So... as of 2 o'clock on Sunday I have taken off in a plane one more time than I have landed in a plane.
How is this possible... well, I jumped out of it didn't I!
Solo, static line, ram air parachute jump from 3,500ft. £200 for the training (8 hours!) and the first jump.
I pretty much focused on what I had to do, not what was going to happen, it was the only way to keep my fear in check so I would get out the door of the plane. So when he said, "No. 3 feet out.", I got in the door and when he said "GO!", I went...
Then my whole world exploded in pure primordial terror. "1 thousand...", watched the plane wheel disappear upwards out of view, an insane blast of air and the feeling of accelerating rapidly, falling VERY, VERY fast. Roaring wind pulling at you, the scenery below, on your own. "What the hell have I just done!?!?!? You idiot." At this stage T+2 I had actually forgotten I had a parachute, I was well in a world of fear.... fear too fast for adrenaline to kick in.
Then, there was a small tug, a few eye blinks later a huge pull on the harness and a big swing forward, and I remembered I had a parachute. Don't remember "2 thousand" or "3 thousand", but I remember saying, "4..." and looking up to see a big yellow/black parachute.... with..... twists in the lines!
It was still surreal at this stage, I now just felt like I was "hanging around" at 3,000ft above the scenery and I had a problem. So I pushed fear out of the way and acted, trying first to kick myself round with no success, so I summoned some balls and grabbed the two "risers" pulled them apart and started swinging, kicking my legs until finally the twist spun out and I spun round 180 degrees and the parachute actually now looked like it could be landed.
Quick check to make sure my emergency handles were still stowed and safe and found my chest strap up near my neck and my altimeter beside my chin.... I'd forgotten to tug the leg straps tight! So while I was still secure in the harness and fairly comfortable I was sunk down into it with my shoulder straps sitting up 6 inches above my shoulders... which made the next task more difficult.
I reached up grabbed my control toggles and pulled them out of their elastics, then I started looking for the landing arrow. Couldn't find it, looking through fields for ages, I decided I'd need to do my control checks anyway, so started into a right hand turn, just as I heard, "No. 3, Left turn, left, left, left, left toggle down, all the way down...", so I opted for a left turn and 10 to 20 seconds later, I seen the arrow in the landing field.
To be honest, I let the guy guide me in, but I was very much aware that it was me up here and I had my life in my hands, his guidance was just a backup.
The wind had changed and they were actually moving the arrow around to point in a different direction and I found myself on a straight in approach, but was convinced I was too high, following the ground instructor though I quickly realised he was flying me in gentle S bends until he said, "No. 3 fly straight into the arrow just keep it straight."
It's quite hard to judge your height, I could see another parachute below me making a low turn to land, and I still felt high, but the wind was stronger and as I got closer to the ground I figured I was actually going to land somewhere near the arrow.
The ground starts to rush at a few hundred feet, well inside the field, just needed to hold the thing straight while the wind tugged at me a bit in turbulence. Got myself into the landing fall position, feet together, knees bend, chin tucked down, 100 feet (ish) and the radio again, "Okay, ready to flare, hold, wait, wait, wait, WAIT, Now FLARE!" Probably only 10 feet up I pulled both toggles right down, and the parachute slowed rapidly and almost stopped dead, so I came out of the landing fall position and tried to put my feet down, but... was still about 2 foot up, then suddenly I dropped, BUMP onto terra firma and just had to take two steps forward to keep upright.
Landing stood up meant the parachute was still happily flying above me! They hadn't taught us how to deal with this though! I grabbed one riser (one set of lines) and pulled on it and felt the wind pull back, so I dropped down onto my knees in case it pulled me over and waited for it to fall to the ground, got up and ran around the back of it as it collapsed in a heap, legs like jelly. Scooped up my chute and walked over to the instructors with a HUGE grin on my face. I aced my first landing!
Debrief was waiting for me when I got back, "Good position, good exit, good spread, weak arch, no count". Aww well, not bad and I survived with is the main achievement.
