Skydiving Blindfolded

[JohanW 0]

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Here in holland you really can't make a jump if you are blind (expect for a tandem). You have to be medically and mentally ok. A physician has to clear you to go up there. With no sight you are definitely grounded.

You are, of course, entirely correct. On paper.

A few years back Texel, NL sent up not one but several blind people for a S/L jump. Double radios, probably one at a time, and they evidently did not pass the full medical, but with proper planning, they went up and came down in one piece.

One rule does *not* fit all.

Johan.
I am. I think.

[Fab 0]

*One rule does *not* fit all.*
This is true. My own personal motto is:" Rules are meant to be broken".

***A few years back Texel, NL sent up not one but several blind people for a S/L jump. Double radios, probably one at a time, and they evidently did not pass the full medical, but with proper planning, they went up and came down in one piece. ***

Didn't know that

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[JohanW 0]

Please keep in mind carefully you are saying something entirely different from what I'm saying.

I'd skydive blind, I'd skydive blindfolded, given planning, preparation, confidence and trust, but I'd be breaking the rules to skydive, not skydiving to break the rules.

Johan.
I am. I think.

[billvon 2,990]

> I don't have a problem with it if he is ok with it. On the other
> hand...if he's blind he can't see where he steers. What if he flies
> into someone else his canopy? Then it's not just about him
> anymore.

Right, everyone on the load has to know to avoid _him._ As long as that's clear (and there's only one blind guy on the load) not an issue.

>I think nobody should rely on a radio to guide them to the ground.

Many first jump students do.

Skydiving when blind, deaf, paraplegic, missing an arm or leg etc certainly increases the risk. I think it's up to each person to decide for themselves if that risk is worth it.

[Plummet 0]

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My friend's father was blinded in Vietnam by shrapnel from a land mine. A few years back, he got this wild hair to do a static line. Went to the S&TA and everyone else (in Alabama) and they said no way no how. So he went to Texas where he got permission to do it. Wide open spaces, did the static line (not sure how long the delay was) and had a not so graceful face plant landing under a big fluffy 7-cell. All on video to, very very funny.

My Protec is off to him and anyone else who does choose to jump blind. What I did was nothing. I always had the option of bailing and ditching the glasses. They are into the jump for the duration.

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He's a crazy mo-fo.

Aren't we all?

-Jeff.
http://www.iplummet.com

Common sense and common courtesy are NOT common.

[Fab 0]

hehe
Of course you are right. But it is more like an expression..You break rules for a purpose, not just for the pleasure of breaking them. Maybe my english just isn't good enough and I should have said this in dutch ...

***not skydiving to break the rules. ***
That would be plain stupid indeed.

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[skypuppy 1]

There is a movie called 'If you could see what I hear' about a blind guy who, among other things, does a parachute jump....

Bill Cole was supposed to do the jumping in the movie but he broke his ankle the day before shooting, so my buddy Claude ended up doing the acting, which was shot I believe by Kevin Gibson, somewhere around Peterborough, Ontario, north of Toronto...

There was some kafluffle at the time about who had to cover the bar bill at the hotel after the 9-day shoot... The producers ended up covering it in the end...

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[ernokaikkonen 0]

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Got to google and do a search on rec.skydiving for Dan Rossi. He is a skydiver with several hundred jumps. He is totally blind and has been since before he started to skydive.

The best way to search for him is to use his signature line "Flare when you hear the crickets"

You don't have to go that far... Dan replied to this thread.

[Fab 0]

Very interesting to read...I must say that I'm not so opposted to the whole idea as I first was at the beginning of this thread. Hearing about the precautions Danrossi takes, I'm withdrawing my first post here. I have changed my opinion on the matter. Don't think it's irresponsible anymore as long you are aware of the additional risks.

Fab has been educated

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[Fab 0]

...and the crowd goes wild...

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[flyingferret 0]

Very cool, know on to convincing people about the war....
oops

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All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI.

[flyingferret 0]

I think it is even more impressive that he packs his own chute. Wow...what a guy

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All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI.

[Fab 0]

hmm..something tells me you're not entirely serious now....

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[flyingferret 0]

Actually I am. I think I would have much more trouble packing a parachute blind than jumping. Maybe that is my perception, I don't know. But not only does he pack, he trusts them to a 'blind' check for malfunctions.

--
All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI.

[Plummet 0]

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Actually I am. I think I would have much more trouble packing a parachute blind than jumping. Maybe that is my perception, I don't know. But not only does he pack, he trusts them to a 'blind' check for malfunctions.

I have (psycho) packed my parachute blindfolded. From start to finish, with no one watching me except my whuffo wife. The hardest part was identifying the lines as I flaked. I took my time and had confidence that I knew what I was doing. I jumped it the next day and it opened the same as it always has.

-Jeff.
http://www.iplummet.com

Common sense and common courtesy are NOT common.

[nicknitro71 0]

I am reviving this thread.

Yesterday I did a complete blindfolded jump. I used a black bandana to cover my eyes and goggles and a frap hat on top of it. I could not see a thing not even the some brightness of the sun when I asked to be pointed at it. It was as pitch black as it gets.

As for the jump I was wearing a student rig (Maveron 240), a radio (of course), audible altimeter, and I jumped out 5000 pulling at three. I jumped in a sit, then made a back flip, got belly to earth and waited for the Dytter to beep or for the 15 sec mark..

Smizo (cessna54tango) filmed the jump. The idea was for him to pull at 4 grand and fly a borrowed Falcon 215 around me. Little Buddy (swooper120) was the radio man and he literally had my life in his hands. My plan was to never got unfolded unless radio failure. I would handle malfunctions and cutaway if needed all blindfolded.

Anyway, the FF part is just like a normal FF, no difference, really. We fly using our sense of touch and balance. I knew my body position, I mean the whole thing. One can definitely do any solo activity blindfolded including freely and wing suit. Of course making bigger ways and RW jumps might be more of a challenge but I see ways around it like air-to-air communication and such.

Now, the canopy ride is a totally different story. First you got to put a lot of trust in the radio person. Secondly the feeling is very weird, not knowing where you are heading, barely feeling the turns due to the big tarp and such.

On final I was told to flare a bit too high and I waited forever for the ground that came very unexpectedly. I did not even plan to stand up the landing so I set myself for a PLF that worked quite well.

When I took my fold off I saw Smizo few feet away with a white reserve tarp! What the fuck!

Now Smizo normally jumps a 83 Xaos 27 and he is a helluva swooper and in his many jumps he never had a cutaway.

On this jump the rocket scientist who packed the Falcon 215 (not Smizo) forgot to cock the PC and Smizo when he checked the pin apparently did not notice anything wrong (legitimate mistake if you will).

So Smizo is at 4K filming this blindfolded mother, he pitches and nothing out. He reached back to pull the bridle on his own but the rig is too big and next thing the silver is out. Once under the Raven II that I packed (A bottles of Jack Smizo) the main d-bag comes out and Smizo cutaway. The left 3-ring does not release despite the cable being all way out so Smizo grabs it and he is now trailing the main bag. He trails it until he is on final, drops it on a filed, un-stows the breaks and lands uneventfully.

So in the end everybody has some excitement.

I honestly recommend such a jump to all experienced jumpers given a very good radio person. By the way Little Buddy landed me 20 feet from the target!

Memento Audere Semper

903

[cessna54tango 0]

yea so there is was filming the exit. nick nailed the sit totally blind, in fact he hit it better than when he can see! anyways he backflips out of it and goes belly to earth, thats when i was gonna open my tarp so i could come down to him and film his canopy descent. well pitch, wait, nothing. look back expecting a lazy throw and to see the pc take off but there it is at full bridle extention just flapping away. nice. i reached back to try to grab the bridle and pull the pin hoping the uncocked pc would pull it out but couldnt reach in since it was a big rig and didnt fit me well, it was a few inches off my back at this point. so for my next trick i tried punching the container a few times but that was to no avail also. then we went to old silver. the rest happend pretty damn fast..... pulled silver, reserve came out. looked over shoulder as reserve is inflating to see main coming out behind me. cut away. ok right side good, shit, left still attached. not enough drag on main to release that side. grabbed the risers and yanked it off. now i have the cutaway handle in my right hand and the main by the risers in my left. hmmm, well its not trying to inflate, so no use dropping it here and risk the river so i carried it back to the dz. once overhead at about 1k i dropped it. there are diferent opinions on cutting away before reserve deployment in this case but i always told my self reserve first then cut away. if you do it the other way you risk the main coming off at the same time the reserve launches and a entanglement. so i fired the reserve looked for the main to come out behind then chopped it. it was quite entertaining. shitty my first reserve was on something that big so i couldnt swoop the shit outta my tempo 120! anyways yea if i looked at the pin i would have seen it wasnt cocked so i cant blame it on the packer, even though this was his second time, last he packed himself a line over. its all good! i guess the fact that i got a gear check from a blind guy in the plane didnt help either. a contributing factor was the 3 birds we killed in the morning on the runway with the motorcycle. instant carma!

smizo