Dumbest thing you did skydiving

rickjump1 · April 10, 2004

Once caught a sleeve with a smoke grenade when jumping rounds. It came loose but stained a lot of stuff red.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

Saturn27 · April 10, 2004

Well, I have done a number of stupid things, but the one I remember most is forgetting to buckle the straps of my protec helmet before exiting the plane. Luckily the exit went great because the other people on the skydive held onto me while I was trying to fasten the buckle. Trying to buckle your helmet in free fall with gloves on in 37 degree (ground temp) weather just doesn't work. By breakoff, I still didn't get it, so I tracked away holding onto the buckle with my left hand and trying to correct for the turn, pulled, and then buckled it under canopy. Well, I have never forgotten to buckle my helmet again, but I have a new Z1 open faced helmet that apparently wasn't snapped all the way and when I deployed about 2 weeks ago it flew off. Protrack and all. No one was in my area, so I watched it as it landed in a farmer's field. I then flew down and landed with it. Recovered everything with only a few scratches. Lesson: I ALWAYS pull on the strap now to make sure it is secure!

nael · April 10, 2004

Quote
Quote
Its better to regret something you did, than something you didn't do.

I find it ironic after reading all of these "stuid things I did"...that you have this for a sig line. In skydiving, I definately think that it's better to regret what you didn't do than what you did...
jumping in high winds, downsizing quickly, swooping early, etc etc etc...
I'd rather not do it and wish that I had..
than do it and wish that I hadn't.

most everything else in life? yeah..I'd agree with your sig line...

haha Very true.

www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Trader Feedback · April 10, 2004

okay just relieing to the last post in the tread......

stupiest thing well lets call it dumb was downsize frommy pd210 to a sbre 150 in 1 jump.............. looking back it wasn't the smartest and i wouldn't do it again but id di and can't take it back....... i'm more along the lines of a canopy nazi now...... they say there are old skydivers and bold skydivers but not bold old skydivers.... i want to be an old skydiver....

______________________________________
"i have no reader's digest version"

EBSB52 · January 7, 2005

Got to DZ, was immed invited onto a 5-way track dive, did quick gear check, got onto acft with helmet and wrist altimeter inside (Ithought), so I went for it just after boarding the acft but found it wasn't inside helmet (figured I dropped it in the car or wherever).

Anyway, I catch the camera guy 2k b4 break and just as I catch him the alti flies out of my pocket, where I had last put it.

Frenchy68 · January 7, 2005

In my tiny newbie skydiving carreer:
solo jump, uneventful, pulled, nice opening, look down to realise that both my handles are covered by my "untucked" sweat shirt. Oooops. Land. Tuck my top into my pants. Pack. Go back up. Malfunction and cutaway!

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

bluesky1977 · January 7, 2005

My experience was similiar. I was not sure whether the winds were up up when I went up in load but by the time I was about to make my final turn toward the Ps I was being blown back. Now to make the situation interesting there were trees about 75 ft behind me and I was about 300 ft in the air. Fearing a tree landing, i decide to move away from the trees. The moment I turn my canopy a bit, wind blows me away... I miss the tops of two small trees and land with a decent flare. (All is good so far...) but then I forgot to leave one toggle and pull the other one down...oops I get dragged a bit (not a big deal cuz I was under 3 layers of clothing atleast...). But then there was a downstep in the terrain ahead of me...I got away with a chipped elbow...but after that I never jumped in high winds...

tempretired · January 7, 2005

1)Somewhere around my 20th jump, I was on final approach at approximately 30 feet about the ground when I hit some turbulance. My canopy turned 45 degrees and scared the hell out of me. I immediatly flared (at 30 feet) and realized I was to high for a flare. Rather than let my toggles up slowly, I let them up rapidly and surged toward the ground. As I surged toward the ground, I flared again with no response and hit the ground hard and rolled a few times. Lucky for me it was winter and there was about a foot of snow on the ground to break my fall.

2)Got on a 20 way with about 100 jumps when I didn't have the proper skills and neither did the 19 others. Our next mistake was getting our over some large deep puffy clouds. We flailed and then disappeared into the clouds. We didn't come out of that cloud until about 5,000. Everyone was at different levels and places. I tracked like hell, checked the air above, waved off and pulled.

bob.dino · January 7, 2005

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I had heard reports of lines getting caught on the bottom of the reserve container as people like skysurfers deploy in a stand and it can cause the pack tray to split and be removed from the container. The reserve is still held on by risers but a lot of good that does.

I saw the end result of this about a month ago. Premature deployment in a sit, canopy ok, reserve tray only held on by the stitching between the shoulders, a lot of brusing, and one very lucky boy.

Trader Feedback · January 8, 2005

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Making a 3RD attempt to get my pilot chute out. But it came out alright....and proceeded into a line twist, which was followed by my slider slamming down and unstowing my right toggle. Then the toggle went over the top of the slider and sent me into a hard right spiral. Then realizing my slider grommet on the left side was trapping my left toggle so I could not unstow it. Then seeing the ground ~700 feet below me as my body is horizonal to the ground on about my 6th revolution. Then letting go of my handles thinking I was too low to chop. And FINALLY reaching up and hanging on my left FRONT riser to stop the spin. It stopped the spin alright, but by then I was ~75 from impact going directly downwind on a 20mph wind day.

