Potentialy dangerous situation - what would *you* do?

[Baksteen 84]

This has been discussed with my intructors, I know know what I should have done, but this is a situation i'd not given much thought beforehand.
That's why I'm especially interested what other students/upjumpers would do:

Scenario:
Last Saturday I was going to practice my tracking.
We exited at six thousand feet, uppers at approximately ten knots; ground next to zero.

I watched the freefly two way exit before me, counted to five and exited.
I looked at the aircraft as I fell away from it, then chose a heading 90 degrees from jump run and tried to track.
I went nowhere in a hurry, and lost my heading.
I decided to stop the exercise as ten seconds had elapsed already and assumed mantis postion.
Suddenly I was shocked to see a yellow canopy open 'directly below me'...

The mistakes I made so far aside, what would you have done when finding yourself above an opening canopy?
I'll give it some posts, then say what I did.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[iluvtofly 0]

Warning: Low number jumper talking.

I had a somewhat similar situation once. But I was lucky in that I saw the person wave off right below me so I had a bit more time than you to react. In that situation I simply turned and tracked. I would think that would be the same thing I would do in your situation.

[tombuch 0]

I'm guessing that by the time you saw the yellow canopy it was too late for you to do anything to prevent a collision, especially given your limited experience and inability to track sufficiently.

What I hope you would do is open your own parachute, and upon landing immediately apologize to the other jumper, then get with your instructor and deconstruct what happened. It sounds like that’s the approach you took.

The higher jumper (you) should be looking out for the lower jumper, and the higher jumper should be able to adjust his opening altitude and track to stay clear of the lower person. Of course the lower person (yellow canopy) has an obligation to behave reasonably and not track up the flight line or open at an unexpected altitude. It’s possible that in this case the lower jumpers slid into your airspace as inexperienced freeflyers sometimes do. Your instructor should be able to sort that one out and offer additional guidance to the group ahead if that is warranted.

As for improvements you can make, I’d begin by looking at exit separation. There have been a few other posts here about how long to wait between groups for adequate separation. I’d start with five to eight seconds, and make sure you are counting at a reasonable speed. If the group ahead is inexperienced I'd add some buffer in case they slide or drift. Likewise, if you are unsure of your ability, add some buffer for yourself. If there is another experienced jumper still on the plane you could ask that person to back you up. Keep your eyes on the group in front so you know where they are, while also watching the ground to confirm the airplane has as much ground speed as you would expect from the forecasted winds aloft. It will be tough for you, at your current experience level, to know how fast the airplane should be moving, but the idea is to know what the winds are, and then relate that to the airplane movement. In time you will begin to recognize and identify ground speed.

Next, once you get out and get stable, find the other group(s) as best you can so you know where they are relative to the flight line, drop zone, and ground references, and how much separation you actually have. At your experience level this will be tough, but again, just looking and trying to find them will help you build awareness for future jumps.

Then, work on your tracking. Have an instructor or coach join you for a jump or two as a reference, and for feedback. As you are tracking, keep an eye on your heading using the ground references you identified when you first got out and started looking for the group in front of you. Often we use little things like a house or field. Those are great headings for tracking, but knowing where the really big landmarks are is essential for navigation. So, be aware of the location of the drop zone, or massive things like major roads or mountains or rivers. You want to be sure you are tracking in a straight line (small target), but you also want to make sure you are tracking in an appropriate direction to get you where you actually want to go (big landmarks).

Watch your altitude. In your post you didn’t say what the opening plan was for the prior group, but you should make sure that you are opening at about the same or higher altitude than the group in front of you, ideally confirming this prior to exit. When I get close to the targeted opening altitude I become super-hyper-aware, and am especially observant of the airspace close by and below. That way, if there has been any unrecognized sliding I will hopefully see jumpers that might have ended up below me before they wave off, and I'll have time to adjust. That's tough for you at your experience level, but it should be a goal for later in your skydiving career.

Once you open, take a look around for all the other parachutes. See if the groups are still set-up along jump run, and see how much horizontal and vertical separation exists at the end of the process. Use this as feedback for the next jump.

Mistakes happen, especially when you are learning, so don’t be too hard on yourself. And, when you become a skygod please remember the anxiety you are feeling now. All of the experienced jumpers went through the same phase and would do well to be tolerant of beginners mistakes. That doesn’t mean we should ignore the mistakes, but rather, we should be generous in our understanding, and offer plenty of guidance in skill development.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[DougH 270]

I have experince the joy of watching pilot chutes come out twice, it really gets your attention.

Both have been newer jumpers who have gone low and didn't try to stay with the formation, I lost sight of them.

Both were almost under me and I was in my flat track so I just tracked even harder and when I passed them they were well behind me. I can track well and I already had a full head of steam behind me.