Paul
Sod that for a laugh! ;D
I'm with Steve on that one... nutter :laugh:
Congrats though, it's not something I would CHOOSE to do personally.
My girlfriend (on her 2nd jump) was on the lift (plane trip to jump is called a lift) before me, our mate who came up with us for his first jump was No. 1, first out. She was second, so... he was sitting in the door looking directly at her... This is a much more horrible story...
He stalled when told to GO and didn't go, then decided he was going to go, edged forward a little but changed his mind. He did this rapidly a few times, then decided he definitely wasn't going, but... it was too late, he'd edged forward too far and ...
He fell out! While trying to grab hold of the plane and get back in!
OMFG! That's horrifying. He's being brave and all afterwards, even though he hurt his foot landing, but my GF says she will be scared for life having watched his face as he fell out. Terrified her before she even left the plane.
... and she was NEXT! She jumped, good on her, perfect exit, nice landing, got promoted to "Dummy pull" exercises.
Brilliant, theory descriptive read, I was there with you for a minute with my breath held, :o well done, theory brave.
regards G
My heartbeat increased reading that, Fair play to you, Prefer dirt under my feet.
Well i think your mental ! lol No way on earth i`d do that :)
Nice write up and congratulations
Respect !!!!!
Fantastic write up! But... you didnt mention what was wrong with the plane...did it crash? Was it structural or engine failure that made you jump out? (?)
Quote from: Artie on July 05, 2011, 01:31:02 AM
Fantastic write up! But... you didnt mention what was wrong with the plane...did it crash? Was it structural or engine failure that made you jump out? (?)
LOL, it was voluntary evacuation!
Though the plane did develop problem, losing power earlier in the day. Pilot went at it with a screw driver for 20 minutes, then went for a flight on his own before taking up a load of 3 instead of 4 to check. I was on the next ride and... well, I had a parachute! :)
So .... err... I went and did it again! Same thing, static line parachute dump from 3500ft. I was first out today. He said "Come'on lets go!", so I got in the door and put my feet out... Got in the position waited.... a cloud appeared below/beside the plane.... "Will he wait for the cloud?", .... "GOOOO!", so I jumped off the plane straight bang into the cloud.
It looked white and fluffy but suddenly as the sounds of the plane vanished replaced by a roar of noise the world went white, cold and wet. Remembered I was counting, and not actually *that* afraid! Then tug, gentle pull, rumbling and suddenly I look up to see a big square parachute, with no twists this time, "One less thing to worry about."
Grabbed the toggles, gave a HUGE howler at the top of my lungs, something like, "WWEEEEEE,WOOOOO, WAAAAA, AH, HA!"
Did a 360 turn, spotted the arrow, looked up to see my girlfriend appear from under a plane and a canopy ripple open over her head. Awesome!
Managed to land, almost stood up. Stopped dead about 2 foot up, reached for the ground, but it wasn't there, then fell onto my feet, but crumpled with jelly legs onto my ass.
The first time I was fairly sure I didn't want to feel that fear again. This time, I feel like I could do it again... and again!
Paul
Truly, you guys need to revamp your safety standards..... so many faulty aircraft in use...Im surprised it hasnt made the news....
I get nervous standing up in the back of a ute.... I applaud your commitment ... but... maaaaate....
Can we change Paulca's description to "Mentalist" please? ;D
nice one - its one of my bucket list items and this thread has spurned me on, i have even found a couple of mates that SAY they are up for it (lets see who bottles it when the time comes!)
