Tandem student vs Chest Strap

[Trivial_Trekker 0]

Hey ya'll jumpers

Abit of history.. I did my first tandem jump about 3 years ago, anyway exit/freefall went fine same goes with deployment. But once under the canopy I noticed my harness to be rather tight. I asked my TM if he could possibly lossen my harness. Before I knew it, I had my chest strap up to my neck! I had a hard time breathing as we descended through some low Sc cloud. I had asked previously for the TM to do a spin. When he proceeded to do this I blacked out. I still remember hearing him, and a couple good kicks got me awake again. Then I presume he noticed the problem and instructed me to prepare for landing. I had just enough strength to lift my legs for the flare. As soon as he got me unhooked I rested on the ground for a good five minutes to catch my breath and wait for my head to stop spinning. I felt pretty week for the next hour.

I was young/shy/nieve at the time (16) and didnt bother to follow up with the TM what happend...
Did i hyperventilate from the stress of freefall?
Was my harness actually too tight to begin with?? Did the TM lossen my leg straps which made me sink down causing the chest strap to some what choke me??
Is that even possible to do under canpoy??lol
Was it because of the spin/high G loading that i passed out?? (couldn't of helped)

Stuff happened so fast that day, also the whole (get em/jump em/ seeya later attitude didnt help either)

NO god dam debriefing!

What got me to post this thread.. was i saw this video...
http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3103

take a look at the chest strap

please help me bring some closure to this incident

I will finally have some time\money to start AFF this summer and I'd like to have confidence that i wont pass out under my canopy.

thank u for your time.

[]DETE

[Kimblair13 0]

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Did i hyperventilate from the stress of freefall?

Probably

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Was it because of the spin/high G loading that i passed out??

That'll do it

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Did the TM lossen my leg straps which made me sink down causing the chest strap to some what choke me??

Just the canopy opening will cause the student to sink a lil in the harness, mostly if the leg straps weren't tight enough or if it were a bigger student. I kinda doubt your TI loosened yer legstraps.

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NO god dam debriefing!

It's very very rare to give a tandem student a formal debriefing after their first jump. I have a couple times only when the student had already pre-purchased all his tandems and AFF. However, if they ask how they did and such, I'll let them know...
"YOU WERE AWESOME, COMPLETE NATURAL!"

[JohnMitchell 16]

Sounds like you're not too tall. When you jump, you need to have the harness's main lift web (the vertical webbing the chest strap goes between) short enough that the chest strap doesn't hit you neck on opening. Tandem harnesses are adjustable, most student rigs are not, so they need to have the right size rig for your solo jump. How tall are you?

[Tink1717 2]

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Did i hyperventilate from the stress of freefall?

Probably not. The most typical stress reaction is to hold ones' breath. Occasionally this can cause a black out.

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Was my harness actually too tight to begin with?? Did the TM lossen my leg straps which made me sink down causing the chest strap to some what choke me??

No. If anything, it was a harness that was not properly tightened. Also, people who tend to be fat are much more prone to sinking low in the harness regardless of how tight the harness is.

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Was it because of the spin/high G loading that i passed out?? (couldn't of helped)

No. Even the most high performance tandem canopies won't be able to spin ( under normal openings) fast enough to do that.

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NO god dam debriefing!

Unless your jump was part of a formal tandem progression program, don't expect a debrief. It's just not practical at a busy DZ, or a slow DZ with a bust day for that matter.

[replyI will finally have some time\money to start AFF this summer and I'd like to have confidence that i wont pass out under my canopy.

[Kimblair13 0]

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No. Even the most high performance tandem canopies won't be able to spin ( under normal openings) fast enough to do that.

You're saying spinning under canopy won't make the student pass out? Interesting. I only have about 400 tandems, but...I can guarantee I could have made quite a few of them sick/throw up/pass out if I woulda kept spinning and not asked them how they felt. To us it may seem slow, but to a 1st time student it seems quite a bit faster.

[riggerrob 643]

You definitely should have asked your TI to loosen your chest strap shortly after opening.
Checking/loosening chest straps is part of my normal post-opening gear check.

[Trivial_Trekker 0]

awesome, thx for all the replies.

To answer John's Q; No i dont consider my self short, i'm 6'2''.

What i noticed after deployment was it felt as if i had a tonne of bricks pressing on my chest. I was finding it hard to breathe and asked him to lossen my harness. Thats when i noticed i slipt lower in my harness. By that point i had both my hands holding it from my neck. Then the TI proceeded with the spin,,, and i blacked out for a few seconds.

Is it possible that he lossened my leg straps???, causing me to sink lower.

Who knows i may of held my breath and then hyperventilated when under the canopy...

thx again
latros

[]DETE

[riggerrob 643]

To answer John's Q; No, I don't consider my self short, I'm 6'2''.

What i noticed after deployment was it felt as if i had a tonne of bricks pressing on my chest. I was finding it hard to breathe and asked him to loosen my harness. Thats when i noticed i slipped lower in my harness. By that point i had both my hands holding it from my neck. Then the TI proceeded with the spin,,, and i blacked out for a few seconds.

Is it possible that he loosened my leg straps???, causing me to sink lower.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If you are 6'2" and were hanging low, there is no tandem instructor on the planet with arms long enough to reach your leg straps, much less loosen them.
Far more likely, they were loose before you boarded the airplane.

[Trivial_Trekker 0]

>>there is no tandem instructor on the planet with arms long enough to reach your leg straps, much less loosen them.<<

HA!, ok makes alot more sense now.

I will try and see if i can dig up the video of the jump, and check my position in the harness during landing.
It maybe be at my grandparents a few thousand km away.

[]DETE

[firstime 0]

***If you are 6'2" and were hanging low, there is no tandem instructor on the planet with arms long enough to reach your leg straps, much less loosen them.

LMAO

[camamel 0]

Normal procedure as soon as a TM open is to check the canopy, the traffic, the spot and the student comfort. To do that we ask him to sit back in the harness. This will definitly lower him in the harness.On Sygma harness the chest strap is fully adjustable. Some time depending on the shape of the passenger that chest strap might end up to high after the student sit back after opening. That's why TM next job should always be to check if the chest strap is O.K. ( specially on Sygma ) . If it is too close to the passenger neck , and it happen once in a while, TM don't have to play with the adjustments only to loosing it . This should part of the routine ... all the time. If you have the chest strap tight to your neck and the TM do a spin or two you will end up even lower in your harness with the conséquence you know.

When you think you're good...this is when you become dangerous.

[tkhayes 348]

it is simply poor fitting of the harness, but unfortunately, none of us are perfect at fitting everyone.

TK