OUCH!

[Guest]

I had a minor injury yesterday that I'd like to post, in hopes that objective lessons may be learned.

I was accompanying a low-timer on a jump from 5k. No RW, we just flew solo exits, dumped at 3k, and did a little no-contact CRW.

We were the last load at the remote field, so there was no other traffic to be concerned about.

After chasing each other around til about 1200, we set up to land. My associate broke to the West to make a right-hand approach, and I went East.

As we were on base, we were headed towards each other, but still had lots of separation on all three axes (over 250 horizontal / 75 vertical / 75 lateral) . He was lower, so I watched him turn right to final, and I turned left a moment later to follow him down.

One of the things I agreed to do on the jump was witness his landing and endorse his logbook, since he's trying to get enough accuracy to land at Harvey.

Well, his accuracy was mostly okay - mostly. He sank his canopy when he saw he was going long, then released when he saw his was going short. He then flared late, and he biffed. Oops.

But it gets better - I'm watching all of this and being distracted by it. In the meantime, the Earth is rising up to greet me.

Making things a little dicier is that the winds have completely died. My Hornet 190 doesn't like calm.

So after watching the show, I'm finally giving my undivided attention to the job I was there to do in the first place - put my sorry ass safely down.

Unfortunately, because I allowed myself to get distracted by what was going on in front of me, I'm now flaring at least a 1/2 second late.

My last thought before my legs pound into the ground is - "Gosh, I'm going kinda fast...oops."

I came down HARD on my left foot (when not PLFing I tend to extend it first), followed quickly by my right foot, and the rest of me bites the dust.

Biting the dust isn't worrying me at this point. What is worrying me is the impact shock that has run up my left leg! OUCH!

Elaine, bless her heart, has just pulled up in the DZO's Bronco, and tells us that she saw us both biff, and asks if we're hurt. On any other day, it would have just been my dignity, what with biffing in front of the DZO's girlfriend and all.

My partner says he's fine, but I report that I'm not so sure. Crap. In eight years of jumping, I've pounded my left leg some, but this is the hardest hit I've yet taken..

I limp carefully over to the vehicle and we all go back to the DZ.

On the way, I give it the usual checks - doesn't feel like it was a break, or even a sprain. Later, there is some minor swelling in my knee, but mostly my leg feels like I made a bad landing after jumping off the back of Amazon's big red Dodge pickup.

Tonight, over 24 hours later, it's still got that "I don't like what you did to me" twinge, but I stay mostly off it, and when I do have to walk anywhere, I use a cane. Looks like it'll be okay.

***********

Anyway - some analysis of the mishap (which was not reported to the USPA, BTW)

[Now, I could start off by saying it was my partner's fault. If only he hadn't biffed like that in front of me...heh]

1. I should have been paying attention to my own final and not allowed myself to be distracted by my face-planting associate. Naturally, my first thought was that he'd been hurt, but if we're both on the ground writhing in agony, what good is that?

2. Lack of altitude awareness on final can be painful. I've always known that, but now I'm feeling it too.

3. Winds were squirelly all day. I should have been prepared for a no-wind landing (that is, flare like a sonofabitch and really pop that thing good). I was expecting winds to be there. It was so late in the day, I should have known that the winds would be calm.

All of that being said, I think I'm lucky. I got a not-so-gentle reminder to pay attention to what I'm doing and worry about other people later, when I'm safely on the ground. That, and fly my darn canopy.

mh
.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[Amazon 7]

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On the way, I give it the usual checks - doesn't feel like it was a break, or even a sprain. Later, there is some minor swelling in my knee, but mostly my leg feels like I made a bad landing after jumping off the back of Amazon's big red Dodge pickup.

Hey how did I get into this...

I fell off it two years ago backwards and broke my wrist.

On the landing stuff if I am going to watch anyone I like to do it with my feet on the ground.. with the Hornet you should have been able to spiral down to be the first one on the ground where you can watch from a better vantage point.

As far as your injuries.. heal up stay off it and if its still hurting perhaps its time for a trip to a Dr. If the knee is swelling up a bit it could be some damage to the cartilage...I jammed mine long long ago and had a bucket handle tear in the meniscus that at first seemed to heal. But unbeknown to me it was torn and they had to go in and remove it when it moved and got caught between the bones in the joint which REALLLLY made things hurt like hell when I could not straighten out my knee. ThePOP it made when I did manage to force it straight was loud and horrifyingly painfull. That happened several weeks after the initial injury and I was just kneeling down while demonstrating the building of a shelter while"camping". I did get a cool helicopter ride back to a a base hospital.. with my knee blowing up to twice its normal size. The Dr was pissed I had not gotten medical attention when I first injured it.

Take care of yourself and get well

[mccordia 74]

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One of the things I agreed to do on the jump was witness his landing and endorse his logbook, since he's trying to get enough accuracy to land at Harvey.

Maybe a silly question, but why didn't you just ask him to stay at the landing-point, and judge his accuracy AFTER you both safely landed at the DZ?

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[FrogNog 1]

A few weeks ago, in the same field, also with a Hornet 190, I took a double-front riser dive too low trying to get down before the target in decreasing wind, and ended up grinding my ankle at the bottom of my swoop. Similar symptoms to the ones you described. I felt pretty stupid for misprioritizing my landing tasks in the last bit of altitude. (I could have landed that perfectly smoothly, with a beautiful swoop, 30 meters long but instead I gouged the target with my body. )

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Pull.

[FrogNog 1]

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One of the things I agreed to do on the jump was witness his landing and endorse his logbook, since he's trying to get enough accuracy to land at Harvey.

Maybe a silly question, but why didn't you just ask him to stay at the landing-point, and judge his accuracy AFTER you both safely landed at the DZ?

That would be a better way to do it.

I think the core issue here was not a poor accuracy-certifying plan, but just being distracted which could happen for any reason. (Obviously some things are more potentially-distracting than others, like seeing your jump partner land hard)

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Pull.

[Guest]

Quote

Quote

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One of the things I agreed to do on the jump was witness his landing and endorse his logbook, since he's trying to get enough accuracy to land at Harvey.

Maybe a silly question, but why didn't you just ask him to stay at the landing-point, and judge his accuracy AFTER you both safely landed at the DZ?

That would be a better way to do it.

I think the core issue here was not a poor accuracy-certifying plan, but just being distracted which could happen for any reason. (Obviously some things are more potentially-distracting than others, like seeing your jump partner land hard)

Precisely the point I was trying to make, which was why it was listed first in the "lessons learned" section on my post. The accuracy stuff was part of the story, but was somewhat ancillary, especially after my partner biffed.

mh
.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[riddler 0]

Can't say I've ever had this situation. When I coach students, we always talk about freefall, but what I really watch during their jump is altitude awareness, pull altitude, canopy control and landing. I think it's a lot more important for students than the freefall. I've tried emphasizing that stuff directly, but the students usually start falling asleep So we talk about freefall.

Anyway, when we jump together, I'm always down first. I have a 1.3 wingload, and we usually agree on pull at 3.5 - I normally watch them track and pull, then I pull at 3,000. 800 feet of opening, followed by 1.3 wingload and I'm always down first so I can watch them land.

I see your wingload is 1.16 - I think it's great to be conservative here because newer jumpers will follow your lead and stay conservative on their own wingloads. But I guess there's the potential to get down after they do. If you want to watch their landing, you may have to fudge a bit and pull a few hundred feet lower than your agreed altitude - either that or spiral down faster under canopy

I also bring Aleve with me the DZ

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD