skyborne

Thanks Billvon. Your reference to a recovery position is what I was seeking. Just a quick what to do once a stall has occurred too close to the ground. In the unfortunate fatality, would a more appropriate response to the low altitude stall have been to raise the toggles only halfway up and not too quickly, followed by a full flare and a prayer before touchdown? I learned a hard lesson last summer on cause and effect of forward surge, and wound up with a mild spinal compression fracture that I just barely walked away from. In this instance I was approaching at half brakes and raised my toggles too quickly to close the ground. I was unable to recover from the sudden forward surge before landing. I am trying to close as many gaps in knowlege as possible, and this forum has been very helpful. As I went through AFF last year I had to grudgingly accept the fact I am far from the invincible (much less fearless), young paratrooper I thought I was 30 years ago. I do expect to be jumping again this summer.

What types of canopy piloting errors can result in a low altitude stall? What actions should be taken in response to a low altitude stall? Last year a skydiver with over 300 jumps stalled on a late turn to final approach and apparently raised the toggles too quickly in an attempt to recover, which resulted in a forward surge that was fatal. Just trying to better understand this...

All this talk brings back memories from a distant past. I was in the 1/75 Rangers in GA in 1976-1977. I made some jumps at Bragg in the early '80's with an SF reserve unit. While I was still in jump school, the Command Sgt Major of the 1/75th and a specialist died in a jump after colliding and entangling with each other on a fun jump day with family watching. Seemed like in those days accidents were not that uncommon, at least in terms of broken legs and tree landings and such. Not due to any lack of concern for safety, but mass tactical jumps were often challenging, and we often had to lug a lot of equipment leaving the aircraft. Anyway, I recently got into skydiving as a sport and was amazed at how much the equipment has changed. I was impressed how the folks at my DZ in Texas are always concerned and aware of each other, and frequently check each others gear both on the ground and in the plane.

The best basic canopy skills info I found is in a book The Parachute and Its Pilot by Brian Germain. After I recently fractured my spine in a hard landing I ordered this book to better understand exactly what I did wrong and to better understand the dynamics of the whole landing process. This has really good stuff in it for both beginners and swoopers. This book hit the nail on the head in my case with its discussion on forward surge when toggles are raised too quickly.

Thought I read somewhere where dual ADD's were used on a rig but I cannot find the source. Just added insurance? Does anyone know if this could makes sense in some cases beyond that? Seems like it could if they are independently set for different emergency scenarios. Maybe not. Any comments?

My DZ offers it free to any student completing AFF-3. It has a lot of good stuff in it and should be read by all students.

I recently posted a message in "Incidents - Student Injury Anytown USA" I edited out some parts not relevant to that forum and moved it here which may be more appropriate. I am still on student status with 18 jumps, with further training postponed pending healing of current injuries. In the late 70’s I had many military jumps with Ranger and SF units, which brings me to the subject of PLF’s. I notice way too many folks landing hard on their feet followed by their rear ends. My last hard landing that impacted my rear resulted in a spinal compression fracture in lumbar L5. While PLF’s are neither necessary or appropriate in many situations, in those situations it is warranted it can certainly minimize injuries. It appears that the AFF program falls short on properly teaching PLF’s to its students. The program does indeed stress the importance of PLF’s and explains the five points of contact properly, but falls short on making sure the students can actually perform PLF's. In my military days this was very much ingrained with frequent practice PLF’s off platforms into sandpits to ensure proper form prior to jumps. The AFF program should mimic this for many reasons. It is actually a little harder than it looks for most people to get a PLF right, and takes some practice. It is also easy to forget if not practiced regularly. Practice instills proper form and a conditioned reflex response that is necessary in hard landing situations. This ultimately reduces the chances of jumpers tailbones impacting the ground on a hard landing and better distributes the forces on landing. Proper PLF practice is an excellent training tool that gets one used to a moderate fall from a four foot platform and minimizes anxiety and tightening up before hitting the ground. A cheap and effective training tool for any DZ teaching AFF. This is just the opinion of a student skydiver. Some more experienced and better informed skydivers may have a difference of opinion or comments or otherwise correct anything I have said here. I welcome any constructive feedback.