kaiserD

thanks, Gato. i'm going to read up on objects and turbulence. did you break your coccyx before and/or after Napoleon Dynamite? cuz as much as the pain and discomfort would suck, i think that all the lame Uncle Rico imitations i would endure from my friends would be worse...

thanks, KC. i won't be jumping this weekend. i'm going to get me some wind tunnel time first, see if i can work on my form. hopefully i'll jump the following weekend and maybe i'll seen you then, or some other time.

well, i understand that unforseen events are going to happen to me. but (and i'm no nostradamus or anything) i'm positive that i won't needlessly try to clear buildings on landing ever again. i deployed at 10,000 and i landed downwind of the target. but the wind was pretty minimal at the time.

thanks, NWFlyer, i really appreciate it. "Yes, but did you have fun?" oh, hell yeah! i actually don't regret the ride, since i didn't do any serious/irreversible damage (i think- i'm still pretty damn sore all over, my body was pulverized). it was a pretty unique landing. i really really wish someone had caught it on video (my brother said i would've been a YouTube star, at least for a day) but once is enough, i think i'll be a little more conventional from now on.

"...there's beer involved here somehow..." well, i wasn't drunk. i was high on crack, bitches! no, no, no- just kidding. lessons learned: focus on the task at hand this being my level 3 jump, i had been let go by my instructor to see if i could maintain stability. i could not- i went into a spin which was more sudden and quicker than i had expected. i probably could've done more to try to regain form and stability but at the time i decided i couldn't get out of the spin, so i pulled. of course, i had a line twist that kind of freaked me out a bit, but i untwisted pretty quickly without problems. so, i'm under canopy at 10,000 feet and i was pissed at myself for failing level 3. i noticed that the dz was far west of where i was (as opposed to my first 2 jumps when it was basically right below me). so i started making my way back, but kept thinking of the spin, the line twists, redoing level 3, instead of focusing on my landing. use common sense/better judgement to override instructions given over the radio when needed. so, i'm making my way back when i hear over the radio "richard, lets see a right turn." i do my right turn even tho i'm thinking "i'm kinda far away to do maneuvering". i don't get any more instructions so decide to turn left and head for my dz. then i hear "richard, let's see an 180 degree turn." i was like, "jeez. he's making this tough on me!" i do my 180 even tho i know that i'm going opposite of where i want to go. i don't get any more instruction and i think, "this is silly, i need to get back!" turns out my instructor had another student in the air and got our names mixed up. this dawns on me when i hear "ok, richard, flare! good job!" even tho i'm still 3000 ft up. come up with a safe landing pattern beforehand, and stick to it so, i'm far away from my dz and know that it's going to be hard to get to the landing area. i didn't want to land out so i make a beeline to where i want to go and hope for the best. at about 2000 feet i felt i had a pretty good chance to reach it but it was still too soon to tell (for me). obviously, if there was any question at all, i should have not risked it and instead should've found a safe, easy spot to get to, and just landed there, even if it meant landing out and having someone come fetch me. as i get closer, with my options diminishing, i hear over the radio "richard, you're looking good. i think you'll clear those hangars, but if you don't think you will, you need to find another way out." hey, he's actually talking to me this time! my options were a little landing area (it looked tiny to me) to the right, adjacent to the runaway. seemed like it was too close to the runway, plus there was perpindicular taxi-ing roads and such, just didn't seem like a good place to go. to my left, right next to the hangars, was a paved public road with a ditch next to it and maybe electrical wires. i wanted to stay away from that. at this point i decided to go straight and try to clear the hangars. i think i felt at the time my chances were 50/50. i'm approaching 3 rows of hangars and i know i'll easily clear the first two. the 3rd one's going to be the tough one. and it was. as i'm coming in i make a last second decision (cause it flashed in my mind) NOT to try to flare above the hangar and try land on it. i just knew that it wouldn't work- i'd just go over the edge, head first. so at the last possible second i heave my legs up towards my body and take the impact of the roof on my butt and hamstrings. (there was probably 2-3 inches of snow on the roof which obviously helped me) i was only about 4 feet from the edge, so of course i went over the side. probably a 15-20 foot drop. but at least i was in a decent position to fall; not head first. i managed to get one leg down as i tumbled (ending up with a bruise on the ball of that foot and tweaking my ankle a bit) and i think i did some sort of weird plf to my right, scraping an elbow. although there were miscommunication issues, i take 100% responsibility for what happened. i really have no desire to take any more unecessary risks while skydiving and i know that this sort of thing won't happen to me again. i've replayed this jump over in my mind about 4000 times and realize that i messed up, and that i'm very lucky.

thanks guys.

that was me! first of all, i'm ok- i didn't shatter my tailbone and had no signifcant injuries. i was lucky. this was my 3rd AFF jump and basically until the last 5 seconds or so (and past the point where i could find another way out) thought i could clear the hangar. stupid decision on my part, and also a reflection on my inexperience. live and learn. a little over a week later, i'm still a little sore but am very pumped to do more jumps. just gotta avoid them obstacles...