JohnMitchell

Wow, great story! This was a serious accident waiting to happen. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make a difference in our sport.

Another HUGE factor I see in this, Sparky? It's that people are pulling in THE WRONG DIRECTION! Sorry to shout, but I feel it's the root of many "hard pull" problems. As you well know, you should always pull any handle in the direction the cable housing runs. On almost all modern sport rigs, this means straight down, towards your feet. But I see so many people being trained and/or practicing to "punch" the handles directly away from their bodies, like they were boxing. This incorrect motion adds up to a 90 degree kink in the cable as it exits the housing, making the pull force much greater. I've used the 3 ring release system to cutaway over a dozen times and never had a hard pull or had to use both hands. I know there are other factors that can increase the pull forces, such as line twist, poor construction tolerances, etc. but pulling in the wrong direction is an easy factor to eliminate, right now. I'll go as far as to say this. If you have an instructor teaching you to punch straight out from your body, that instructor is wrong, and you can tell them I said so, respectfully.

I'm a year older than you. In how good of shape are you? Being flexible and HWP is a huge advantage in our sport. I love it when my AFF students have tunnel time. I wouldn't worry too much with getting AFF specific training. Any kind of belly flying in the tunnel transfers very well to the sky. It's like learning to ride a bike before you throw your leg over a Harley. More time is better, but I've seen just 10 minutes of time make a huge difference.

Fallen off the strut on a DeHavilland Beaver (much wider strut than a C182). Was taught how to de-arch. Next jump took out a formation from underneath. Had a premature opening while front floating at 13K in Costa Rica. My friends could probably give you a better list. I've tried to forget a few things over the years.

Uh oh, I've seen videos of those. Didn't go well. . .

Not always the most skilled. . .

Just the way it works. Once you figure out how something works, you have a chance to fix it. Depends on the circumstance. Stolen valor kind of thing? Yeah, let him have it. But some poor schlub trying to impress some girl? Heck, have a little pity for the bruthah. . . .

Congrats on the standup landing. May many, many more follow. But still be ready for an occasional rough one.

Nice analysis. My experience is that women tend to be landmark navigators (my wife and daughters) and men tend to be route navigators. YMMV.

You're a beautiful woman. Guys want to get to know you. Some of them make $hit up because they feel you're out of their league and they want to impress you. Don't tear 'em down to badly. Just give them a little pity smile.

And you're jumping again, ain't ya?

If I may add 2 things, details really. 1- As you reach for the handles to chop, put your feet on your butt and arch so that you'll fall away face-to-earth for a better deployment. This is much better than flopping around "waiting to get stable before I pull the reserve". That has killed a lot of people. 2- Always pull the handles in the direction the cable housings run. For almost all modern gear, that means straight down. That will reduce the pull force and help everything get done quickly and in the proper order. Don't "punch the handles" away from you, as if you were boxing. Very common mistake. BTW, don't be afraid to hold onto you handles. If you need your hands free for some unforeseen problem, fine, huck 'em. But otherwise, well, how so do you want to get packed back up? :)

Thanks for the good article, Annette.

Don't forget the flashing from chicks who want extra altitude!

I have my students steer the canopy down to 1000'. I teach them how to check canopy, find the windsock, and navigate. They love it. So far, no problems.

Not too long ago I mentioned "I-5" in a post and a Cali person "corrected" it to "The I-5" for me. I had never really heard of that before. . .

I just wanna say that time has a way of healing all wounds. Just keep jumping and hanging with your friends. I wouldn't make too many drastic changes in your life. I want to thank every woman that ever dumped me. Because of them all, I got to meet my wife.

Donuts and beer, I thought.. . Sorry. I hope your next answer is helpful.

I've only done a few tandem videos but I'm a tandem instructor. Here's a list of stuff to practice from my point of view. -Get into position in front of and slightly low on the tandem to get good video of the passenger's face. Up high or far away do not make good videos. -Learn to get into that position quickly and smoothly after exit. For most people, that means working on belly flying skills. -There are many different ways to exit on tandem videos, front float low, looking back, being one of the coolest, but that takes some practice. For now, rear float is probably the best for you. -Stay clear of the danger areas around tandems at ALL times. There's a "cone of death" zone above and below the tandem. Stay out of both. Hope this is some help. Experienced camera fliers could tell you more, but I don't see too many weighing in on this one. Good luck.

So true. I can't tell you how many guys I've seen show up at the DZ with some rig that was really hot a decade back, wanting to sell it. It's tough when you tell them it's more suited for a museum. Happened a lot in the 80's when the big gear transition was finishing up.

Ha, I must have 1500+ jumps on Units, never a single chop. But I don't think I have a rig that would hold that anymore. I can't believe no one has mentioned making these . . .

In our AFF classes, there is so much material presented in such a short period of time, it's hard to retain it all. Making it "stick" with students is a huge challenge. It might be good to get a thorough review with an instructor, or even sit thru another class on a rainy day. You can never know too much in this sport.

They didn't tell you off intelligently, or you wouldn't be having to ask. One of the most dangerous things in our sport is a collision with another canopy at low altitude. Landing areas are busy places, like freeways, with many canopies landing, some faster, some slower, some passing, some being passed. When you make S-turns on final, it's just like weaving across several lanes of traffic on the freeway. Any canopy behind you will now be overtaking you and a collision may result. Make sense?

I like that explanation. I'm gonna steal it and say I thought it up.