Ill put it on my bucket list, as backup in case what ever terminal illness is taking too long :) I`d never open the shute, not because i didnt want to, because i would have died from heart failure jumping in the first place lol
I reckon I could jump, I went up in a micro light once, it was an open cockpit like Wallace and grommet, when you only have one eye, it all looks flat, and I got the feeling I could step out, on to an Earth colored carpet. :o
Ill jump with you tiggerbiker, thou the spot landings may be hared, I would pull my control lines 6ft to early or to late.
regards G
Quote from: Coyote on July 11, 2011, 11:27:39 AM
I`d never open the shute, not because i didnt want to, because i would have died from heart failure jumping in the first place lol
luckily you don't get a choice at this level. the chute pull is attached to the back of the pilots seat. as soon as you leave the plane its already deploying.
In that case, with my luck, it'd get hooked on something and I'd be getting dragged along by the plane - would make for an interesting landing...... :o :o
;D
Quote from: g.collins on July 11, 2011, 11:38:54 AM
I would pull my control lines 6ft to early or to late.
Actually my girlfriend flared early. she jumped after me from same plane. I seen her leave the plane and her chute open.
when I landed I watched her approach down the field. the she sort of stopped dead about the height of a house up. a good 20ft. then down she came, straight down, thump, rolled over forward face first and jumped raging at herself. she had a radio failure and was on her own the whole way down!
Lol your accounts of this are ringing saftey alarms in my head now :)
Quote from: Coyote on July 11, 2011, 12:17:27 PM
Lol your accounts of this are ringing saftey alarms in my head now :)
Obviously nobody can say jumping out of a plane is entirely safe. :D The very nature of it is throwing yourself into a life threatening situation and then getting yourself back out of it again without injury and actually trying to enjoy it!
That said, everything you learn about is safety, safety, safety. Problems you can solve and how, problems you can't solve and the emergency procedures for those. There are very few
single problems that could kill you. Luckily multi malfunctions are very, very rare.
For example... the static line itself. Both you and the instructor check it's properly attached while getting in. When you get in the door to jump, critical, never forget item is, DO NOT GO UNLESS YOU HEAR "GOOOO!!!". This allows the jump master to check your static line is clear of everything, actually sets the slack on your back, makes sure it can't be around any part of you, or someone else, quick visual check of your gear, then GOOO!!!!.
What is you DO get caught in the line, like it loops round your hand or leg and you get hung up? Well, the jump master will show you a knife, you grab your reserve handles and as soon as you feel the line cut, you do you emergency drill for reserve.
Most likely... there is about 10 feet of static line bolted to the pilots seat, about 1 foot from the end is a little pin that keeps the backpack (container) closed, as you hit the end of that line, about 1 second after you jumped the pin pops out and the pack opens like a flower to reveal a bag and lines zig-zagged up in elastics, the end of the static line is fixed to that bag, so the bag gets lifted off your back and the elastics pop off as the lines open out. When the lines reach full extent, nice n straight up off your back and shoulders, the bag get ripped off the chute and it immedaitely gets inflated by the air stream, from the centre "nostril" out. A bit of material on rings slides down the lines, it's job is to use the air stream to slow down the inflation by holding the left and right sets of lines together.... but as you slow it loses the battle slides right down to the risers and the chute fully inflates into a big fat wing.
Fairly likely problem straight off will be line twists. Can't fly a parachute with line twists and it's not recommended to try. Has to be fixed. Simple enough, it's like a play park swing with the chains twisted up, just pull the twist and kick and swing round until they come out. Trouble is, while unlikely they can twist up so bad they don't open as a straight wing, but a curved buckled wing and you go "sycamore seed" spinning rapidly straight down. This one is a malfunction you don't play with.
So, LOOK - Find the cutaway and reserve handles, LOCATE - grab both handles tight, thumb in the reserve D ring on the left, cut away pad gripped tight in your right, CUT - Tear the cut away handle out of it's velcro'ed pocket, AWAY - Pull it down hard, all the way, this pulls a little cable out of a nylon ring at your shoulders, which allows a load bearing ring to disconnect and the main chute is gone, RESERVE - Pull the reserve handle. ARCH - arch your body so you continue to fall belly down and allow the reserve to open behind you.
