NicoNYC

Gotcha. I was going to describe my two idiotic incidents in detail but I figured I should spare myself the embarassment instead. I am ashamed of myself! I've moved this posting to the swooping and canopy control forum. How many hits of adrenaline can you take?

I just recuperated from two seperate downwind landing incidents. I susstained a broken ankle from the first incident last year and the second one I broke one of my hand bones. After 5 mos. of recuperation, I am doing my recertification dive tomorrow. The past 5 months I have been reading several skydiving incident reports and it has not eased my mind one bit. I'm scared and nervous about the landing but I am still going to go through with it because this is what I've always wanted to do. Any tips on how I can shake off this nervousness and fear? Maybe a couple of prayers on my behalf? How many hits of adrenaline can you take?

Thanks for the tip. I'm pretty much sticking to a 240 or 220 main. Question regarding the flat turn, when I'm making that correction above 250 ft. and turning back into the wind, do I release both toggles back up and just keep my feet and knees together or do I keep the toggles in half brakes so the canopy doesn't do a dive on me?

I have about 32 jumps. 10 S/L jumps and 22 FF jumps. I need some serious tips about landing downwind. I know that I shouldn't be landing downwind but sometimes it just happens to the best of us. Well, last July I landed downwind and ended up fracturing my ankle and tearing up my ligaments. Just last Thursday, I landed downwind again. This time I only broke my hand and sprained my knee and the same ankle that I fractured the year before. The problem was that I realized that I was heading downwind at approximately 200 to 250 feet AG. I heard way too many horror stories about people turning back into the wind and either severely hurting themselves or even dying from it. Therefore, the last thing that I wanted to do was to make any hazardous adjustments to my flight plan. I flared at about 15 feet but I still nailed the ground pretty hard. I tried to PLF but my feet hit the runway like a spike first, then I did two unintentional forward rolls on my head to my feet. I need some serious flying tips about how low can I apply a 180 degree turn incase I need to turn back into the wind? Also, does anyone know any DZs that offer canopy flying as a discipline? Please help. If I have another accident it may be a sign that I'm just not worthy of this sport or it may even be fatal.

About 4 weeks ago I had a landing accident in which I had susstained a fracture and torn ligaments to my ankle. Kelly(A.F.F. instructor), Darren (Skydive U)and Kelly(Tandem manifest)came to my rescue immediately after I collided into the ground. The injury and accident was very unfortunate. However, the care that I received was bar none. They basically handled myself and my injury as if I were a shot president. They were just great. And if that weren't enough, Molly(Skydive U), Mary(Square 3 thanks for being so understanding Mary), Kelly(A.F.F Instructor)and Darren (Skydive U) called me at home just to see how I was doing. They all just keep failing to disappoint me. I'm beginning to think if Crosskeys is really a Dropzone or if it's a dream world. Freefall Adventures, Skydive U and Square 3 are just too good to be true. I recommend that everyone should leave all their dropzones and start going to CrossKeys. Keep up the excellent and impressive work guys!

Talk about friendly environment. Deland is filled with a brotherhood type of attitude. Nikki, a great AFF instructor. Thanks for getting me through AFF Level 6 & 7. Paxton and Rhonda showed me the true meaning of southern hospitality. I can't wait till winter comes so I can head out to Deland again.

Friendly environment doesn't even describe a 1/4 of the this DZ's qualities. Let's begin with the DZ crew. Clark, Joe Diaz, Kelly, Molly, Darren, Gio, Jacko, Jason, Dave Pancake and all the rest were very helpful towards helping me get through AFF. Clark, Joe and Kelly are not only great instructors they're also smart, efficient, calming and they always look out for your best interests. They stand behind you 1000%. Without these guys at the DZ, it's just a plain 'ol big field with a plane and people falling out of the sky. They deserve to be where they are and if I could give them an award, I would. They never brush you off when you ask them any questions, even after you finish AFF. They are bar none the BEST!!!! I failed 3 levels twice each but they kept encouraging me to do better and supported me all the way! They deserve an incentive bonus! Get it Dale?!! Nico Supangkat (a.k.a. SuperKat)