Winds...

[mamajumps 0]

Yesterday I made a jump with winds 13 and gusting to 15. As a jumper with low experience, I asked several people (instructors and high jump number people) gave them my scenerio and asked for honest advice. None of them told me to not go on the jump, they all said I would be fine. The jump was great, pretty 4 way, but the last 800 feet or so, my canopy danced and bucked and carried on, quite frankly it made me wanna crap in my jumpsuit. There were no weather holds at all as I also consulted manifest before going on the jump. I still had a nice landing, but was rattled none the less. I would like some opinions here about this, and other than not jump what could I have done differently. I jump a Triathalon 150 and was wearing 10 lbs of weight, which had me just slightly over a 1:1 on it. with out weight I load it about .93 Thanks!

[pilotdave 0]

You'll never know your limits if you don't push them a little bit. You jumped, you know what those winds looked like on the ground, you know what they felt like in the air. Now you can make an informed decision next time. I think you'll start finding that other jumpers are going to hesitate telling you if it's ok to jump or not. That's easy to do for students, but really hard to do for more experienced jumpers... nobody wants to take that responsibility. So, now you've got one more data point to help you make up your own mind.

Dave

[billvon 2,990]

You experienced turbulence, which is not identical to, but is related to, wind speed. In calm air there is rarely turbulence. On hot days where there are a lot of thermals, there is a lot of turbulence no matter what the wind is doing. If you are downwind of a treeline/hangar, you will feel turbulence even in light winds.

The Tri is a pretty good canopy overall for turbulence resistance. Note that even if you are bumped around a lot, as long as you keep flying the canopy you should be fine. Being bumped around is not, in and of itself, dangerous. It can point out that it's turbulent, though, and that it may get worse to the point where the canopy begins deflating.

[pashakiev 0]

Is this the first time you experienced turbulence? (>70 jumps)

Just curious.

Blue Skies

Less Bitching / More Jumping..... Please?

[mamajumps 0]

Quote

Is this the first time you experienced turbulence? (>70 jumps)

Just curious.

Blue Skies

Yes, in that magnitude
I have experienced it in much less amounts under bigger canopies, last time I can remember was 5 years ago when I was in AFF.

[JanuszPS 0]

Quote

Being bumped around is not, in and of itself, dangerous.

Recently jumping in Zhills I experienced so big bumping that I felt my canopy nearly collapsing @50m above the ground. I think that's the first time when I sad myself that I wish I was on the ground instead in the air.
regs
JanuszPS

Back to Poland... back home.

[pashakiev 0]

/ if they're "steady" ... you can search this forum for turbulence and will find a lot of interesting info on it and how you can avoid it / should you react in case if you get into turbulent winds. It definitely can be scary I'd imagine when it comes to 50 ft

Blues.

Less Bitching / More Jumping..... Please?

[tombuch 0]

Several years ago I wrote a feature for the S&TA section of The Ranch web site. It deals with making decisions about the wind. Some of the information is specific to The Ranch, but most will help you no matter where you jump. The material specific to The Ranch will even help you design a wind monitoring program for your own DZ.

See "Article 6, Evaluating Wind and Turbulence" at http://theblueskyranch.com/STA.php

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

[mamajumps 0]

Thanks to all of you who replied for your advice. I feel a lot better now. Im a very conservative jumper (I've already hurt myself once). So I question and 2nd guess everything now. Tombuch: The article was amazing, I read some of the others too. Thanks a million!

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

...So I question and 2nd guess everything now.

This is most heartening. It shows that you want to learn, are willing to learn and are taking advice towards being able to make your own educated decisions.

How much better would the skydiving world be if everyone had that attitude?

I salute you.

Just to add my $0.02:
Tom's article (6) mentions watching other canopies and what they are doing. Good stuff.

That is one of the major factors in making MY decisions to jump or not. Like you, I don't like turbulence and when I see similar canopies and wing loadings bouncing around in the sky at low altitude, it's a no-brainer for me to sit down. That's one of the reasons I rarely do first loads and why I continually watch other loads during the day...I'm forever evaluating.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[mamajumps 0]

Thanks a million Andy! It feels good getting kudos from a season jumper!!!

I just wanna make sure that I am around this sport for a long time to come! One of my goals is to take my kids on their first skydives... my daughter will be old enough in 8 years....

[millertimeunc 0]

Definitely a good idea to err on the conservative side. I almost learned my lesson about winds the hard way this weekend. It is a very very scary thing to be in the air with 25 other canopies and crazy winds that have you coming down straight down over the hangar, no penetration to speak of and a very sketchy landing area as your only option. I made it ok, but someone who landed in the same spot 5 minutes after me didn't.

The best things in life are dangerous.