Todays lessons learned

[vincenzo57 0]

Not a dramatic post or anything, just a few lessons learnt mainly on my second jump of the day.
Firstly, lots of cloud when I exited the plane. I don't really remember seeing the DZ as I was concentrating on my exit, but after getting stable I noticed a lot of cloud covering the area, with a few holes. I was conscious of my mate who was out in front of me, both of us opening at 4000. It was the first time I've been through so much cloud, from about 8000 untill about 6000, and when I opened at 4, I noticed how far away from the DZ I was, as I usually open a bit higher, being a low jump number.I struggled to get to the airfield but extended my canopy range although I never had time to do a downwind, and came across a runway too low and landed 90 degrees cross wind. I got a telling off for making some wrong decisions but realised that it all started from not really knowing where the DZ was when I was above the cloud. All in all an enjoyable jump but slightly annoyed making basic mistakes.

[DougH 270]

Another key lesson is that you should avoid getting a case of "gotta get home itis".

It does you no good to just make it back to the drop zone if you get there by the skin of your teeth, and not enough altitude to do a proper landing pattern.

Many times selecting a quality out is the better and safer choice for a long spot. It is better than:
-Just making it back to land against the pattern and risk a canopy collision
-Just making it back but having to pick your feet up to avoid obstacles that you are barely clearing
-Just making it back but finding yourself pointed at obstacles that you have precious little altitude to spending
-Crossing the runway too low
-Just making back to the airport but not the field, you know someplace fun, like that parking lot, or the taxi way, or the runway
Or my favorite
-Just making it back... oooops, didn't get back after all, can some one get me out of this tree / sticker bush.

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

[grimmie 186]

Did you give them a "telling off" for putting you out over the clouds?

[excaza 1]

grimmie

Did you give them a "telling off" for putting you out over the clouds?

Nobody puts a gun to your head to get out of the plane

[oldwomanc6 52]

Learn how to spot early in your jump career. Practice often. It is a valuable skill and solves lots of problems. If YOU are the spotter, you have much more say-so. Most people don't want to spot, anyway.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[LyraM45 0]

DougH

Another key lesson is that you should avoid getting a case of "gotta get home itis".

It does you no good to just make it back to the drop zone if you get there by the skin of your teeth, and not enough altitude to do a proper landing pattern.

Many times selecting a quality out is the better and safer choice for a long spot. It is better than:
-Just making it back to land against the pattern and risk a canopy collision
-Just making it back but having to pick your feet up to avoid obstacles that you are barely clearing
-Just making it back but finding yourself pointed at obstacles that you have precious little altitude to spending
-Crossing the runway too low
-Just making back to the airport but not the field, you know someplace fun, like that parking lot, or the taxi way, or the runway
Or my favorite
-Just making it back... oooops, didn't get back after all, can some one get me out of this tree / sticker bush.

This^^^^

Get back itus can kill you and all you had to do was pick a safe out and do a pattern.

Are you comfortable landing out? Are there good outs?

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[vincenzo57 0]

Yep, thanks for the comments. It was a case of get back itis I think. Valuable one learnt here.

[Trafficdiver 8]

vincenzo57

Yep, thanks for the comments. It was a case of get back itis I think. Valuable one learnt here.

Were there outs? If there were then decide to use them early and don't try to make it back to the DZ.

Better to land off and walk back then hit the trees just outside the DZ where everyone can laugh at you if your survive it. Good exercise too.
If there were no outs where you opened, then you might not want to jump through clouds in the future.

[Bertt 0]

The clouds aren't the problem. The problem is not changing the plan when it quit working for you. On the run in to the exit point, did you see landmarks to tell you where you were, or just clouds? You had an option to move out of the door and stay on the plane, but you stuck with the plan. You broke out of the clouds at 6. You had an option to notice how far off you were and pull higher, but you stuck with the plan and pulled at 4.
If you planned to leave something on the stove for 15 minutes, but it caught fire after 5 minutes, would you wait another 10 minutes to put out the fire?

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[potatoman 0]

A lesson I learnt a while back:

New DZ, cloudy, 1st jump of the day, and first for the DZ.
In the aircraft I find the TI's got GPS strapped on their legs. When prompted, they said it is to find find the DZ. I laughed it off as a joke.

IT WAS NO JOKE.

Deep brakes from opening, so the tandems could come past me, and then followed them through the cloud, to end up right above the hangars. Two things saved us, check what was on our load, and that it was a kinda novice 4way, so everyone followed my flight path from a higher than normal opening.

That will never happen again. Lesson learnt.

You have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to tell you how Fu***** stupid it is.
Davelepka - "This isn't an x-box, or a Chevy truck forum"
Whatever you do, don't listen to ChrisD.