If you forget to pull the reserve, doesn't matter, it is pulled for you anyway by the main chute as it goes or as you fall from it, pulls the reserve deploy for you.
What if the static line fails and you have no deployment? You'll get to "4 thousand, check canop.... SHIT, LOOK, LOCATE, CUT-AWAY, RESERVE, ARCH"
But... what if, what if you banged you head (how?) on the way out, or you just passed out. Static line fails, somehow, you have no chute, but are unconscious. Dead? Nope. On your left shoulder harness is a little barometer that messures pressure rise (from falling), if below 1,400ft (in my case) you are falling fast (ie. free fall), it will automatically deploy the reserve. If your still unconscious then you might just land a bit hard, but you'll live... depending on where and on/in what you land.
O! that's alright then :laugh:
It all sounds so simple........
That all sounds great and all, but ... do you get a free nappy? :o
Have to post this....
This is pretty much memory lane for me.
1st Parachute Jump Sean "Pat" Garrett RN-10.3.09 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl8Kp9qUfcs#)
"Feet out!", "Arm down!", "Look up!" "GOOOOO!", GONE! !!ROAR!!, "OH MY HOLY GOOD F***ousand", "ITS OKAY THERES A PARACHUTE...ousand", "NOT GONNA DIE...ousand", "LURCH...ousand", "CHECK, CANOthank f***'ing youOPY!". Not falling, good times, I have a wing and a landing zone.
Guess what I won't be doing any time soon. :o
Respect.
Quote from: Steve W on July 23, 2011, 01:33:25 AM
Guess what I won't be doing any time soon. :o
Respect.
2 jumps in. It's a matter of trust in yourself. If you don't trust yourself and you jump out of an airplane at 3,500ft then you will afterwards. To throw yourself into what your instincts tell you is simple suicide, but trust it will be okay and it is. The instant you are out of the plane you are on your own. It doesn't matter how hard or how loud you scream, nobody will here you and even if they did what can they do? It's you and yourself up there.[1]
But you do what you were trained to do and you land in the right field, without even getting a bruise. They can't teach you how to fly a canopy. So, 1,000s of people every year launch from 3,500ft under a canopy wing and land in a small field, into the wind, correctly. Go figure. Man was born to fly!
Do it a lot and go higher and have your own chute release toggle... 10 or so jumps in, you really can fly! No wing, no anything, you can fly... granted it's averaging 120mph descent, but you fly.
[1] Actually there is an earpiece connected to a radio so the ground observer can talk to you and talk you in on landing. Remember, no motor, no go around. Parachute glider angle is obscene!
My First Static Line Parachute Jump (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pyVKyH0Cso#)
Thought I'd post this...
I decided to sit this one out so I could video the girlfriend from the landing site.
Caroline and Rajith Static Line Jump (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5FUwnV-YZk#ws)
The music was kinda chosen for me because there was another jumper who showed up in his car and had the boot open playing that tune.
Pretty cool mate. Caroline wins on the landing, couldnt have been better by the looks of it.
Quote from: Coyote on August 10, 2011, 12:21:14 PM
Pretty cool mate. Caroline wins on the landing, couldnt have been better by the looks of it.
Yea, she was well impressed. It was one of the two things she was focusing on that jump. Flaring at the right time. She actually over-ruled/ignored the instructor who tends to flare you early for safety and flared about 1 second later, producing a perfect touch down. Her 3 jumps before that were:
- Didn't flare, landed downwind, tumbled through the grass with bruises to show for it
- Flared when told to, landed with a little forward speed and PLF'd (parachute landing fall)
- Flared very early, came to a dead halt at about 20ft up, stalled and dropped vertical to take another tumble head first
So she was well happy at aceing the landing this time.
Rajith, unfortunately flared when told, early, managed to catch a bit of wind/updraft and climbed up some before dropping in the stall. Less apparent in the video, but he remained upwind way too long and even when sternly told to head back to the arrow turned away again! He had barely enough height to make the corner of the field and will have a stern talking to.