Landings as an early AFF student- PLFs, stand-ups, injury? (long)

[Joellercoaster 6]

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Feet knees together. I still do that on every fun jump.

Snap.

I can still hear my AFF instructor on the radio strapped to my student helmet, every time I roll out of my final turn.

Thanks, Luci!

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[ufk22 33]

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I suppose someone should tell you that while you should always be prepared to have a PLF you should actually be trying to stand up your landings every time you can.

It's often better to be silent and let those around you think you may be ignorant, than to speak and prove their point.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[ridestrong 1]

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I suppose someone should tell you that while you should always be prepared to have a PLF you should actually be trying to stand up your landings every time you can.

It's often better to be silent and let those around you think you may be ignorant, than to speak and prove their point.

Seems like a fairly logical statement to me.... 'try to stand up your landings when you can, but always be prepared to PLF.'

Call me crazy but, I personally try to stand up all my landings unless I feel it will be unsafe to do so. There is nothing wrong with PLF landings, but when you have MORE PLFs than stand up landings maybe you just suck at landing.

*I am not afraid of dying... I am afraid of missing life.*
----Disclaimer: I don't know shit about skydiving.----

[gregpso 1]

After 40 jumps on round canopies years ago ... on my 3 to date AFFs on these new fangled square canopies.. I have plfed on all out of habit. My muscle memory will not allow a stand up landing. The first 2 could have been stand ups but the 3rd was a high flare and then drop (a good PLF meant no probs)

Muscle memory is hard to beat. (even when the radio says stand up) I would love to do a stand up!!

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[wmw999 2,452]

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when you have MORE PLFs than stand up landings maybe you just suck at landing.

And just maybe if you walked away from all those landings it means you get to keep jumping while you learn that judgment.

Landing is harder for some people than others, but they can't decide not to do it. It's better to take a safe landing while you learn what the ground really looks like coming up than it is to try to do everything at once.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[shah269 0]

Yeah...PLF....and dont' forget to turn your hips a little...I like a dumb ass PLF'd square the the earth and well my tail bone still hurts and that was 10 days ago. Remember turn hips, knees together and bent. and feet up....as in push wish your heels with toes together. Dock said that was the best way to protect your feet.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[ridestrong 1]

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when you have MORE PLFs than stand up landings maybe you just suck at landing.

And just maybe if you walked away from all those landings it means you get to keep jumping while you learn that judgment.

Landing is harder for some people than others, but they can't decide not to do it. It's better to take a safe landing while you learn what the ground really looks like coming up than it is to try to do everything at once.

Wendy P.

Can't argue with that.

*I am not afraid of dying... I am afraid of missing life.*
----Disclaimer: I don't know shit about skydiving.----

[wmw999 2,452]

The last canopy class I was in (Germaine this time) several of the people had been injured at one time or another on poor landings. They all said that they wanted to be like the person in class who had never hurt themselves enough to stop jumping even for the day.

The first thing taught in both canopy control classes was the PLF. Because if you're going to stretch yourself landing, then you need to have the judgment to know when it's time to bail and fall down so you can walk again.

I really, really would not consider a decent PLF to be a sign of a failed landing. It's a sign that you planned your landing well enough that you could choose to PLF still. It's different from just biffing, where you go feet-knees-chest-face. And it's different from sitting down your landing, where people often are using their backbone to be the shock absorber when they've misjudged enough that they're not comfortable standing up

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[shah269 0]

A-MEN Wendy you are so right!
Comming in with the heels of yoru feet locked and your toes up and togehter and your knees bent and hands in tight is the best way to go.
That and you can get som ass swoopage in there.
Better to walk away with a but of green on your pants then be carried away.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[ridestrong 1]

The next time any of you are at the dz (particularly on a hot or no wind day when landing speeds are faster) or any other day really... count the number of non-stand-up landings you see, then how many of those are actually legit PLF's.

Just saying that 9 times out of 10 the non-stand-up landings I see tend to be just wipe outs and not true PLF's. Doubt the results would be much different at any other dz.

... and yeah those wipe outs would be better off as PLF's.

ETA: come to think of it, most PLF's do seem to be students and most wipe outs seem to be experienced jumpers with more forward speed trying to run it out.

*I am not afraid of dying... I am afraid of missing life.*
----Disclaimer: I don't know shit about skydiving.----

[skyflower_bloom 0]

thanks for the replies all!!

well it has been about 5 1/2 weeks and my ankle still hurts if i walk on it for a ways, but it's otherwise pretty good, so i decided to get back to jumping today, and to just be careful on landing and do plf on purpose.

i do think my past landings were much more of the "just topple over" aka "wipe out" landings you refer to, rather than legit plfs, so on my 2 jumps today i made quite sure to practice plfs first and then intentionally do plfs (actual plfs!) when landing each time.

both were soft, likely could have stayed standing, but with the ankle right at the edge of healing up completely i didn't even want to try it.. didn't even feel the landings in terms of any ankle pain, so i think i am good to go..

i am being much more aware of my leg/feet position when coming in, and i discussed landings with two instructors as well as reading over responses on here..

apparently when i got injured, i was on the edge of the field so it wasn't even, but i also apparently had my legs out and reached in a way that absorbed all the force on my ankle(s) without properly spreading its absorption i.e. the force just hit my ankle and i fell down, i guess he said my legs were straighter and more out to the side? i think i was in a weird mindset being a bit anxious being closer to the runway than usual, and also changing my mindset with the intent to stand up whih i had never really thought through before, i'd always thought only to "prepare to plf."

a combination of factors, as most any accident or incident is, however minor, but i have come to my own conclusion that stand-up landings are not a huge priority to me right now, after that incident, and they'll come in time and as my ankle finishes healing up.

anyway, yeah, for now i am all about the plf, though i do think i will be able to gauge stand-ups better- for now i just want to be careful until my ankle is 100%. thanks again for all the feedback.

i did do my first landing today without any radio assistance, which was cool.. i actually flared at the right time, which i didn't consciously think i could do before, but i guess it is one of those things that your brain picks up on even if you cannot enunciate in words when/how you are doing it, cause apparently i did it perfectly.. so that is a good thing..

and the two landings i had today were soft stand-up into good form plfs, so i feel more confident in landings now, and will work on standing them up once my ankle is back to 100% per discussion with my instructors and see how i feel.. one of my instructors said that part of it is simply that plf was designed for rounds so there is no perfect solution with the ram-airs or how to teach a student for sure how to respond to any given landing other than the position coming in.. but it's all good and a learning experience..

i have two more jumping days planned this week to make up for that damn ankle keeping me on the ground for so long lol.. so maybe something good did come out of this, since i feel more aware on landing and am motivated to get those jumps in and make up for lost time :)

thanks again, blue skies!!

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Gandhi