tandem landing

[Caelum 0]

I'm scheduled to do my second tandem tomorrow and I'm just thinking back to my first tandem a few days ago, especially the landing.

When we landed, two people on the ground needed to kind of catch us. My friend landed next to us, but she and her tandem instructor didn' t have anyone assist their landing. Later, my TI said I did a perfect skydive, but I'm wondering if it really was perfect if we needed to be "caught" on the landing. I'm wondering if I did something wrong so that we had to be assisted on the landing. We did a sit landing, and it seemed very soft to me, but why the "catch"? Is this a normal tandem landing? I know this is general and several things can result in different kinds of landings, but any insights would be welcome. . .

[vamp 0]

What were the winds like that day?

[calledisrael 0]

we catch tandems at the dz all the time, especially when the winds are high or there is alot of traffic. it mostly just helps the tms get the canopies collapsed faster and not get blown all away. it's one thing for me to get blown over when i land in the wind, which has happened, but it would be way harder if i had a person strapped to my front.
i am sure that you did great.
have a great time tomorrow!

life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
(helen keller)

[justinb138 0]

It has nothing to do with you, just the winds..

A 400sq canopy can drag a tandem pair pretty easily even in light winds , so it helps to have people waiting to grab the brake lines and collapse the canopy right after landing.

Edit: I'm not sure where the term "catch" came from, but I can see where it could be easily misunderstood.

[riggerrob 643]

Tandems getting dragged backwards is always a hassle on windy days. Some days it is down-right painful!
When I was a young tandem instructor, I depended upon "catchers," but now I find it quicker to collapse my own canopy when winds are strong.
I ask students to help me flare the canopy, then tell them to hold their hands down until told otherwise. Once our feet are on the ground, I reach up and grab an extra yard (meter for Europeans) of steering line and pull the tail further down. This technique usually collapses the canopy before catchers can run to me.

[Caelum 0]

Thanks!

I did my second tandem today. We had to use the reserve because there was a big knot in the main parachute--so I got two freefalls for the price of one! I know using a reserve is not the optimal way to do a skydive, but I'm kind of glad we did because I got to feel what it's like. My TI let me help steer and land with it, so I think it was a good learning experience.

My main concern was that a strap on my chest moved up to my neck after the parachute openend--it was tight. I don't think I passed out, but I was in lala land for a bit. I'm doing my AFF next weekend, and I sure hope it doesn't happen again! I wonder why the strap was so tight on my neck. I don't know much about skydiving, but I don't think straps are supposed to do that. I don't think I did anything wrong. . . .

[OSOK 0]

Gah! I hope you told the instructor about that... could be something wrong with the harness.

[JohnMitchell 16]

The harness thing . . . how tall are you and what do you weigh?

Tandem harnesses fit just about anyone, if they are adjusted properly. Once the chute opens, the chest strap does move up, but it shouldn't choke unless the main lift webs were too long.

Short people have a hard time with most student gear. It's made for the "average male" 5'10", 170 pounds. Most DZs have bigger harnesses for bigger folks (there's so many of them these days ), but the 5'1", 105 pound woman is usually out of luck. She'll have all kinds of issues, jumping in too big of a harness.

[Mike111 0]

Ive seen that happen at the DZ quite a lot.

seems perfectly normal as they do it so often.

[Caelum 0]

I'm 5'7 and weigh about 120lbs, so I don't think I'm really a very small girl. I had a slight problem with the harness my first jump--it gave me a long bruise on my inner thigh, but I didn't think anything of it. This time, I almost blacked out (maybe I even did), which kind of makes me nervous. After we landed, I told my instructor the strap was tight on my neck, but I didn't tell him I was on the verge of blacking out completely because I don't want him to think I'm a wimp! I'm hoping I'll learn in my AFF class what to do if this happens again. I'm wondering if I did something wrong, but my instructor told me I had very good exits and very good body position on both jumps--nothing negative.

[mr2mk1g 10]

Think about the way the harness is made. There is a given distance between the bottom of the leg straps and the chest strap. This distance is determined by the length of the webbing that runs down your sides (which can often be adjusted on student gear) and also in part by how tight you do up the leg straps (thus changing their length).

If this length exceeds the length between your legs and your neck you're gonna have the kind of problem you experienced on your last jump. Its as simple as that.

Do up your leg straps as tight as is comfortable (not so tight as to cut off circulation though). Also tell your instructor about your previous problem and ensure they tighten the webbing on the sides of your harness where appropriate/possible.

Try and replicate the problem on the ground by having your instructor lift the rig up while you're wearing it. If this causes a problem then you can take steps to rectify it before you jump. If not then you can relax, secure in the knowledge that you're probably not going to have the problem.

Hopefully this will ensure that you're longer than your harness.

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[YahooLV 0]

Having the chest strap slide up is an occurence that happens at times. It's not a problem, just grab it and pull it down. I've seen it happen many times. No big deal.

When you wear your own rig (parachute) the chest strap is fixed into position, so you won't have that problem. Have fun in AFF, relax, have fun, and .....

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