Broken arm

[jncoughlin 0]

I'm just getting into this great sport so excuse the dumb questions.
I met an experienced skydiver recently (2600+ jumps). During our discussion, he mentioned that he once broke his arm during a RW collision.
My questions are: How do you deploy, assuming it's your right arm (dump reserve?) and how do you steer and land the canopy with one arm disabled?
Obviously this guy did it!

[gus 1]

I guess you could hold both toggles in one hand to flare and steer by shifting your weight.....
Not sure I'd want to try it though! Gus
"Sex? Once every six seconds. Skydiving? Five times, every six seconds."

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Depends on which arm - right arm broken, dump reserve and try and keep the other arm still, or left arm broke, dump main and hope you have an RSL in case of mal.
You shouldn't put a knife in the toaster - but you're an adult now !!!

[wildblue 7]

I think regardless of which arm, I'd pull silver. Leave the brakes stowed and steer with weight and the one good arm on a riser. Prepare to do a good PLF.
Never argue with stupid people.They just drag you down 2 their level & beat you with experience

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Suppose it also depends on what main you have - If you've got an EXTreme VX60 or something, reserve it is. Depends on the situation and what kit you jump. This is a time where you want a round reserve I think.
You shouldn't put a knife in the toaster - but you're an adult now !!!

[billvon 2,998]

>During our discussion, he mentioned that he once broke his arm during a RW collision.
Got a better story than that. Our pilot back in NY once did a 10-way with us - he had about 5 jumps at that point. Someone collided with him and dislocated his shoulder (a more likely injury from a freefall impact.) Fortunately it was his left shoulder, so he could still pull. He opened, then took both toggles in one hand and used that to steer and land. He landed fine.
Some considerations:
1. If your pull arm/shoulder gets taken out, you're probably going to have to use your reserve.
2. Once you unstow your brakes you can't restow them. Often it's better to leave them stowed and pull left/right risers to steer you back to the DZ.
3. Keep in mind your stability at pull time will be affected, so if time permits do one or two pull attempts before you actually pull it.
4. If you _do_ have a mal you'll need to go through emergency procedures with one hand. Fortunately both handles are pretty easy to get to with one hand.
-bill von