migliore

I was jumping with some great guys last Sat. at an out-of-state DZ. I had jumped there and with some of these guys a few times before. All are at least relatively experienced (couple hundred jumps). Toward the end of the day we decided to screw around and did a 5-way horny gorilla out of a caravan with a diver and cameraman following. One of the guys left early and caused the exit to fall apart. The plan was to form a BFR on the low guy if things went to hell. Unfortunately, the low guy was falling at about Mach 2! Only 2 of us made it to him before break time. At 4,500, our 3-way turned and flat-tracked away. I scanned my airspace during tracking by first looking down and in front of me and then by looking under each shoulder and quickly looking around above me. Everything looked cool. I reached back for my hackey and all of the sudden saw a jumper waving off directly beneath me (~300 feet away). I had never prepared for this situation, and I didn't have time to weigh all of the options. My first instinct was stay above him by opening NOW! So I did...I completed the pull and looked for him during snivel. Unfortunately my canopy (Spectre 150) snivels quite a bit more than his (South African ZP ~170?). A second after dumping, my body hit his mostly open canopy on the 2nd or 3rd cell and I bounced away to the left. I used my rear risers to steer away and then I hand-signalled him to make sure he was OK. It was scary as hell, but I stayed calm the whole time and tried to do the best with the decisions that I had made. In retrospect, it may have been possible, once I saw the other jumper, to hard track away and open lower, but that option would have introduced the possibility of hitting him or his opening canopy while I was in freefall (huge impact), and I probably would have been dumping low enough that my snivel might have gotten close to my cyprus altitude. In the end, we both walked away unhurt and with no equipment damage. We talked about the incident and tried to determine how he got directly beneath me without either of us noticing. Our best guess was that he was tracking below and behind me and we both happened to stop at the same point. Shane

Contact the manufacturer of your container (Relative Workshop). That is always the best starting point. Shane

With booties, your legs play a much more important role in your flying. Upper body turns alone will have less effect than before because you have two big rudders on your feet fighting the turn. Find a coach/instructor to talk about leg turns with. You will find that using your "rudders" to turn will produce much faster, crisper turns than arms alone. Your diving during tracking is because you now have more drag on your feet which is pitching your body more head-down. You need to *de-arch* to prevent the diving and get a flat track. Good luck and have fun learning! Shane

I'm with you...between gearing up and exit, I probably do 5-8 checks of all straps, handles, and rings. I also look around at those near me for anything obvious. I can't imagine it any other way. Shane

For what it's worth, my instructor always steered me away of trying to get ahead by reading outside material or talking to other folks. He wanted to present things to me in a certain way and prevent me from being swayed by things that I read or heard. Just know that your instructor will teach you everything you need to know to complete the AFF program and that you should avoid listening to advice from anyone other that an AFF instructor until you are off student status. Shane

Try a double front-riser approach. Release risers about 2 sec. before your flare and do a nice full flare. Worked great for me when I had the same problem. Shane

First pics are posted from Sat...enjoy http://www.skydivemonroe.com/picture_gallery/thumbnails.php?album=27 Shane

I also have an L5/S1 herniation. I have found that stretching daily is a big help, but as far as jumping goes, the activity itself seems to be good for me. It provides symetric exercise and can help with flexibilty. The best thing I have found to do during a jump is to relieve my back of the opening shock. I do this by grabbing my risers immediately after pulling (once the lines extend but before the canopy is open) and lifting some of the weight off of the leg straps. This way, your arms act like shock absorbers and prevent your spine from being excessively compressed. Shane

3rd year PhD student in Elec. Eng at Georgia Tech. Part of the the Tech 4-way team GT Airlock with one other grad student and 2 undergrads. Shane

Glad you enjoyed your jump, but just to recap...you are a student flying an unfamiliar rig, attempting to freefly through clouds?!? Yikes! I would go back and read your SIM a little more carefully. Shane

I shared an hour block with 4 experienced jumpers after my first tandem and I progressed quickly though my training. I also got a bunch of complements along the way. I think this experience is definitely beneficial to jumpers at any level. In fact, my 4way team has two hours reserved for this Sat night...kick ass! --Shane Shane

