elfanie

That's what I was wondering...thanks!! Also...if you're doing this type of jump, how long do you need to give yourself to slow down? In other words...if you plan to pull at 4K....at what altitude should you break off (or hop off ) and allow yourself to slow down? How long does it take to slow down so that you're at a better speed to pull? (I've "tasted" freeflying a couple of times...and couldn't get used to the fact that going from a sit to a track your fallrate is still so much higher that when I'd look at my alt, I was lower than I anticipated I'd be. For example...if I track for a 5-count, I normally lose about 1000 feet after an RW jump. If I sit - or flop around - and then flip to belly and track for a 5-count, I lose more like 1300 feet or so...that was hard for me to get used to.) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

http://www.jumpingmad.com/girlfalldown/1stvid-1.wmv -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Ok...after watching freeflir29's video....I have a question. At one point there were two people in a jump together and doing a "horsey ride"..one jumper was belly-flying and the other was hitching a ride on his back. Now...what would their fall rate likely be? If tandems need a drogue because of speed...wouldn't someone doing this type of jump also find themselves going screamingly fast? How long before deployment should someone doing this break up and try and slow down? -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Heh...that's quite some, uh...industrial haze you had going there. Very very nice video...I'm impressed!! -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

says that a username and password is required..? -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Nope...right by my ear.

The only turbulance-maker is the hanger...and that wasn't a factor in this landing due to the direction of the wind. We're very lucky here in that there aren't really tree lines or hills or things like that (if you do end up seeing the video, you'll see shrubby desert behind me. Makes this DZ VERY EASY to land at because even if you're out...you don't really have to "look" for an outlanding...everything is a potential landing area around here.. There is a hanger that can cause turbulance...but the wind wasn't coming over the hanger (it rarely ever does) and when it does I usually land on the very edge of the landing area (which is as far away from the building as you can get)....going so far as to even landing a little in the desert so as to not get close to the hanger and get turbulance (I don't mind walking a little further..walking never hurt anyone) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

so is my husband.. I like goofy sons of bitches. (apologies to my mother-in-law.. ) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Dave..you're a stud no matter what your avatar is. Oops...forgot, I'm married...I can't oogle other men. (especially newly engaged other men. ) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

*laugh* True enough. Many times depending on your perspective and point of view. Many times from the point of view of "most of my landings". not many times in numbers from the point of view of someone with 9,000 jumps. =) What I meant is that this isn't something new that I just did on this one jump... Out of my 68 jumps..I've probably done this on 50+ or so of them... I didn't mean that to sound like I thought I had "all this experience"...

*nodsnods* Problem is that I didn't 'flare'... I was trying to do a gentle right 'nudge' to counteract the shift the wind gave me... my canopy then acted like I'd flared...as in, it planed out...and by the time I realized what had happened I was diving and the ground was rushing up to meet me and I THEN "flared" (a bit higher than I normally would...but even that had NO effect). In otherwords...if I 'started the flare' with my slight right-toggle input...I didn't realize it. but even if I had realized it...lets say I did a right toggle tomorrow and felt the same 'lift'....how do I "hold the flare"?? Keep the right toggle down? That would turn me as it dives into the ground (and then people would be saying, "you dumbell idiot! Why were you turning so low!") and I would add to your opinion (which is a good one!) that it would also vary not only according to canopy and wing loading..but also wind conditions. Because I"ve done these gentle turns many many many times coming in and NEVER had anything like this happen... -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

The funny thing is...I also don't get hangovers....and there are several people that seemed MIGHTY disappointed that I was without the morning-after-payment. But even though I thought I had a pretty wild college career....oh Lordy...I don't remember EVER in my LIFE being as totally blasted as I was from that Jello. (and the next person that says to me, "There's always room....." I'm going to bitch-slap!! *stares at her husband who posts here and DARES him to say ANYTHING!* ) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

*opens mouth* *not sure what to say, shuts mouth* *opens mouth again* Umm...ok...so know that there are people at my DZ that, while they don't post, they do read here. And I'm sure that they are laughing their behinds off right now that I'm even responding to this thread. I'm usually a non-drinker...went 6.5 years without even a sip of alcohol because I don't like the taste of alcohol. recently (since december) I started sampling things. I'm a lightweight..and I had surgery on my stomach 2.5 years ago that makes me very much a lightweight now... this past weekend...saturday night...discovered jello made with 2 cups of vodka. oh..my...lordy. Yup...ate the whole bowl. Yup...put up with the teasing the next morning as they shouted things like, "Hey, Stumbles...how you feeling this morning Stumbles?" "there she is! There's Jello!" "Good morning Stumbles..how are you doing today?" Jello shots are bad. bad bad. jello not in shot glasses but in a bowl with a great big spoon? SUPER BAD!!!! *shudders* -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Ya'll keep talking about age requirements for jumping... what about for a tandem jump? do you think it would be ok for a 13 year old to do a tandem? What about a 10 year old? 5 year old? 2 year old? -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

I looked it over with the coach who did my canopy control course...but it was on the itty bitty camcorder screen, so you couldn't really see much...so it was hard for him to see anything. (ie. the coaches weren't all out there watching...so they are going off of a video as well. ) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

I can see that having happened...*nods* that's highly possible that it's what happened. But then my question is...what's the best response to this situation? You're already under canopy...you catch that rotor (is that the same as an updraft/gust?)...and you feel your canopy shift...what is the best way to respond to that? just allow your canopy to be blown and prepare for a cross-wind landing? How can you tell when an attempted correction is going to cause a flare effect? If you find yourself in that position....what is the best way to respond to it so that you don't end up "oof-ing" into the ground? -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

*nods* and I have done that more times than I have been happy with...anytime there are winds above 15 I end up grounding myself. (I am not a student, so I CAN jump in higher winds..I just choose not to for safety reasons) However...when I say irratic gusts going to 18-19MPH..I mean, a select few ALL DAY. The winds were generally speaking staying

Ron? Billvon? AggieDave? Betsy? Anyone feel like giving opinions and helping a newbie with education? Not this past weekend but the weekend before...I had something "strange" happen to me on landing and I actually got video of it... Let me explain strange...strange as in I've never experienced/felt this before....not that it's unexplainable or something. background information: exit weight is about 160 and I'm flying a sabre 190. Winds were a little inconsistant that day, keeping around 12-15mph, but there were a few irregular gusts that would occur to kick it up to 18-19MPH. I'm coming in for my landing..everything is going pretty much exactly as it has every other time. As I was coming in, I was slightly cross wind so I gave a very gentle right toggle input slowly to about ear-level (see link to the landing video...notice that when the video begins, both hands are in full flight. I move my right hand down to about my ear and hold it for a couple of seconds until the canopy responds and then I release it). I've done this countless times...slight slow corrections making sure to go to 'full flight' before I'm really close to the ground.... this time was different in that as my canopy responded to my right toggle input, it felt like I flared it. I felt the canopy slow down just like I went into half-brakes. As soon as I felt that...I brought my toggle back up (notice the saguaros in the background and you'll see that when I bring my toggle back up, I'm still relatively high) As I went back to full flight, my canopy DOVE....lost all life...and I punched the toggles to attempt to flare...nothing. I got NO response from the canopy when I flared and thumped into the ground pretty good. (believe it or not...the worst thing that hurt was the bottom of my feet which stung. Good way to break a leg. Glad I didn't...) But...why would my canopy have responded that way? did I catch a gust at the wrong time? Was my input of my right toggle...was that something that would cause my canopy to 'flare' in those winds? In the video, you'll see my canopy "plane out" and then dive. I've watched it many many times to try to figure out what happened...what I did to cause it...how to prevent it from happening again.. Any input...advice...ideas...opinions..? this is an educational opportunity here. Landing Video (edited to add: In the beginning of the video, you can see the wind pushing my canopy a little to the left...you'll see it sort of "jerk...jerk..." a little to the left, so the right toggle was to straighten me back out and counteract the pushing of the wind...just another FYI to point out..) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Wowza!! There have been several jumpship incidents due to contaminated fuel, some costing lives. You can read of several cases where jumpships have not been properly maintained and have had to abort jumprun, enact emergency procedures and tell people to bail. I don't see it as a given. I am not a aircraft pilot, but I do jump out of them everyday. Maintenance is the highest priority. As I said earlier low jump prices arent going to do anyone any good if an aircraft is grounded. The fastest jumpship will cease being the fastest with poor maintenance. I don't think he meant that it was a given that the aircraft would BE well maintained... I think he meant that it was a given that we all WANT a safe well-maintained aircraft first and foremost. (obviously we don't want the biggest aircraft that also happens to be the fastest to 16K with an enormous door...if you're going to have to bail at 2K or if it's sitting off on the side because the engine won't start or whose wing is going to blow off at altitude) It's a given that we all, first and foremost, want a safe, well maintained aircraft... but beyond THAT...what is important. I think that's what he meant... not that all aircraft are well maintained (because, unfortunately as you point out, they are not) -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

How long had she been in the sport before trying such complicated maneuvers in such hazardous conditions? How many times had she played tennis before...and for how long? How long had it been since she played her last game? was she current? -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

(since this will be moved to safety and training> anyways...) What happened to the 2-try rule? Is that a local thing, only taught at my DZ? I as taught never to try anything (regarding 'proceedures') more than two times. pulling your PC? no more than 2X. got a line over you want to clear? no more than two tugs. Got a horseshoe? try to clear 2X, no more. I was taught a 2 try rule...is that not universally taught? -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

Umm...I think you misread somehow. If you look at the report, it says that total fatalities were 73 worldwide... 15 were students 14 were intermediates 44 were experts. That is NOT saying that 77% of fatalities were students!! IF you calculate it correctly... 20.5% were students 19.5% were intermediates 60% were experts. #1 cause of death was listed as "fast canopies"...twice the number of fatalities as the #2 cause of death, which is "other landings" (whatever that means) I don't know where you got that students were 77% of the fatalities...but that's not accurate... -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

We have three children...ages 8, 4, and 17 months. My husband and I both jump. I don't think it's crazy at all...I take a certain amount of risk living life every single day... and do they think that people who scuba dive who are parents are crazy? (statistically, SCUBA is quite a bit more dangerous than skydiving...by factors) Our kids love to be at the DZ with us...love to watch us. My 17 month old points to any canopy in the sky and says, "ma ma ma ma..." My 8 year old is just waiting for his first tandem (but we'll talk more about that after it happens). Nope..no conflict here. -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

I'm just trying to figure out how you'd spot that high up... Not like you'd see the dropzone...right? That would be an amazing jump. -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings

I wonder what the speeds of the downhill "extreme" skiiers are that are basically cliff jumping with skis and landing on slopes to slow their descent. Theoretically...even if you had no birdsuit and no parachute...theoretically you could land on a snowly slope at the right angle if the mountain was sloped to the right angle and slowly changed, thus slowly changing your descent rate. theoretically. therefore, theoretically if in a birdman suit and if the slope of the mountain was right....you could land it..even if you were going 50mph. -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings