My major run of mistakes - I'd like to share...

[Ragnarok 0]

I have 18 jumps, so this situation may not surprise too many of the experienced ones here.

I found myself awfully far away from the LZ under canopy, and I had no idea why (at the time) so I tried to get back. I had picked out an alternate landing area, but as my forward speed increased, I tried to 'milk' it back. I ended up following the runway (big no-no) instead of running a good pattern a little farther from the runway. As I got closer to the LZ, I did a slow turn at about 50 feet and continued to turn until I was in the wind for a landing. I landed on the taxiway (really big no-no), though I sttod it up, I really souped the whole thing up right from the point I tried to milk it back instead of picking the field I FIRST saw as a good alternate to landing at the LZ, since I was NOT GOING TO MAKE IT. I landed in front of a tandem on the other side of the taxiway.

I got a nice "talking to" by the SO. It bothers me that I had to screw up so bad like that and to "learn the hard way", - but I feel that it needed to happen, to get my head into the game. Though I graduated AFF, I still am a student and have alot to learn. I had a real bad of "get-back-itis".

Well, after the shake up, I was able to see exactly where I messed up, and how to prevent it happening the next time. I did follow the arrow, but the 'winds aloft' were different from the ground winds.

Learned alot that day, and I hope that I am smarter for it - and if I do mess it up, I won't mess up so much to do something stupid and dangerous like that again.

I am sharing this hoping that it will help someone else, and for the feedback that will eventually come. I am glad that a bad situation did not end up harmful or fatal. Turning below 200' was the WORST thing I could have done - and I was not thinking about the dangers of turning so low. All I wanted to do was "get back".

Next time I will know better.


Thanks

_________________________________________
Twin Otter N203-Echo,29 July 2006
Cessna P206 N2537X, 19 April 2008
Blue Skies Forever

[OSOK 0]

Glad to see you ended up ok.

I'm a student also, like yourself. When doing my IAF lvl 6 briefing, I had a talk with my instructor about landing stuff, and not making it back was the main subject. Basically he told me that if I know I'm gonna land off, there's no point trying to land closer to the DZ... the bus is gonna pick me up regardless. It's better to land on a field I pick myself than be forced to land somewhere else simply because I wanted to land a bit closer.

[JohnMitchell 16]

A couple of things I think were okay. You stayed over open areas. You watched your progress over the ground, and reevaluated the situation. Your low turn was slow and you flared for a proper landing. You had a good landing and walked away. There is nothing wrong with a low slow turn. It's the hard turns down low that kill you.

You ended up getting chewed out by one person, and it sounds as if you took it to heart. It's much better than getting lifted onto a stretcher by 6 people. Skydiving is a long learning process. I think you're doing fine.

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[Jeth 0]

Dude, I don't know much more than you, but it sounds like you learned from your mistakes, so thats great.
I had a cutaway a couple weeks ago and I really wanted to make it back to the airport, too. But when I hadn't crossed the river by 4 grand, I decided I wasn't going to "go for it" and potentially really screw myself by not making it or just making it across and having to land in the trees along the river.
I have also landed off one other time, but in that case I totally could've made it back and was just way overly cautious. (But better safe than sorry, right! )

Anyway, good job for evaluating your decisions and trying to learn from the experience.

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[hexadecimal 0]

Land safe, not close.

Pretty much everyone is going to have an off landing every once in a while... they're not a big deal if you plan ahead and pick a safe place to land before you get too low.