No jumping due to wind

[DTOXX 0]

While this could be posted in the Safety and Training area I wanted to express a different aspect.

I have now turned down two occasions to jump and pulled myself due to wind. The first was at Eloy where I decided to simply not jump at all. The second was at my home DZ. I had 2 jumps on the day and was suited up and waiting of the plane to land for the third. The wind picked up and I pulled myself off the load.

The part I wanted to say was that both times I could hear one of my instructors in my head telling me about wind speed, long and short base and blah blah blah. Then I could hear him saying "If your not comfortable about the wind then you are most likely over your experience level and should not jump."

It sucks that MY voice of safety has to be Matt... Why couldn't it be Cindy Crawford or Naomi Campbell????

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D.T. Holder
SIMstudy

[aero04 0]

Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. If you don't feel you can handle the situation, don't jump into it. Better to wait for another day of jumping than to take a ride to a hospital.

[Islandcool 0]

Quote

It sucks that MY voice of safety has to be Matt... Why couldn't it be Cindy Crawford or Naomi Campbell????

Yeah...or Abe Vigoda....

ED

[skymama 37]

When I'm feeling a little nervous about jumping in certain winds, I take a look around at who is jumping and who is sitting around. Inevitability, the people who are jumping are the teams (this IS Deland after all and they're in training) and the people with jump numbers in the hundreds. All the old-timers are the ones sitting out. I take my cue from them that they might have learned a few things that I can benefit from without taking my knocks the hard way. There will always be another day of jumping and by sitting out you've just saved yourself some more money for the next day with good conditions.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[aero04 0]

Absolutely Skymama. Someone told me once if your unsure about the winds, look around. If the experienced folks are sitting out, you probably should too.

[Skymonkey13 0]

Remember the old saying...
"It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air, wishing you were on the ground."

[tigra 0]

Ususally that's the way it goes at my dz. When the experienced guys sit out, I sit out. (and watch the "fun" as folks come in and try to control their canopies!)

But I do remember one time a few years ago sitting out because I thought the winds were getting kind of squirrely, and the experienced guys thought I was being wimpy. Well, at least half the group was nursing minor to not so minor injuries AFTER the jump, including one broken heel, and a messed up shoulder! Most of the load landed out and one guy got dragged into a barbed wire fence! Not fun! Problem is, we've got this huge hangar for packing and dirt diving and they hadn't realized that the winds had changed since they hadn't been outside watching.