I don't know what I would do if I was just falling down the tube. I think I would track, back slide or side slide depending on where I judged the canopy to be in relation to myself, but I would prepare to eat canopy and the other jumper.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Baksteen 84]

Thanks for the good advice Tom.
There is no way that the freeflyers were to blame, I simply should have waited longer before exiting.
They opened at 3000 ft, like I intended to do.
Fortunately i was still way above them, because when I saw the canopy I didn't think but what with tracking still on my mind I tracked like hell in the direction i happened to face (fortunately somewhat off jumprun) until I heard my dytter (set at three) go off. So no collision, thank god. Additionally I was quite surprised to find myself in the saddle WAY upwind from the LZ, with no chance at all of making it back.
I did apologise to the lower guy, who hadn't noticed anything and talked it over with the instructor on the LZ, who was curious as to 'what my problem was' as I seemed to have opened rather low. He'd estimated that I was under a fully open canopy at about 2K. I explained the situation, and he advised that I could be mistaken about the 'directly below' which could have been 'just very close'. He said that next time I should dump immediately and be ready to steer away using risers as trying to track away with less vertical separation could be disastrous if the tracking would have been steep. In addition, an open canopy is relatively speaking stationary, so if you have to assume that one needs half a second to react and then one or two to start the track one is probably too late.
Then the freeflyer asked him what I should have done when jumping a 'snivelly' canopy (say, a Spectre) and the instructor replied that this was probably too much to take into account upon realising the dangerous situation.
Then he looked at me and said that given the location where I opened, the tracking should have been more than adequate.

Lessons learned:
-choose heading before exit and stick with it. The plane is secondary though also important.
-take more horizontal separation.
-go last. Less people to worry about (there was one freefaller after me).
-see someone falling below you: track or slide away
-see someone wave off below you: track
-see a canopy opening: dump and prepare for a collision or a near miss.


EDIT: I'll try never to become a 'skygod' in the DZ.com kind of meaning

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[airtwardo 7]

...and he advised that I could be mistaken about the 'directly below' which could have been 'just very close'.

Quote

While reading your initial post that was my first impression / guess.

It's kind of like developing the spotting skill...it takes a while to actually be able to tell what is STRAIGHT down.

With the amount of time you gave in regard to spacing, the prior group should have been at least 2000-2500' below you, even just looking a few degrees of angle off your exact point over the map would equal plenty of actual separation.

That being said, you're to be commended on your awareness and reaction as well as following up with ground debriefing.

Stay safe!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

• Quote

[kkeenan 14]

It's really tough to follow Tom and have anything meaningful to say that he has not covered, since his posts are always very well-written and comprehensive.

That said, here's something that caught my attention. You say you looked up at the airplane to establish your tracking direction perpendicular to the jumprun. I think that a more accurate and effective method is to watch the ground track as you wait to exit, look out the door for landmarks that lie 90 degrees from the line of flight, and then head for those. It's possible to err by quite a bit, at least at your experience level, using the "look at the aircraft" method. Also, get used to using the ground as a reference for holding your heading in a track. That's the best way to get where you want to go and to keep from inadvertantly turning into airspace that you want to avoid.

I second the commendation on your awareness of seeing the canopy below you. You'd be surprised how many folks would smoke right past an open canopy and never see it.

Kevin K.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[deadbug 0]

Even though he was going to try to do sone tracking, his plan was to track 90 deg to jump run so the fact that it was planned as a tracking jump should not have been a factor in deciding exit order. As such common wisdom dictates that belly exit befor freeflyers, biggest group to smallest group within there respective groups. If he basically went no where in his track as it sounds like, and given the short seperation, he may have just been a victim of freefall drift and a good example of why belly should exit befor freeflyers.

Doug

[Broke 0]

If you are the only one on a tracking dive you can request to go out last after the tandems, and then you can track up the line of flight and not worry about the other skydivers. You said you had 10kt uppers. seperation is key here

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[livendive 8]

Quote

If you are the only one on a tracking dive you can request to go out last after the tandems, and then you can track up the line of flight and not worry about the other skydivers. You said you had 10kt uppers. seperation is key here

You can request it, but most TI's I know won't allow it, especially for novices. I know I won't. There are certainly things more terrifying than being locked in one place by a drogue with a newbie somewhere above you, just like there are certainly faster cars than a Dodge Viper. Note that this fact doesn't make the Viper particularly slow.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[Broke 0]

I can definitally see your point, and you know the last time I saw people track like that there were no tandems on the load

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[Baksteen 84]

No problem there, I forgot to stress that I'm from a small DZ with a six passenger C-206T as our flagship.
Tracking up the line of flight though, I think you mean that i have to track upwind?
Unfortunately there are some.. difficulties with opening high, so I wouldn't be able to make it back to the DZ.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom