What is the Airspeed Velocity of ...

[NWFlyer 2]

...an unladen swallow unclipped helmet?

Yep, there must be a reason I bought a Bonehead ... forgot to clip my helmet on a jump with Cornholio and Fozz out of the Skyvan on Saturday. Beautiful exit ... except that my helmet left with me.

Finished the jump, searched all over in the general vicinity of the exit point and points that the wind could have carried it but no dice. I was resigned to paying upwards of $400 to replace the helmet and two audibles.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I'm jumping a borrowed helmet and Dytter (thanks to monkycndo and WeakMindedFool) and we're in the loading area doing one last dirt dive of the monkey-hump inflatable jump. All of a sudden a pair of unexpected hands breaks into the dirt dive. I notice it's Neil and I laugh and say "go away, you're not on this skydive." He just stands there smiling until I finally clue in that he's wearing my helmet.

Apparently it had landed in a field near the barn (old student landing area at Davis). Some farmer had found it and placed it up on a fencepost. A jumper landed out and noticed it there and brought it back for me. No damage to the helmet that wasn't already there, and both audibles were there and fully functional. Karma was good to me (and then turned around and, quite literally, smacked me upside the head with the worst opening I've ever had, but that's another story).

This story ends with the Protrack reading. Looks like a nice cross-country jump for my helmet.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[wildcard451 0]

Smooth move.

[mnealtx 0]

Glad ya got it back! I'm guessing this was your Mamba?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[pincheck 0]

African or European ?

congrats on getting your gear back

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

[johnsw71 0]

Was it jumping without a helmet that resulted in your avatar hair?

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

Glad ya got it back? I'm guessing this was your Mamba?

No, I sold the Mamba ... this was my Guner. I've heard from people who haven't clipped their full face helmets that they will often stay on at least long enough to notice the slippage.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

No, I sold the Mamba

Sacrilege!!!

Quote

this was my Guner

As tight as my Guner is (I've got a HUGE melon), I think it would probably stay on even with a full speed pass out of a skyvan!!

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

Quote

No, I sold the Mamba

Sacrilege!!!

Well, I sold it to my S.O., so I know it has a good home and I can always borrow it when I feel like jumping a full-face.

Come to think it would have been nice to have a full-face on that jump if I'd known that I was going to get smacked around by my Pilot.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Royd 0]

Does it have a chin cup?

[squirrel 0]

you REALLY need to go buy some beer, wine, wiskey,...or just a case of soda for that farmer or land owner. that person, is way, too cool...and should be rewarded for such an act.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[keka 0]

wow... that's what I call luck!
glad you got it back!

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
PMS#551
I love my life :)

[Snowwhite 0]

Quote

you REALLY need to go buy some beer, wine, wiskey,...or just a case of soda for that farmer or land owner. that person, is way, too cool...and should be rewarded for such an act.

yea, and set it up on the fence post. He'd get a kick out of that!

skydiveTaylorville.org
freefallbeth@yahoo.com

[DFWAJG 4]

Congrats on finding your helmet Krisanne. Now if we can only find my Orange shoe, we will have found everything lost this weekend.

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

you REALLY need to go buy some beer, wine, wiskey,...or just a case of soda for that farmer or land owner. that person, is way, too cool...and should be rewarded for such an act.

I know, I'll need to figure out who it was next time I'm down there! They have my eternal gratitude.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Quote

Glad ya got it back? I'm guessing this was your Mamba?

No, I sold the Mamba ... this was my Guner. I've heard from people who haven't clipped their full face helmets that they will often stay on at least long enough to notice the slippage.

Nice that you got your helmet and audibles back!! I've jumped with my Z1 full face with out strapping it. Stayed on.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[squirrel 0]

Quote

Congrats on finding your helmet Krisanne. Now if we can only find my Orange shoe, we will have found everything lost this weekend.

check the side of the highway, there are usually plenty of single shoes there, maybe you can find a match!

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[kingbunky 3]

i had the same sort of luck last year. stuck my head out of the cessna to watch a student exit. i had just stuck the helmet onmy head and didn't do the chin strap. away goes the helmet. since it was lost at 3500 feet and i knew approximately where, i went hunting. found it sitting in the short grass by the side of the runway, not a scratch on it.

it was a protec that i was trying out, hadn't even put my dytter in it.

if it had been a camera helmet or something expensive, it would have landed in a tree, been struck by lightning, eaten by bears then sunk in the swamp, and probably have a glacier roll over it for good measure.

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[vskydiver 0]

Wow Krisanne! Congrats on getting your helmet back! Nice story! I guess a pin check goes beyond just checking your rig huh?

[lauraliscious 0]

How do you know it landed in a field and was placed upon the fence post by some kind hearted farmer??? What if it just landed on the fence post like that???

Enemiga Rodriguez, PMS #369, OrFun #25, Team Dirty Sanchez #116, Pelt Head #29, Muff #4091

[JohnMitchell 16]

Quote

How do you know it landed in a field and was placed upon the fence post by some kind hearted farmer??? What if it just landed on the fence post like that???

I bet when you flip coins they land on their edges a lot.

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

Was it jumping without a helmet that resulted in your avatar hair?

No, that's ferry hair.

Surprising thing was that the bandana that I wear under my helmet to prevent freefall hair and my goggles both stayed on tight even when the helmet came off.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[freethefly 6]

I recall some years back, Jeremy Frenz (I believe it was) sticking his head out the door of the Kingair that use to be at Archway and losing his helmet at altitude. He chased it but quickly lost sight of it. Someone landed off airport at the end of the day and by chance landed next to it. The Protrack was unharmed and showed that the helmet reached (I believe) near 45mph in freefall. The helmet did not fair so well as one side of it was pretty well cracked.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[MikeJD 0]

Quote

How do you know it landed in a field and was placed upon the fence post by some kind hearted farmer???

I was thinking more likely Farmer McNasty had set it on the fence post to use for target practice.

[McBeth 0]

Quote

Congrats on finding your helmet Krisanne. Now if we can only find my Orange shoe, we will have found everything lost this weekend.

I'm not sure it's possible to find everything that was lost

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

Quote

How do you know it landed in a field and was placed upon the fence post by some kind hearted farmer???

I was thinking more likely Farmer McNasty had set it on the fence post to use for target practice.

Well, there is a gun club between the dropzone and the farm in question.