Mistake...Lesson Learned

[gemini 0]

How many times have you heard "Plan the Dive", "Dive the Plan"? I screwed up Sunday, got my ass chewed by everyone. Only good thing is I hope we all learn something from this.

After almost being rained out all weekend at Spaceland, we managed to get a few jumps in Sunday because a large group of Hooters Girls had tandems scheduled.

On the second jump, we were going to do a simple 3 way RW drill dive consisting of connected exit to a round, sequential 540 turn, pod, 180 turn, round (our 4th jumper had stopped to eat lunch).

In the plane I asked what break-off was going to be and the reply was "I'll keep turning points until you guys break-off". We all laughed.

The dive went extremely well with complete rotation through all the points twice. My ProTrac went off at 4800 and we were still turning points; the second alarm went off at 3800 and we were still turning points. After the second alarm stopped, we finished the point and then tracked.

When I looked down during the track it was "Oh Shit!!!!" and pulled. My ProTrac said I settled in at 1100; my buddies says 500.

DZO, ST&A, DZ employees, packers and other jumpers grabbed us and chewed us out repeatedly. We deserved it!

Lesson? First, set a fixed breakoff point for all jumps. Second, make sure everyone knows the breakoff. Third, refuse to get on the plane with your group if they won't set/tell you the break-off. Fourth, break-off at the correct altitude even if you are in the middle of a point. AND fifth, do not EVER lose ALTITUDE AWARENESS!

I had heard over the years of incidents where jumpers lost altitude awareness and couldn't understand how anyone could do that. Now I know how easy it is to fall into the trap...wanting to be part of the team, caught up in a great dive, not wanting to be the one to break-off "high".

Please don't let it happen to you.

On the third jump, a 6-way RW, we set break-off at 4k. After break-off and deployment, one of the jumpers falls past me unstable after a hard, spinning mal (toggle came off line). I didn't hear if she beat the Cypres firing, but was very relieved when I saw the white reserve deploy below me. I was at about 1700 at the time.

Had it happened on the earlier jump.....

Blue skies,

Jim

[TequilaGirl 0]

He he he - I haven't yelled at you yet......

[gemini 0]

With head bowed and holding hands out for the wrist slap.....

Blue skies,

Jim

[rgoper 0]

it's good your sharing this, even though it's got to be dissheartning. but were all human, and we will screw up, murphy's law is ever present. if this can happen to this sky diver, it can happen to any of us. i know gemini, and i consider him very safety consious, so you newer people, listen up!

glad it turned out allright gemini. (bet you won't do it again!)

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

[skytrucker 0]

Enough said, Lesson Learned. It's hard to believe that this comes from one of the most safety conscious skydivers I've ever been around. Gemini, you don't me chew on you, you know where I stand.

Be safe!!!!

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.
---

[skybytch 273]

Quote

First, set a fixed breakoff point for all jumps. Second, make sure everyone knows the breakoff.

I'd like to add one more to your list... Discuss and dirt dive where and how far to track on breakoff.

Proper breakoff technique includes things like turning 180 from the center of the formation, tracking flat and hard for at least 1000 feet if not more, keeping your eyes open for others while tracking, and clearing the airspace around, above and below you before dumping. If you're doing formations that will have a 180 turn for someone moving into someone else's airspace, it's even more important to dirt dive what to do if breakoff time comes when you're in that formation.

Another thing to consider when setting the breakoff altitude is experience levels on the dive - if you have low timers or uncurrent jumpers with you, it's not a bad idea to bump up the breakoff by 500 or 1000 feet.

I mention this due to a jump I did this weekend - a 4500 foot breakoff on a 10 way. I was closer to other jumpers on both sides of me at pulltime on this jump than I was on several 80+ way attempts I've been on. Luckily everything was fine, but it was not a comfortable feeling, and had any one of us had a problem (i.e. off heading, snively or malfunctioning opening) it could have gotten real nasty real quick.

[Zennie 0]

Whoa. I'm kind of surprised no one had a Cypres fire.

In any event, yeah we all screw up. God knows I've had my share. But ya gotta just treat them as learning experiences and move on.

Last time out at the DZ one of the newer jumpers just decided he wanted to do one of those cool hook turns "because they look cool and look like a lot of fun". Problem was he started it *way* too low. Luckily all that happened was that he busted his butt on the ground. Needless to say *everyone* was giving him hell about it.

I told him, and I guess my thought to you, is that you shouldn't take it too personally. People do that because they care and don't want to see you get hurt. Yelling really isn't my style, I'm more of an "Ummm... that wasn't a very smart thing to do...." type of person. But if folks chew you out it doesn't mean the hate you or anything.

So live, learn, go forth & sin no more.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[ifallout 0]

That had to be scary enough to stop you from doing it again, and maybe your story will make someone else a little more aware, thanks for sharing

Bill

have fun, love life, be nice to the humans