This situation is something I noticed that has been discused quite a bit, having a spinning mal at 700-800 feet.

Did you have a RSL? Do you think that if you had a RSL and cutaway, that the reserve would have inflated fully?

pajarito · January 8, 2005

When I was under 50 jumps, I did some 2-way RW with a more experienced jumper friend of mine (she only had a couple hundred herself, though). This is before the days of dytters, before most up-jumpers wore automatic opening devices, and before reserve static lines, etc. We got carried away with the dive and took it down to about 1400 - 1500 feet. It scared the piss out of me when I glanced at my altimeter and could also see the faces of the people on the ground MUCH better as my parachute was opening. Stay alert - stay alive!

Trader Feedback · January 8, 2005

Took 2 guys with 100 jumps each for a loose exit/ horny gorilla/sitfly jump. I had all of like 350 jumps. One guy messed up the exit by grabbing me for stability, then lost stability anyway, then staying up for a looong time on his belly before trying to come down. He didn't make it of course.

We made it a 2way sitfly jump while keeping track of him....

Nobody got hurt, but it wasn't the brightest idea I ever had...

BTW one of those 2 (the one that did follow the plan) now has >1000 jumps and is a newby freefly coach

ciel bleu,
Saskia

Trader Feedback · January 8, 2005

Another nice one: borrowing a too-big birdman suit of a type I'd never jumped before (GTi, jumped Classic1/2, Skyflyer1, MTR-1 before), out of a plane I had 6 jumps out of (door was on the wrong side!), on a DZ I had 6 jumps on, in hilly terrain when I only jump on flat stuff usually, with a borrowed rig with a for me new type of canopy (Super7, suitable for BM and a 150 when I jumped a 135/126). Oh yeah, also put on my camera helmet for my second freefall camera jump ever of which this was the first BM jump (I did have like 50 CRW camera jumps).

Dove out of the airplane (C207, the tail looked low to me), STABLE I might add :-) flew a decent if a little bit wobbly circuit (hmm that suit is biggish, and turning my head with that topmount is interesting...), opened a little high to be safe, no prob, unstowed brakelines - WOW these are WAY TOO SHORT. Like, flaring ended at shoulder hight! OK, the DZ is on that hill over there, I can make that. Eh, I'm not going forward (winds had picked up and turned 180 and this canopy sank like hell) Ok, uphill? No, not gonna make that either, downhill? Shit where were those powerlines again?

Landed downhill for the first time in my life, between 2 sets of powerlines, in the middle of a corn field...
Took me a looong walk to get back!

Again, nothing went wrong, but...
Whaddayamean, not so smart?!

ciel bleu,
Saskia

mattjw916 · January 8, 2005

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This situation is something I noticed that has been discused quite a bit, having a spinning mal at 700-800 feet.

Did you have a RSL? Do you think that if you had a RSL and cutaway, that the reserve would have inflated fully?

If you are having a spinning mal and you chop at 700-800 ft with an RSL your reserve will likely open into line twists (or worse) which you will have the rest of your life to try and kick out of... the trick is to not get into that kind of situation to begin with.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Zep · January 8, 2005

I'm glad to say I got most of my dumb things out of the way early on

First, one picking up a rig from the stores an not checking it, on the flight line check
an instructor notice it had a misrouted bridle line.

Second, clipping a canopy in freefall, I saw the guy wave off an go for the pull
I saw the canopy come out an inflate, but I just stayed an watched it
until it clipped it with my thigh, the bruise was massive

Third, on a cloudy sunday we decided to go for a climbing pass
so me with only 100 or so jumps did a 6way speed star from 2000ft
we got it held it for half a second, very short track an open around 600

Fourth, years later, first jump on a ZP, started a 270º to low got round about 200º
saw the ground coming up fast, flared for all I was worth an managed to escape
with a twisted knee an heavy bruising

Over the years I've done loads of silly things like every on else
Thankfully most of us only make the same mistake once, or should I
say we learn from our mistakes

Gone fishing

Trader Feedback · January 8, 2005

Quote
Quote
This situation is something I noticed that has been discused quite a bit, having a spinning mal at 700-800 feet.

Did you have a RSL? Do you think that if you had a RSL and cutaway, that the reserve would have inflated fully?

If you are having a spinning mal and you chop at 700-800 ft with an RSL your reserve will likely open into line twists (or worse) which you will have the rest of your life to try and kick out of... the trick is to not get into that kind of situation to begin with.

A cutaway from a spinning mal + RSL = NOT necessarily line twists on your reserve! Since you'll be flung away form the canopy with your feet into the relative wind you're stable and not spinning anymore.

My own 2 spinners gave me zero linetwists with or without RSL...

Personally I think you're way better of at >1000 ft with an RSL then without if you are low with something unlandable. You're only option if low is to pull your reserve without cutaway, with no guarantees that you're going fast enough for it to open and that is has the time to open.

