was much worse than it turned out to be.He's lucky.I'm glad he's OK

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[kallend 2,150]

Quote

***Since the learning potential from night jumps is minimal, I wonder why they remain a requirement for the "D" license.
------------------
I have taken off on a "sunset" load and ended up landing in the dark

It doesn't get dark instantly, you weren't taken by surprise now, were you? You looked out the door of the plane, saw that the ground was dark and decided to exit anyway.

Last time I looked at the SIM, you could go on a sunset load with an "A". In fact, a pre-A solo too.

Are you suggesting a "D" license should be a requirement for sunset loads?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[pilotdave 0]

Requiring night jumps for a license does seem strange to me, but then again I don't think anyone could really be considered an all-around expert skydiver without having jumped at night. But jumping at night doesn't make you an expert either.

I mean, I could understand if they required a night jump rating to jump at night. That would make sense. It would be proof that you've got the training to make a jump at night. But requiring night jumps to get a license does seem a little backwards to me.

On my 2 night jumps, I landed with cars to my back, which put my shadow out in front of me. It was a really easy way to judge my height. When my feet hit the shadow of my feet, I was down.

Dave