Stupid things I have done

[Boogers 0]

StreetScooby

broke off low, and I couldn't get the pug out.

Well, a pug is a pretty good sized dog to be stuffing into your pilot chute pouch, so it's no wonder he was hard to remove. Besides, why did you put him in there in the first place?

[mjosparky 4]

StreetScooby

Had about 700 jumps, and was doing 4-way at an unnamed dropzone jumping another guy's rig. We only got 10k in the Cessna, broke off low, and I couldn't get the pug out. As I'm trying the 3rd time, one of the voices in my head said "Check the ground". A herd of sheep was getting out of the way. Must have been in the saddle under 200'. I can still see that herd of sheep, every time I think about it. Didn't even look for the reserve handle, just shot it as hard as I could, and fortunately, it worked. Everybody thought I died. I was too busy doing something about it to realize how f'ing stupid I was, at that time. Never, ever, again.

Some days we just get lucky.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[StreetScooby 5]

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Well, a pug is a pretty good sized dog to be stuffing into your pilot chute pouch...

Neither of us enjoyed it...

We are all engines of karma

[StreetScooby 5]

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Some days we just get lucky.

Yep, luckiest day of my life, so far... except for the day my wife said she would marry me. I was dating her at the time, and I've only just told her this story. As the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns said, "Oh to perceive ourselves as others perceive us". What a skill. Arrogance is senseless.

We are all engines of karma

[ERRR 2]

with about 20 jumps under my belt got into a Horny Gorilla with a buddy of mine (with the same 20 jumps that I had ) and a visiting sky god with 600+. Needless to say that before all of the violent tumbling and spinning stopped I broke off and dumped between 1200 and 1500 feet. Ground Rush is your friend and WILL save your life if you pay attention to it.

[al05r 2]

Bought and jumped a 135 as my first canopy (~50 jumps) ... scary shit!

[hillson 0]

Have a few dumb ones that all seemed to cluster around jumps 200-250 (go figure).

1) Low cloud day so we were running the Cessna for h&p. The ceilings kept dropping so the final load was ~2400. As it was the lowest I'd been out I was a bit nervous. Pitched as soon as I saw I was clear of the plane and proceeded to tow a bag lock while I sat around shaking the risers etc. I was fully open right above where electronics may have kicked in. Stupid. [edit] Not a simple low-speed hesitation...I sat there watching the stupid thing dance around.

2) Light load...I'm on a belly 4-way with video, there was 1 solo FF new guy and a couple of tandems. My first experience with later group(s) sliding under the formation. As I turn to track I find myself aiming for a fully open canopy. Avoid the canopy, panic, and end up pulling low (for me). Forget all about aviate and navigate while under canopy by spending time looking for the guy...proceed to run myself out of outs. For those familiar with ZHills - I landed between the packing mat and the hangar. Stupid.

3) Basic gear maintenance. Was having fits with my new risers as the webbing / tape / whatever on the toggle keepers was loose to the point where one end of the toggle would pop out, with some frequency. Third night jump on new year's...~1:45AM. Routine jump and deployment etc. Look up and *both* toggles are *barely* secured. I mean barely...came within a hair's width of having a double brake fire at night. More of a what could have happened but I definitely take much better care of my stuff now. Figured since it was brand new it would be fine. Stupid.

Nothing dumb or stupid in the last year...would like to think that I've 1) learned from my mistakes and 2) make better decisions.

[StreetScooby 5]

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I was fully open right above where electronics may have kicked in.

May have kicked in? If you're going to rely on electronics, you need to test them on a regular basis, IMO.

We are all engines of karma

[mjosparky 4]

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came within a hair's width of having a double brake fire at night.

A double “brake fire” is not a problem, the canopy will fly straight. If they came loose before the canopy opened then you would have a problem.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[rsb5267 0]

At jump number 29 I packed my chute and had an indescribable feeling that I packed it completely wrong. Opened up at 4000 feet to a step through. Never even released the breaks to check control-ability. Cutaway, lost freebag, had to retrieve canopy from a QUARRY.

Did i mention it was a rental rig?

[JohnMitchell 16]

I was half way thru a pack job when someone wanted to see the video I'd shot. After showing the video I came back to a kicked around pack job. I straightened it out some, said "That looks okay" and closed it up.

Guess who had a cutaway on the next jump.