Of course like you said, the best remedy is to not get there at all, but if you're canopy gets clipped by somebody else or something, and you're low, good luck!

ciel bleu,
Saskia

mattjw916 · January 8, 2005

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A cutaway from a spinning mal + RSL = NOT necessarily line twists on your reserve! Since you'll be flung away form the canopy with your feet into the relative wind you're stable and not spinning anymore.

My own 2 spinners gave me zero linetwists with or without RSL...

I didn't say it WOULD happen I said it COULD happen. The concept of flying completely symmetrically with your feet into the relative wind after a cutaway is not guaranteed by any means, as every cutaway has a huge number of variables. You could just as easily be doing lateral cartwheels with your back to the earth staring at you reserve pilot chute between your legs.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

JohnMitchell · January 9, 2005

If you are having a spinning mal and you chop at 700-800 ft with an RSL your reserve will likely open into line twists (or worse) which you will have the rest of your life to try and kick out of... the trick is to not get into that kind of situation to begin with.

mattjw916 · January 9, 2005

Yes, i was aware of that, but i am not going to bet my life on it... anyone who thinks or leads anyone else to think that an RSL is a magic cure-all in a low cutaway situation is kidding themselves... a sentiment echoed by so many of my friends that I know scant few people that actually use one.

Hard decks are there for a reason and in the case of a low pull you better make your mind up pretty fast to chop and not suck it down fighting with something that you CAN'T fix at 700ft that you should've chopped at 1500ft.

Okay, enough thread hijacking by me... I think we are all just repeating things that have already been said in other threads now anyway.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

reddevil1 · January 9, 2005

Started skydiving once you start you can,t stop.it,s just like a drug addiction,but it worth the money.

The point of no return what a rush.

Designer · January 10, 2005

Too many to list.(lol)Suppose the worst was my last hook turn.(I mean the really last 1)A bruised kidney and a week off from jumping will cure that bad habit.Plus the DZ manager let me have for doing it!Yikes,be careful out there!

Salsa_John · January 10, 2005

nothing you live from is a failure...I repeated L1 twice and L2 three times....then 3-7-solo one jump a piece.

One of my coaches repeated L4 14 tiimes....

don't sweat it..

SJ

"You did what?!?!"

MUFF #3722, TDSM #72, Orfun #26, Nachos Rodriguez

Belgian_Skygirl · January 11, 2005

Well, once I flared to high and I fell on my bottom... It hurt for weeks! I couldn't sit properly for weeks! I when I had to sit down or get up, it was as if I were an old lady... now, we are 7 months later and when the weather changes, I can really feel it on my bottom...

Another stupid thing I did was loosing my skydive glasses... and I realized it when I was at 11000 ft when I was preparing... I didn't jump of course... too windy for my eyes, but it was fun in the plane to see a landing as I never experienced that before. Fortunately there was one place left in the plane... my fellow jumpers arrived picked up my glasses on the ground (I lost them before getting in the plane but noticed it too late), put them on and went straight up again to jump...

-------------------------------------------------

No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

January 12, 2005

A guy on my DZ forgot to put his goggles on for a jump. He put them on in freefall, but his eyes were bright red when he got down.

Huha · January 12, 2005

There were actually several most stupid things I've done

... Here is one of them: we were doing some 18-ways, I was all high on adrenaline - it was my biggest formation so far (still is, actually)... So, we brake off, I turn 180 and start tracking, look down and - don't see the DZ. I wave off, pull, and after checking the canopy and traffic, decide that going for the DZ is iffy, and choose a nice piece of grass between some houses instead. So far - so good. I'm setting for a conservative, wide left 90 deg front riser turn (not hooking it in, just a gentle turn, right?), and at that point I notice a car going my way, on the road below... At that point, "Stupid mode" kicks in big time, and instead of starting my turn then, I continue flying straight for a second or two more, hoping to scare the people in the car... Then, I say "OK - NOW!", and instead of pulling the riser slowly, I pull it... well, not so slowly... I see the ground coming my way at an angle I know is wrong: the last thing that went through my mind before groung hit me, and my heels kicked the back of my helmet, was a totally cool and calm "So, this is it then, eh?"

Between the first and the second bounce, in an upside-down position, I feel a pain in my back... I get up and - cursing and spitting seeds out of my mouth that came in through the mouth hole on my helmet - realize that I can move and nothing's broken. The back hurts, sure does, but I can bend over - not all the way down, but hey, why would I need that? I pick up my stuff, and hurry back to the DZ - I can't miss the next load, can I? Did two or three more that day, and five the next day...

The back was painful for a loooong time, and still is ocasionally. Of course I didn't see a doctor until my back locked up, and I couln't move (I'm the type of guy that doesn't go to see a doctor unless I have a 42 C fever and such). It turned out that I have damaged one disc in my lower back... I should work out constantly to keep the back muscles tight, here and there I go to a massage, and there's a weird feeling in my back when I arch...

Do I even have to say that you should never do something like that..?

Regards,
Huha (>o<-<

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Dumbest thing you did skydiving

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