Reginald

I do believe this has been an excellent learning tool for the group. Which is what you intended it to be, of course. It takes a lot of guts to make a post of this sort and then even more humility to read the responses. It’s interesting, in a book I just finished reading “Deep Survival” (Yes, I want it known I actually read a book!) one of the key personality traits of long term survivors is humility. In other words, regardless of one’s experience or “mastery” of a sport always continuing to learn and never acting like one knows it all. You have demonstrated great humility in this post. It’s amazing that you are alive. I counted no less than 7 mistakes that you personally made in the chain of events - that is normally more than enough to kill a person. You survived more due to good luck than by actions you took. And while luck is a great thing to have it’s obviously not a good long-term strategy. I think Mykel made a great post and included a lot of solid educational material that everyone should contemplate. It is consistent with what we teach in our FJC and with widely recognized “best practices”. I have had my share of humbling moments in this sport and hope that I will always be wise enough to continue to learn both from good experiences and mistakes, both my own and that of others kind enough to share theirs for the benefit of the sport at large. Thank you for sharing your experience for the benefit of all. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

LOL! That's a great way to put it! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Yes a downwind landing IS safer than a low turn! I personally am shocked at how many people are afraid to do a downwind landing! It should be a basic skill everyone has on his or her canopy. Because someday circumstances will conspire to put a person in a situation where they have to decide to do a low turn to face the wind or land downwind. Low turns are dangerous, and flat turns are nice but sometimes the best option is a simple downwind landing. If a person is afraid to land downwind then I personally think they do not have the skills to be flying that particular canopy. I hope your friend heals well. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

The Chief Instructor backs us 100% and the DZ Manager has never done anything other than back us either. No questions asked.... "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

What I’m seeing in the data is a speed of 175 MPH at 46 seconds into the jump and a saddle out altitude of 2,500 ft. at 51 seconds. I’ve personally found the ProTrack’s saddle out alt. to be a pretty good indicator (+ or – maybe 100ft) of where I actually saddle out vs. my wrist altimeter. The key thing I’m seeing is that there is only 5 seconds between a speed of 175MPH and where you were saddled out. This implies to me that you were potentially going pretty damn fast when you deployed and had a fast opening. Personally, I would not rule out a fast fall rate from being a contributing factor to the hard opening. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

A proper "Flat Track," which should be used when trying to gain separation from a formation, involves minimizing vertical speed. A good tracker can reduce their vertical speed to 80 or 85 MPH. This reduction in vertical speed allows for more time to track and hence more horizontal separation. It is very bad form to dive (increase vertical speed) in a "track" away from a formation. Some of the people in the picture are diving at the begining of their "track". "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Night jumps are a requirment for a D. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Yes, any competent instructor will want to know about your previous experiences. Plenty of people struggle in one method yet thrive in another. Be honest and have fun. It will be a totally different experience for you! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

It took me 6 months to finish my A license in about 30 jumps. In the 12 months after I got my A license I did just shy of 400 jumps. Chris – I was wondering what happened to you. We had, what I thought were, some great coaching jumps together and then you just never showed back up at the DZ! You could hurt a guy’s feelings you know. I was looking forward to knocking out the rest of your jumps in short order! “Life Happens?… yes it does at 13,500 feet! Armando – you are just slacking at this point! Get out there and finish your license! I just had surgery last week to fuse my C6 and C7 vertebra in my neck. I won’t be able to jump for about 3 months. Both of you guys better be working on your B licenses by the time I’m back in the air. You are both close…so close!

