AFFI

You safely landed your Side by Side, "Although somebody told me at the time that I came close to going into a downplane" People say lots of things, and can have perspectives from varying angles of view or opinions that are not always accurate. If a Side by Side can be safely landed, why take the risk of attempting to separate them and chop the main in the first place? If you develop a DP, then chop it, but it makes no sense to risk that entanglement if the configuration can be landed safely. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Glad you were able to learn an important lesson without injury or death, but I am curious about something – Given your jump numbers and time in the sport, it was not all that long ago that you were under the supervision of instructors and coaches. Where did you learn that it is okay to not receive a pin check before exit? I am curious because if they are doing their job, Instructors and Coaches should be teaching the importance of pin checks, yet, there are so many skydivers who do not get them. So where is this learned from? - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I once read in one of Don Yahrling’s manuals a quote, went something like: “Do not cut away a Side by Side configuration unless you are absolutely, positively, totally, completely and utterly certain beyond the shadow of a doubt the two canopies will not entangle.” Good old Don, always had a way with words eh? I can look through some piles of old junk, maybe I still have that manual somewhere. Me personally, I would not induce a Downplane, I do not have CRW experience enough to be certain I could pull that off – A Side by Side, I am going to keep and land safely if at all possible (duh). I have witnessed someone recover from a Downplane at -100’ agl, so I would be ready to chop if the situation called for it. I have also seen a few 2-Out situations where the jumper cutaway that resulted in an entanlement - not pretty landings... The primary trick when landing is to keep the fabric overhead – if the jumper and canopy(s) land at the same time, not good… - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Is the chace of an entanglement a factor when cutting away a side by side? - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Good for you - by making amends, it shows that you are trying to do the right thing. How old are you? I mean, do you have a job, pay your own bills and stuff like that? When I started skydiving, I worked for a living and money was tight. I had to make skydiving one of my "bills" and save up for each of my instructional jumps It took me nearly a year to complete a 7 jump AFF course just because I had to save up for each insstructonal jump. I have never been around a DZ where you can "haggle" the cost of an instructional jump with an instructor, there are set prices by the company (DZ) just like anything else. I mean, you can't go to Visible Changes and then haggle the cost of your haircut with the stylist. My advice, save up for each jump, be the best you can be and most of all, be honest about everything (you do in life) because dishonesty never pays off in the end. I am not in anyway implying that you are a dishonest person, this is just general advice I would give to anyone. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

As others have stated, it is ok to give up skydiving. What worked for me was getting my shocked ass on the next possible load. But I had no choice in a sense; I will skydive until I am no longer able. I took counsel with someone with 45 years in the sport and he assured me that just because that happened to someone I knew hat it would not necessarily happen to me, and that accidents happen in this sport like anything else. Once I was in freefall, I was not thinking about the fatality I had witnessed only hours earlier, and as always, freefall gave me total release from all my problems in life and the distraction of seeing someone I knew perish. I did find myself however, more vigilant under canopy and in my training so witnessing such an atrocity was actually beneficial for me in the sense that it illustrated what can happen, how quickly things can turn to shit and to train much more and be a prepared as possible. We all die, and if I perish skydiving no one will be able to say it wasn’t for a lack of training and preparation. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

And what you have learned and will do dfferently? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

why cutaway a side by side? Were they flying erratically or sable? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

"Do you go out of your way to make an x000th jump a non-working one?" Nope, a jump is a jump..

Ummmmm, don't use one?

Careful now, you don't want to "tamper" - it' s each person for themselves...

That is a really good idea. After having some one admit to me that they jumped with their chest strap not threaded right on a two way me I felt pretty guilty. I felt guilty partly because I allways try to eye down every ones stuff but I tended to do it silently, second it was in a 206 so it wasn't like I missed it on a CASA full of jumpers. Glad you had that experience, imagine you would have felt MUCH worse if your buddy fell out of their harness??? Review this” http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2767886#2767886 Irregardless or aircraft type, if you are doing a jump with someone, check all their gear pre board, it only takes a second and apart from a pin check, it can be done very indiscriminately, do it even if it gets their panties in a wad – I would not jump with someone who is too full of self righteous indignation to get gear checks that way I will not grieve as much when they fuck up, - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Remember that a classic PLF was conceived for use under a round parachute with a lot of vertical speed, and not so much horizontal speed. If you try to do the same thing a lot of forward/horizontal and little vertical speed you might be body slammed to the ground. Also, having your feet and knees together is good for a PLF, but if you have to run out a landing (residual horiz speed/no vert speed at the end) you'll do better to have your feet separated fore-aft slightly, and 'sliding/surfing' at first is very common instead of trying to start your feet running immediately. Watch others land and see what you think. All of that assumes that you are able to get your canopy to 'plane out' (no vertical speed) before you touch down. You should be able to do that given your canopy and loading, if not then coaching for flying the wing is in order. A nice stand up landing definitely makes the whole jump seem better, you'll get to where that is easy. Good luck. Not certain if I understand or agree with all of this (some), but the one important thing mentioned was that your feet should be the first point of contact. Certainly, the PLF was invented for rounds, the ram-air simply broadened the definition of the PLF, but the fundamentals are the same. Forward, straight down, side to side or backing up, the PLF works if properly utilized… Just yesterday, I was landing off at an unfamiliar DZ, no wind and I was coming HOT (which means I had a lot of forward momentum, maybe 20+mph). There was grass in the field and I could not judge exactly how high it was - so I put my feet and knees together, kept my hands and arms tight and close to my body (as I flared) - the first point of contact was my feet, slightly shifted forward due to the forward momentum (slid a bit), then my side as I rolled it out (PLF). Was not the prettiest landing, the grass was about 2 feet high and I am certain that if I exposed my butt first I would have been injured, keeping my feet and knees together kept my knees from knocking one another and arms tight to my body protected them as well (ever break a pencil? Easy – now put 4 pencils together, much harder to break). I did not have to be carried out of or limp out of the field; I was able to get up and walk out uninjured with nothing more than some grass stains. Utilizing the proper PLF (on many many occasions) during my skydiving career is most certainly why I have not had a serious landing injury, yet. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

He will even deduct shipping cost? I salute you sir! Problem solved!!! Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Not so. Blue absorbs the thermal energy in the air while pink diffuses and rejects it. The additional transfer of energy allows the blue parachute to have greater rigidity. Is that why Viagra is Blue?

Good old Scotty, one thing I definitely picked up from him (along with a quite few other things) was the old "Check Your Handles" shout out at 10K. But like Scotty, I simply holler just that, "Everybody Check Your Handles" - I even do it if violates someone’s own “personal intolerance”, but I am not out to win popularity awards, just out to keep fellow skydivers alive… It is funny, a lot of the time right after I do it someone else will holler it out but doing their best Scotty Impression (raspy voice) - looks like the old guy leaves impressions everywhere he goes eh? Perhaps I should change it to "Check Your Handles and Cheststraps"? Suggestions? - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Details, please

And dial 9-1 and wait...

A) Don’t land on your “arse”, that’s what your feet are for. B) Landing safely is an often overlooked aspect of this sport, and it is hard to learn – glad you found some respect for it. C) I have had 3 major back surgeries, should have been in a wheelchair a long time ago. I have gear that is designed to open slower than normal, and take every precaution such as strict wind limits and continued training, but I still jump when I can. If skydiving is in your blood and you long to return, you will likely be back, just don’t fuck up by doing something stupid like landing on your ass again. D) You are really going to feel the back pain 5 or 10 years from now, so smoke em if ya got em… E) Be safe and enjoy! - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Here is a hint - something about "slowing down". Hard opening or collision? Ummmm, you decide...

Round is a shape... Looks something like this?

AKA - dont fly above (unravelin) Javelins... Hell ya, great post quade, thats what I'm talkin bout!

Yup... I went thrugh the HD tandem phase, until I realized it is not about me, but about the person who paid good money to get their tandem documented. there should be nothing except good clean fun for tandem videos for paying cliens - no show boating, crotch grabbing fingers or any bonfire bullshit... Just good clean fun...

There is no such thing as "coming out of nowhere" unless we are talking about time travel or wormholes. Everything comes out of somewhere, unless we are talking bout undiscovered laws of physics, that likely do not exist on this planet. Warned to track further? I wouldn’t place blame on anyone, not even yourself even though you did not deploy when and where camera flyers on RW jumps are normally expected to. Close calls happen, and that one could have been much closer before becoming overly concerned given the circumstances. Whoever said, “Never trust anyone” a few posts up - Perhaps the wisest remark ever made concerning filming RW… Fun eh? _ Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

yup... Never was so poor than when I was jumping full time... But still, best years of my life... - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…