Let's not change the topic and go off on a helmet tangent. The bottom line is a helmet does not generally lessen the level of impact on one's head. Helmets are designed to do three main things: 1) provide some damping (cushioning), 2) distribute forces to minimize sharp blows thereby spreading the forces over a larger surface area, and 3) prevent cuts, scrapes. Some helmets do each of these things better than others. Obviously, you can be knocked out cold with a helmet on...you are still being whacked in the head with something. But in most cases having a helmet on when getting hit in the head is a good thing. Just my 2 cents. Shane

I fit my Spectre 150 into a G3 M1 no prob. But this is a 7 cell with around 200 jumps on it. A ZP 9-cell would be a huge bitch (if possible at all), and would probably present safety issues. Bottom line is if a 170 gives you your appropriate wing loading, don't compromise just to get it into a smaller container. Go with a larger container. Shane

That's a nice picture, but without any context (such as what happened to cause it and how the situation ended) this thread does not belong in the "Incidents" forum. Shane

I'm ususally nervous for the first jump of the day (the "Breakfast Jump"). After that, the adrenaline is flowing and I'm fine for the rest of the day. Shane

As always, talk to your instructor or S&TA. You do have to be a bit careful about not landing 2 miles from the DZ because you lost awareness, and you do NOT want to be anywhere near another canopy until you have more canopy piloting experience. The most important thing is to talk with the pilot and others on the load about your intentions **before the plane leaves the runway*, as the pilot may have to clear it with ATC, and the other jumpers need to exit before you. Shane

Right there with you man. I've done a bunch from 14K. It is a blast to go nuts on your canopy without having to worry about the ground coming up too quickly. Get a few friends and get a train going. You really get your jump ticket worth with all that hangtime. Shane

I don't think that just because you can hold a position (sit, stand, etc.) you are a freeflyer. I can do any of those things (though none exceedingly well ), but until it becomes 2nd nature and until I have spent a good chunk of time doing primarily freefly jumps, I won't consider myself a freeflyer. Until then, I am a skydiver who freeflies occasionally and loves every minute of it. Shane

I've also never heard of such a beast, but i can't understand why any modern skydiver (much less all 4) would rely at all on a device that doesn't consider exit altitude or changes in fall rate due to body position, clothing, etc. That must have been one of the most scary yet relieving moments in your skydiving career. Shane

It would appear not, huh? I am not familiar with this incident, but it would seem this team made at least 2 bad decisions...1) no audibles on anyone and 2) soley relying on timing on a jump from an altitude they were probably unfamiliar with. Thank God they were all at least wearing AADs. As I stated on an earlier post, I personally always use a visual altimeter, an audible altimeter, and my eyes to gauge altitude...and I recommend the same for all skydivers. Shane

I have dealt with this since I started jumping 3 years ago and we just got engaged. It definitely can work, but it needs compromises on both ends. I don't jump every weekend because we like to do things together when we have "proper" time together, but she understands that skydiving is very important to me so she deals with my participation in something she does not like at all. Shane

I am nearly the exact same boat. I herniated my L5-S1 disc (lower back) playing football in high school. 7 years later I started jumping and my back definitely lets me know if I am pushing myself too hard. Physical therapy and lots of stretching have helped me the most. As far as jumping goes, I use a spectre, which has nice, consistent, on-heading openings. Also, I found that a major way to prevent canopy openings from hurting my back is to grab the risers as soon as they stand up (before the canopy actually opens). I grab them around ear height (a few inches above the 3 rings) and pull down gradually. What this does is allow your arms to work as shocks and keep much of the canopy's opening shock from jamming your pelvis up (and compressing your spine). Hope this helps...others who have tried this at my DZ have said it has been good for them too. Shane

Don't misunderstand me. I am well aware of the importance of altimeters (I wear an Alti III and an audible) as well as mental timing and using my eyes. I would never recommend jumping w/o one (though I know some who don't). My statement was regarding those who complete in 4way and DO wear visual alti's but do not monitor them under normal conditions during freefall because of the task at hand. Shane

if you're looking at your alti, you're not paying attention to the task at hand (you're not seeing the next grip you have to take or the cue you need to move to the next formation). Of course, this is typically only done by those who are very comfortable with jump timing, etc., so as a rookie, you should be thinking...altimeter good , audible good Shane

I had a spinning mal and when I cut-away, I was thrown diagonally head-down. My PDR deployed while I was like this, and it was a perfect opening. It flew nice and I stood up the landing. I've only had 1 opportunity to evaluate it, but (needless to say) I am very happy with its performance.