[hillson 0]

eh, that was more of a way to gauge the height, dramatically. I suppose I could have said immediate turn into the pattern. lol. at any rate, it was rather low. and dumb.

[StreetScooby 5]

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at any rate, it was rather low. and dumb.

Re: low, are you referring to the 3K chop? I have a D-license
Re: dumb, you're right, and it started well before that freefall.

We are all engines of karma

[Boogers 0]

mjosparky

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came within a hair's width of having a double brake fire at night.

A double “brake fire” is not a problem, the canopy will fly straight. If they came loose before the canopy opened then you would have a problem.

Well if one brake fire is bad, then two at once must be really horrible, right?

Actually, that just becomes a labor-saving function.

[JohnMitchell 16]

Boogers

Well if one brake fire is bad, then two at once must be really horrible, right?

Actually, that just becomes a labor-saving function.

I don't understand all these brake fires. I've never had one. Is it a design problem or poor packing?

[Marcus_B 0]

I guess its a packing problem (at least mine was). See attachment.

[gunpaq 1]

1. Lent my copy of Skies Call to a former friend.
2. Never backed up hours of VHS & 8mm video tape to digital.
3. Tried to clear a line over before cutting away.
4. Missed the last Herd Boogie.

www.geronimoskydiving.com

[StreetScooby 5]

OMG, that picture is beyond exciting, in a bad way.
Did you live?

We are all engines of karma

[Boogers 0]

Marcus_B

I guess its a packing problem (at least mine was). See attachment.

I guess you could still land like that even if you couldn't untangle them. Just grab 'em in the middle, and push left, right or down together! It's an interesting predicament.

[Marcus_B 0]

StreetScooby

OMG, that picture is beyond exciting, in a bad way.
Did you live?

Since it didn't start to turn violnetly I was able to untangle the toggles (even it took quite a while). But for the first milisecond I really thought about chopping it.

Boogers

I guess you could still land like that even if you couldn't untangle them. Just grab 'em in the middle, and push left, right or down together! It's an interesting predicament.

Probably doable and interesting but far out of my expirience level :-)

[crapflinger2000 1]

2 really stand out in my mind:

1) In the midst of allergy season I take a couple little red pills and drive out to DZ. On the way up in the DC3 I am feeling woozy and spinny. Since I am going solo, I figured no big deal. Worked out fine but still not a good idea to jump while impaired in any way. I am sure most people who have safety meetings prior to jumping are way more impaired than allergy meds make you, but still.

2) Another jump decide to go solo to practice tracking/swooping. I give the solo ahead of me a solid 5 count and bomb out, intending to use him as a target. Here is where it starts to get stupid. 1) I did not tell the guy I was going to do this. 2) After 5 second delay between exists I have completely lost sight of the guy but against all logic decide to swoop on him anyway. 3) In my dive against an invisible target I am not holding back, going full bore into the unknown.

Net net is that after awhile, I finally spot him, about 100 feet away, and we are definitely going to impact incredibly hard. So much for "big sky little bullet." I was a good enough tracker that I decided that best bet to avoid was to flatten my track out as hard as possible and try to hop over him. I DID avoid him, but by mere centimeters I am sure... I recall subconsciously raising one of my knees to avoid clonking him on the head with it.

I landed and got the frick outa there in shame.

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?

[unkulunkulu 0]

How? o_O How did you achieve this?

[crotalus01 0]

I landed a stepthrough once - it passed all my control checks, and I had plenty of altitude to see how it was flying. Really wasn't a big deal (other than being my own stupid fault - I also ignored a feeling that something was not quite right...)

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

[Boogers 0]

crotalus01

I landed a stepthrough once - it passed all my control checks, and I had plenty of altitude to see how it was flying. Really wasn't a big deal (other than being my own stupid fault - I also ignored a feeling that something was not quite right...)

Better to follow-thru on that feeling and check and be wrong, then to ignore that feeling and be proven correct.

[uberchris 0]

rigged up a brand new collapsible pilot chute by myself, the complete wrong way and i wondered why it was having problems cocking properly, but jumped it anyway.
after deployment of my PC, i waited about 5 seconds, grabbed my reserve handle, when it finally popped my main pin and deployed my main.
i then learned how to PROPERLY hook up a collapsible pilot chute.


been skydiving blackout drunk before. not cool, esepcially when you forget your chest strap while donning your tracking suit. never mixing booze and skydiving again, its pathetic, and a danger to yourself and everyone around you.

gravity brings me down.........