Yes plenty of people. Many went with too small of a main or reserve for their first rig and these people disproportionately end up in the incidents section. Particularly someone with 50 jumps who lists “swooping” as a discipline of choice is at risk for a negative outcome. A 190 is a pretty good reserve for your experience level, a 176 is not totally unreasonable and you think going to a 160 might be an option? Please do not buy either a main or a reserve that happens to fit in a container you like. Buy a rig that fits an appropriate size reserve for you and also a main that is appropriate. Do not buy canopies that fit into a rig you like! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

With one jump "solo" I'd have him on a 280 or maybe a 260. 170+25 for gear is 195 out the door. A 210 is way to small for a second solo jump. An elevation of 2,000 factors against using a 210 also. In short no way I’d have this person on a 210. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Unfortunately the best answers to your question will be more questions, as you have not provided enough information for anyone to give much in the way of a meaningful direct answer. As you can see some very qualified people have only asked “probing” questions to try and get enough information out of you to provide a meaningful answer. No one has provided a meaningful answer, per se. So help us help you by giving us enough information to actually help you. Here are a short list of questions people have already asked or will ask. How many jumps does the student have? The answer is different for 1 jump or 10. If the student has more than 1 jump what were the prior sizes of canopies and type he or she jumped? How was the students’ canopy control on the prior jumps, if any? What kind of main? A square or an elliptical? A ZP or an F111? The answer you seek is different for each type of canopy. What kind of reserve and what size? This may be more important than the main. How was the student in the first jump course? Were they the star of the class or the dunce? I guarantee when I’m choosing a canopy for a student that was in a first jump course I taught this enters into my mind. What is the elevation of the airport? What is the temperature? What is the students physically conditioning? Are they out of shape or a model of physical conditioning? What is the size of the landing area? Is it a large open area or a small area surrounded by forests or man-eating alligators? What are the winds at the time of the jump, both the ground winds and the uppers at canopy altitude? I’m getting tired of typing but you can see that this very partial list shows that your question is not answerable in and of itself other than with more questions. So if you would like a direct answer to your question instead of more questions in return it would be helpful if you could give us the full story… Blue Skies, Ron (the well dressed one…not the angry tunnel coach) "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

maybe a better question is how much do you weigh and why are you asking? "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Well there are always two sides and while he may well have started this all in your mind, based on your statement above you are just as culpable now as he is. You were rude to him. Writing letters never does anything except to generate hard feelings and make both parties look bad. Suck it up and talk to him man to man in a calm professional tone. If you ever want to get this resolved it is your best bet. Good luck and I hope you get it resolved. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Personally, i don't know anyone that really uses verbal counts. Not much of anyone can hear them anyway. All counts are through motion. Shake, down, out! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Call and start booking now... "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

LOL!, I don't guess it would help if I said I've been jumping 3 years now!

Must be nice to jump in such a docile climate. Of course ‘round these parts we use a chain for a wind sock... "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

I've seen a few old rigs with chest mounted rip cords. Usually the lower right MLW. It's old time..way before my time to be sure. I've had to try and transition a couple of students from other DZ's that used chest mounted rip cords to BOC PC's. One guy was SURE he didn't need an instructor jumping with him on his first jump with a BOC PC. We didn’t give him an option. To his credit he found the PC, but he held onto the PC….so on the ground yet another 50 practice throws… "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Well usually it's half brakes but more importantly this does nothing to tell a person about the ground winds. This is called an "upper wind assessment" and rarely are the uppers and the ground winds the same direction.... "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

What are you afraid of? You do have a parachute on, right? On a similar but different note, I used to be horrified of spotting when I was a student. I just knew if I stuck my head out of the plane I would fall out – which scared me to no end. I talked to an instructor about it and he told me, “well if you fall out we just start the skydive a few second early.” For some reason that advice helped, I’ve never been afraid of spotting again. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

When I'm working with students on this item I have them dive and I rear float. I have the student give the count “ready, set, go” with body motion not verbalized. I leave on “set”. The student dives on “go” the difference is about 1 second and produces approximately 100 feet of separation. Works like a charm. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

LOL, Good point! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

With 85,000 jumps you think you would know that.... "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Thanks for sharing. A good reminder that anyone can make a small mistake with potential for disaster. Be careful out there.... "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP